Sects, Clans and The Doctrines of Man - Tribalism Does Not Work
by Susan Scharfman
The fear and greed that drive the Stock Market reside in the conditioned minds of humans. Headlines scream ISIS, Ebola, Russia-Ukraine. One dysfunctional political tribe places blame at the feet of the other. The food we consume, the fate of the next election, war and peace are governed by fear and greed.
From early man, from the biblical twelve tribes of Israel, from the 7th century influence of Mohammed to unify the Arabian tribes—we humans are a tribal species, a sectarian breed. Labels and categories are bestowed upon us at birth—color, nationality, religion, which set us apart from each other. When awareness is limited to external differences and not our essential oneness, we continue to live in fear and ignorance and suffer the consequences of duality, tribalism. So, what color is your consciousness?
World of Opposites - Tribalism 101
With over 21 religions in the world, Islam is the second largest (1.6 billion Muslims) after Christianity (2.18 billion); approximately 14 million Jews. For millennia, sects and ethnic groups defy peaceful coexistence. Arabs and Jews ignore similarities inherent in their respective cultures—male circumcision, head coverings, separate places for women in mosques and synagogues, dietary laws, language. Typical of tribes, their dogma demands a tit for tat existence: “You did this to me, I’ll do that to you.”
Arabs: One hundred years ago T. E. Lawrence tried to unite the Arab tribes and failed. His bitter remarks to Sharif Ali linger: “So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people - greedy, barbarous, and cruel.” Lawrence of Arabia failed because the problem was not and still is not about uniting tribes. The problem is inherent in there being tribes at all. Within Islam, although their basic beliefs are the same, Sunnis and Shiites slaughter one another.
Jews: When the 12 tribes of Israel entered the “Promised Land,” they eventually formed the nation of Israel under David and Solomon. After Solomon’s death, tribalism inevitably gave way to civil war between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Today Hasidic, Orthodox, Reform and Conservative are different sects or denominations of Judaism. The differences between the archaic Hasidic and more contemporary Jewish sects are extreme, sometimes culminating in violence.
Extremism - Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
Tribalism at its radical max. Wikipedia: ISIS is a Sunni Jihadist extremist group active in Iraq and Syria in the Middle East. In its self-proclaimed status as a caliphate (chief Muslim civil and religious ruler), it claims religious authority over all Muslims worldwide, and aims to bring most Muslim-inhabited regions of the world under its political control, beginning with territory in the Levant region, which includes Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus, and part of southern Turkey.
Indonesia, India, Pakistan and across the world there are hundreds of millions of Muslims that are not fanatic terrorists. Having lived in Morocco for five years, it remains among the most enjoyable and enlightening periods of my life.
The Americans - Over Two Centuries of Technicolor Tribalism
Early native American tribes warred with each other. In one of American history’s more hideous crimes against humanity, the white tribes came from Europe and annihilated the red tribes of North America. Brown native South Americans didn’t fare much better. Then the whites imported and enslaved the blacks. In a savage civil war the whites of the north fought the whites of the south to ‘liberate’ the blacks. And then, and then.
Does the Beloved distinguish between external differences? At the moment of birth, do innocents have a religion, color, nationality? Does Mohammad, Christ, Buddha, Krishna teach bigotry, “off with his head?”
The Brothers Grimm, or The Grim Brothers
The original fairy tales of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are gruesome. Snow White is 7 years old when the huntsman takes her into the forest with orders to bring back her liver and lungs.
Adolph Hitler chillingly said: “Give me your child when he’s seven, and he’s mine forever.” When we’re fortunate as children not to be directly exposed to barbarity from our elders, it’s embedded in our consciousness through literature and mass media. Advances in digital technology make it easier, faster to subtly condition young minds.
In The Juniper Tree a woman decapitates her stepson as he bends down to get an apple. She then chops up his body, cooks him in a stew and serves it to her husband, who enjoys the meal so much he asks for seconds. It took the likes of Walt Disney and others to render these fairy tales acceptable to mass audiences.
The Red Queen of Mean
In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts says to three gardeners: “Who's been painting my roses red? WHO'S BEEN PAINTING MY ROSES RED?! Who dares to taint with vulgar paint the royal flower bed? For painting my roses red. Someone will lose his head.”
“How should I know?” says Alice, surprised at her own courage. “It’s no business of mine.” The Queen turns crimson with fury, and, after glaring at Alice for a moment like a wild beast, screams “Off with her head!”
We’re not going to embargo some of our finest literature. But what subtle effect do child abuse, incest, cannibalism, beheadings have on a child’s consciousness—literary or media-driven? Probably an insidious, mind-numbing effect. The tribal culture of opposites requires that we be weaned on and entertained by the same savagery of which we are culpable. Check out the lyrics from South Pacific by Rogers and Hammerstein, “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught.”
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."-- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The fear and greed that drive the Stock Market reside in the conditioned minds of humans. Headlines scream ISIS, Ebola, Russia-Ukraine. One dysfunctional political tribe places blame at the feet of the other. The food we consume, the fate of the next election, war and peace are governed by fear and greed.
From early man, from the biblical twelve tribes of Israel, from the 7th century influence of Mohammed to unify the Arabian tribes—we humans are a tribal species, a sectarian breed. Labels and categories are bestowed upon us at birth—color, nationality, religion, which set us apart from each other. When awareness is limited to external differences and not our essential oneness, we continue to live in fear and ignorance and suffer the consequences of duality, tribalism. So, what color is your consciousness?
World of Opposites - Tribalism 101
With over 21 religions in the world, Islam is the second largest (1.6 billion Muslims) after Christianity (2.18 billion); approximately 14 million Jews. For millennia, sects and ethnic groups defy peaceful coexistence. Arabs and Jews ignore similarities inherent in their respective cultures—male circumcision, head coverings, separate places for women in mosques and synagogues, dietary laws, language. Typical of tribes, their dogma demands a tit for tat existence: “You did this to me, I’ll do that to you.”
Arabs: One hundred years ago T. E. Lawrence tried to unite the Arab tribes and failed. His bitter remarks to Sharif Ali linger: “So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people - greedy, barbarous, and cruel.” Lawrence of Arabia failed because the problem was not and still is not about uniting tribes. The problem is inherent in there being tribes at all. Within Islam, although their basic beliefs are the same, Sunnis and Shiites slaughter one another.
Jews: When the 12 tribes of Israel entered the “Promised Land,” they eventually formed the nation of Israel under David and Solomon. After Solomon’s death, tribalism inevitably gave way to civil war between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Today Hasidic, Orthodox, Reform and Conservative are different sects or denominations of Judaism. The differences between the archaic Hasidic and more contemporary Jewish sects are extreme, sometimes culminating in violence.
Extremism - Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
Tribalism at its radical max. Wikipedia: ISIS is a Sunni Jihadist extremist group active in Iraq and Syria in the Middle East. In its self-proclaimed status as a caliphate (chief Muslim civil and religious ruler), it claims religious authority over all Muslims worldwide, and aims to bring most Muslim-inhabited regions of the world under its political control, beginning with territory in the Levant region, which includes Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus, and part of southern Turkey.
Indonesia, India, Pakistan and across the world there are hundreds of millions of Muslims that are not fanatic terrorists. Having lived in Morocco for five years, it remains among the most enjoyable and enlightening periods of my life.
The Americans - Over Two Centuries of Technicolor Tribalism
Early native American tribes warred with each other. In one of American history’s more hideous crimes against humanity, the white tribes came from Europe and annihilated the red tribes of North America. Brown native South Americans didn’t fare much better. Then the whites imported and enslaved the blacks. In a savage civil war the whites of the north fought the whites of the south to ‘liberate’ the blacks. And then, and then.
Does the Beloved distinguish between external differences? At the moment of birth, do innocents have a religion, color, nationality? Does Mohammad, Christ, Buddha, Krishna teach bigotry, “off with his head?”
The Brothers Grimm, or The Grim Brothers
The original fairy tales of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are gruesome. Snow White is 7 years old when the huntsman takes her into the forest with orders to bring back her liver and lungs.
Adolph Hitler chillingly said: “Give me your child when he’s seven, and he’s mine forever.” When we’re fortunate as children not to be directly exposed to barbarity from our elders, it’s embedded in our consciousness through literature and mass media. Advances in digital technology make it easier, faster to subtly condition young minds.
In The Juniper Tree a woman decapitates her stepson as he bends down to get an apple. She then chops up his body, cooks him in a stew and serves it to her husband, who enjoys the meal so much he asks for seconds. It took the likes of Walt Disney and others to render these fairy tales acceptable to mass audiences.
The Red Queen of Mean
In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts says to three gardeners: “Who's been painting my roses red? WHO'S BEEN PAINTING MY ROSES RED?! Who dares to taint with vulgar paint the royal flower bed? For painting my roses red. Someone will lose his head.”
“How should I know?” says Alice, surprised at her own courage. “It’s no business of mine.” The Queen turns crimson with fury, and, after glaring at Alice for a moment like a wild beast, screams “Off with her head!”
We’re not going to embargo some of our finest literature. But what subtle effect do child abuse, incest, cannibalism, beheadings have on a child’s consciousness—literary or media-driven? Probably an insidious, mind-numbing effect. The tribal culture of opposites requires that we be weaned on and entertained by the same savagery of which we are culpable. Check out the lyrics from South Pacific by Rogers and Hammerstein, “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught.”
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."-- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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