Tribes

January 17, 2019

I believe that spiritually, we are all one. I believe in the American political motto, E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one). And I believe that sometimes, we just can’t get along.

I just finished reading a remarkable book about a remote tribe in the Amazon jungle in Brazil. Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes by Daniel Everett, describes his life as a Christian missionary among the Piraha people. A skilled linguist, he grew to know and love these Indian hunter-gatherers over his three decades among them, so much so that he eventually concluded that their way of life and beliefs were superior to his own, leading him to become an atheist.

But while he remains a fervent admirer of the Piraha, he also acknowledges the dark side of their culture. “While the Pirahas are very tolerant and peaceful to one another, they can be violent in keeping others out of their land…tolerance toward a group of outsiders and coexistence with them does not mean long-term acceptance. The Apurinas (another tribe of Indians who had lived on Piraha land for 50 years) had believed that a lifetime among another people could overcome the differences in culture and society that separated them from this other people. They learned the deadly lesson that these barriers are nearly impossible to overcome, in spite of appearances over time – just as residents of the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and many other places have learned in the course of history.”

I’ve always appreciated my encounters with subcultures in this country, and I travel internationally for the same reason: to meet people who are different than me and see what I can learn from them. But I’m well aware of the cultural tensions that exists between different races, religions, and nationalities (see my travel pieces on the travel tab on my home page, about conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians, Hindus and Muslims in India, and Vietnamese and Chinese). And I’m well aware of the long term frictions in this country between American Indians, whites, blacks, Latinos, and Asians.

Sadly, there are people on both the political right and left who promote identity politics in order to advance their own race or agenda. The current president encourages white nationalism, and the Democrats often portray ethnic minorities as victims in order to get their votes. Both parties sometimes pander to the worst instincts in people for political gain.

But I don’t blame just the politicians and their parties. The reality is that, to varying degrees, we are all tribal. We humans are more comfortable with people like ourselves, whether we live in the Amazon, Europe, Rwanda, Vietnam, Israel, or the United States. I myself have belonged to several tribes in my lifetime: American, Catholic, Irish, Buddhist, Cal Bears, San Francisco 49er fans, hiking groups, theater companies, et al. Granted, my tribes aren’t that exclusive, or at least I don’t see them that way. But they are ways that I have used to differentiate myself from others, not for the sake of asserting any superiority, but rather for the sake of belonging and identity.

The problem is that we often mistake our temporary identities (gender, class, nationality, ethnicity, religion, political persuasion) for our true identities (inner being/essence/soul/buddha nature), and therefore we emphasize our differences rather than our commonalities. Assuming, that is, that you share my belief in multiple lifetimes. If you believe that this lifetime is all there is, as my father did and many of my friends do, then the ego-based identities are understandably more important to you.

In either case, in all honesty, looking at human history and human nature, I think that this delusional behavior of separateness will continue for a very long time to come on this planet. And that means that the bickering and strife will not end anytime soon. As I said in an earlier post, I’m a short term pessimist and a long term optimist. Eventually, I believe that we will transcend our tribal identities and remember our essential unity.

But in the meantime, go Bears!