On Tribalism
So on Sunday I went and hung out with Dave and Sarah and Dave Haus. Is that how you spell his name? Anyway, we hung out and drank wine (white), Porte, coffee and ate some cheese. We also played some D/D at the end of the day. Which was kind of cool, but it was an awesome conversation - which took most of the day over wine and cheese.
One of those things that we talked about, was something that Sarah's unitarian minister had said. And something I've been mulling over myself for a while. That said, her minister said: Humans are at the base instinct violent and with a natural tendency towards tribalism. Further, humans will always hate those who are not them and not part of their "tribe."
Now, I have always agreed and thought of it this way, but it's interesting thinking about the context of religion and spirituality. (Huge cynic in the realm of people) The question becomes, no matter what you actually think of religion, has it done more good than bad? I think it remains to be seen. I'd hazard that even if there is no higher spiritual being the whole point of religion is to suppress basic human nature to simply devolve and become what we are. Predatory tribal animals.
Sarah's minister further said: Faith is taking what you know is true (humans are tribal predatory animals) and believing in the complete opposite. So thinking on this, has human nature simply corrupted religion resulting in, what I call, when humans get uppity. And has religion saved humanity itself from itself?
It's pretty interesting in all actuality. Being agnostic it's interesting to think on what position religion has taken in the minds of people. We all know the hoi polloi are stupid, they would devolve into chaos at a drop of a hat. It's interesting to think that faith and religion were constructs of the human mind to protect ourselves from ourselves.
It's an interesting thing to think about when you accept that humans divide themselves into tribes (even today). And especially, when you accept that we are violent predatory animals.
Maybe it was just the wine. But this popped up again when I was watching the TLC show My Unique Family and it was examining the Wicca Family in Duxbury, MA.
One of those things that we talked about, was something that Sarah's unitarian minister had said. And something I've been mulling over myself for a while. That said, her minister said: Humans are at the base instinct violent and with a natural tendency towards tribalism. Further, humans will always hate those who are not them and not part of their "tribe."
Now, I have always agreed and thought of it this way, but it's interesting thinking about the context of religion and spirituality. (Huge cynic in the realm of people) The question becomes, no matter what you actually think of religion, has it done more good than bad? I think it remains to be seen. I'd hazard that even if there is no higher spiritual being the whole point of religion is to suppress basic human nature to simply devolve and become what we are. Predatory tribal animals.
Sarah's minister further said: Faith is taking what you know is true (humans are tribal predatory animals) and believing in the complete opposite. So thinking on this, has human nature simply corrupted religion resulting in, what I call, when humans get uppity. And has religion saved humanity itself from itself?
It's pretty interesting in all actuality. Being agnostic it's interesting to think on what position religion has taken in the minds of people. We all know the hoi polloi are stupid, they would devolve into chaos at a drop of a hat. It's interesting to think that faith and religion were constructs of the human mind to protect ourselves from ourselves.
It's an interesting thing to think about when you accept that humans divide themselves into tribes (even today). And especially, when you accept that we are violent predatory animals.
Maybe it was just the wine. But this popped up again when I was watching the TLC show My Unique Family and it was examining the Wicca Family in Duxbury, MA.