“Human nature”—that innermost kernel of what mankind is—has not changed with the ages. If it had altered, how is it that we recognise so instantly the frivolous curiosity of Eve, or the stiff-necked integrity of Job? The gentleness of the Good Samaritan, or the greed, treachery and remorse of Judas? How, today, do we insert ourselves so comfortably into the discourse of Plato and Socrates, and their times so long ago? Occasionally in New Guinea I have spent time in high mountain villages, where few people had so much as glimpsed a white skin before, and even the lingua franca…
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