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In the distant past, human beings
lived a primitive lifestyle. Dwelling in caves and
jungles, they hunted to survive. Since resources were
limited, they were vulnerable to malnutrition and
starvation, or to sudden death from natural disasters or
attacks by wild animals. For their survival and growth
they lived in small tribes whose members protected each
other. While the men hunted with their arrows and
spears, their women looked after the children and
animals. Such a lifestyle created an us / them tribal
mentality. Each tribe saw other tribes as potential
enemies who would attack them and steal their women,
children and animals. To protect their limited resources
they were always ready for tribal wars.
Killing members of another tribe could start a tribal
war that continued for generations in which innocent
men, women and children were killed for revenge.
Sometimes the goal was not only to kill but also to
humiliate. Rather than dispatching their enemies
quickly, they would torture their enemies so that they
died a painful humiliating death.
In the last few thousand years human beings have made
progress in many aspects of life but in other areas they
are still very primitive in their thinking and
attitudes. In the 21st century human beings may live in
skyscrapers in huge cities, travel in cars, trains and
planes, and communicate around the planet by telephone
and internet, as members of a world-wide global village.
But many human beings have neither evolved in their
minds nor grown in their personalities. They still have
a tribal mentality—all that has changed is the
definition of the tribe and the nature of tribal war.
To understand the dynamics of modern tribal wars we need
to understand the psychology of the tribal mental set.
How does such a war start and how is the cycle of
violence begun and maintained?
Analysis of such wars shows that they can be started by
a person, a group, an organization or an institution.
The details differ but there are some common
characteristics in such people, organizations and
institutions.
The person who starts the modern tribal war
…feels threatened, insecure or vulnerable or identifies
with a bereaved party
…emotionally identifies with a tribe, a herd, a group
…gets into an us / them mental set and perceives the
other as an enemy
…attacks the enemy to take revenge or prevent future
attacks
If the opponent has a similar tribal mental set, the
tribal war and the cycle of violence begins and may
continue for days, weeks, months, years, decades,
generations, or even centuries.
A cycle of violence and tribal war can take place
between two ordinary people and their families, or two
heads of states, or two leaders of organizations or
institutions who perceive each other as enemies or
potential enemies.
Such an us / them division can be triggered on the basis
of:
Religion…Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus
Sects…Shiites and Sunnis in Muslims, Catholics and
Protestants in Christians.
Race…Blacks and Whites
Gender…Men and Women
Language…French and English, Urdu and Bengali
Sexual Orientation…Gays and Straights
Nationality…Indians and Pakistanis, Americans and Iraqis
As the war continues both enemies pass on their tribal
mental set to the next generation who, once brainwashed,
join the tribal war started by their elders and previous
generations. It is sad and tragic to see that when the
cycle of violence continues and tribal war is
maintained, people on both sides start identifying with
the opponent to acquire the psychological profile of the
enemy. They begin to mirror each other’s personality and
political strategy in order to fight fire with fire. An
example is President George W. Bush—the longer he
continues his war with Osama bin Laden, the more like
him he acts.
Compared to those with a tribal mental set, people who
are emotionally, socially and culturally evolved have
acquired a Humanistic mental set and developed a
Humanistic Personality. For such people, their primary
identity is that of human being. They might have other
identities based on religion, race, language, gender,
sexual orientation or nationality, but those identities
remain secondary, and whenever there is a conflict
between primary and secondary identities, they think,
feel and act according to the primary identity. This
Humanistic philosophy and personality helps them
maintain a rational and cooperative rather than
irrational and confrontative attitude towards life. It
enables them to transcend the us / them mentality and
encourages them to resolve conflicts with people from
other social and cultural backgrounds. They focus more
on similarities than differences. Their philosophy
creates a peaceful lifestyle at a personal and social
level rather than involvement in war at a political
level.
It is unfortunate that even in the 21st century many of
us still have a primitive tribal person sleeping in our
unconscious mind and when we feel threatened and
vulnerable the sleeping tribal person wakes up and joins
the tribe emotionally, socially and politically to fight
a tribal war.
On the evening news we see multiple examples of tribal
wars fought on religious grounds, such as the conflict
between Christians and Muslims when Pope Benedict
criticized Muslims, and on political and economic
grounds between Americans and Iraqis because of the holy
oil. Be they American soldiers or Iraqi guerrilla
warriors, they rationalize killing thousands of innocent
men, women and children on the basis of tribe against
tribe. At an international level, economic wars are
being waged as colonial powers loot the resources of
poor and vulnerable countries. Some of the latter,
although weak and starving, are trying to create nuclear
weapons to protect themselves against contemporary
pre-emptive tribal wars.
As we become more aware of our unconscious tribal
mentality and consciously adopt a humanistic philosophy,
we will be able to rise above our differences, resolve
our conflicts at a personal, social and political level
and learn to live with each other harmoniously and
peacefully. Loving one’s neighbor has been a part of
folk wisdom for centuries—we just need to broaden the
definition of neighbor and include all races in the
human race and all tribes in the human tribe, as we are
now, more than ever, living in a global village. We need
to help our children to develop the primary identity of
human beings and rise above the tribal mentality based
on race, colour, language, gender, nationalism and
religion. Those identities, which unite their members at
a small, self-protective sub-group level, divide us as
members of the global human family.
Given the arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world, we
are quite capable of committing collective suicide if we
do not accept the philosophy of humanism. Such a
philosophy will help us become fully human individually
and collectively. Every human being has to do some
introspection and rise above the tribal mentality to
embrace all of humanity.
A few years ago I wrote a poem reflecting my humanistic
philosophy which is as follows:
WE ARE ALL CHILDREN OF MOTHER EARTH
When will we realize?
We are all children of Adam and Eve
Our enemies are our distant cousins
Alienated by ethnic and religious walls
Separated by linguistic and national borders
Divided by the history of Holy Wars
When will be become aware?
We all belong to the same race
The same tribe
The same family
The Human family
We all share
The same moon
The same sun
The same mountains
The same valleys
The same deserts
The same jungles
The same winds
The same oceans
When will we recognize?
We are all children of Mother Earth
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