Both Robert Pirsig and Norman Chaney call for unification of humanity in their respective books Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Renascence. Though most people wish for the type of unity the men describe, it is beyond man's ability to create it due to man's basic nature, and because `unity' would necessarily mean giving up basic freedoms that few people would be willing to sacrifice.

According to Pope John Paul II in his series of speeches entitled "Theology of the Body," in the beginning God created man with (as Pirsig says) "unity within himself (and) community with his fellowman." After the fall of Adam and the entrance of sin into the world, man became divided against himself and against others, now being subject to temptation, greed and a tendency towards evil. These temptations that man experiences generally deal with his reaction towards his fellowman, generally a...