From Tribalism to Humanism

Re: # 47
Dear Zeemax...to clarify my position, I do not believe in any Creator as I have not

experienced him/her/it. As a poet I feel God is a metaphor that human beings have created

over the centuries like the metaphors of tooth fairy and Santa Claus.

Evolution in fish and birds and animals was guided by instincts but after human beings

came into existence, we, because of our well developed brains and minds and

personalities, have choices to follow instincts or follow our conscience, our ethical sense.

Each human being and community decides

...to take life towards the past and regress

or

...to move forwards and accept the challenges of the present and pave way for a better

future

I believe that we need to try at a personal and communal level to make our tomorrows

better than our yesterdays so that we can evolve and grow and inspire our future

generations to embrace the whole humanity and not just our own tribe. I believe in

teaching our children that our enemies are our distant cousins..sincerely sohail

``He said, even if you remove religion as a ``common factor`` from the equation, humankind will remain engaged in suicidal wars. I am still pondering on this point to see if it can be refuted.``

Well, just look at the history of the last century. WW1, WW2 and then the Cold War where we teetered on the brink of annhilation for decades. All of that had nothing to do with religion. Currently, we are fortunate to be living in an interrugnum of peace because one side in the Cold War collapsed completely. Just wait till somebody becomes strong enough to challenge the other side. It will be back to the brink - religion or no religion.

drsohail,

Perhaps I was too harsh in what I wrote. But, you are presenting humanism as an alternative to something called tribalism. And you are defining triabalism very broadly. Religious communities are based on shared values. If that is tribalism, then everyone is a tribal , even if they call themselves humanist.

The problem is not tribalism per se but use of coercion in inter-tribal relations. What you are advocating is non-coercion in inter-tribal relationships. That CAN be consistent with most tribal philosphies and is not an alternative to tribalism.

`Being fully human` is the claim of all religions. It is meaningless unless you define the actual HOW. Once you do that you are forming your own tribe. There is no way around that.

Zee, dr sohail probably mislayed his psychotherapist`s cap....

Dr. Sohail,

Are you a Creationist, or an Evolutionist? If you are the former, I would like to know why the Creator decided to make so many different kinds of colours, sizes, and shapes (and smells in case of Indians) instead of just one size fits all? If however you`re the latter, I would like to know if it is possible that man may have retained some characteristics of the various animals it evolved from during different stages of its evolution?

Thanks in anticipation.

Well, there is frustration that some might misread this personal meditation as if you had actually discovered a method to move people from `tribalism` to `humanism.` Rafi_aamer nurses a similar hope. Right now, it is only each person being their own light, but tribalism triumphs repeatedly precisely because each person does NOT want to be their own light.

Re: # 44
dear rafi....thank you for your thoughtful comments. i wish you interacted more on chowk

so that others could benefit from your knowledge, experience and wisdm.

My article might sound idealistic but I think we are moving towards that ideal slowly. The

statistics I read show that in 1900 only 1% people in the world responded to questionairres

stated that they did not belong to any organized religion and considered themselves

agnostics, atheists, freethinkers and atheists but in 2000 the number increased to 19%. so

nearly one in five have accepted humanistic philosophy. It means that there is more social

consciousness in a century.I am optinistic that in the the next couple of centuries it would

double and tripple. And when humanists become influencial in changing the policies in

schools, colleges, universities and parliments then more and more people will be educated.

I believe in evolution rather than revolution. There is a possiblity we might not survive and

commit collective suicide but I am an eternal optimist. So from practical point of view I

think education and increasing social consciousness are powerful tools and steps in that

direction to make that ideal and dream come true and people like you are doing wonderful

things as teachers to educate others. keep up the good work...sincerely sohail

Dear Sohail,

Thanks for writing a well-meaning article. You seem to be suggesting, and please correct me if I`m wrong, that if all of us just raise the level of our consciousness and start thinking in terms of one global community, we would solve the problem of tribalism. What do you suggest as the method to achieve this? The tribalism that you talk about, which may have had a selective value in the past, has divided the humanity into conflicting social and economic interest groups. Most of the economic resources are in the hands of a tiny minority. It takes usage of brute force in the name of tribal identity to maintain this imbalance. Shedding tribal mentality will mean loosing the rationale of using force. As soon as that realizations sinks in, I think, people will be forced back into tribal mindset. Then there are many social and cultural values that make no sense in a rational sense. Their very survival depends on their proponents claiming moral superiority over other cultures and societies. This, again, is an impediment to humanistic thinking. You, rightly, advocate thinking of oneself human first and make every other identity secondary but there are some identities, for example certain religious ones, that just not function if they are not the primary identity. So, you might as well advocate letting go off those identities instead of making them secondary.

I admire your ideal of humanism and share your dream. I just wonder how practically possible the idea of migrating to humanism from tribalism is.

Rafi

Re: # 38
gill sahib....thank you for your kind words. human beings have to face conflicts....it is aprt

of living together. but we have choices in our personal, social and political lives. we can

choose the road of cooperation or the path of confrontation, choose to live peacefully or

start a war. i hope we choose the road of peace and harmony rather than war and

violence. i am optimistic that when peace consciousness in our future generations will

become more than violent consciousness we will evolve to the next stage...it might be a

dream but we have to dream before the dream comes true...poets and philosophers and

scientists are creative people and like to dream and then share with others. i like sharing

my dreams hoping that others would join my dream of humanistic peaceful

living...thanks...sohail

Re: # 40

dear khurram....i hope you are not serious what you wrote. i am not

presenting ...HUMANISM....as a new religion. if you are offended by the word HUMANISM

then i need to say that i hope that all of us try TO BECOME FULLY HUMAN. and part of that

is to review our identities and how we perceive others. we need to review our

conditioning...religious, ethnic, cultural etc. Please focus on what I am trying to say rather

than just focusing on the words. Going a step forward all I can say is that I am trying to

become FULLY HUMAN rather than punjabi and muslim and pakistani etc etc but it is hard to

unlearn the conditioning of generations emotionally as well as socially ...sincerely sohail

Re: # 39

dear kaalchakra....if we follow your philosophy then we will all stop writing because i agree

that all that we say or write is written better by other philosophers. moses gave us ten

commandments thousands of years ago and humanity is still in mess. i believe some things

need to be said and written and discussed again and again. each human being and each

generation has to discover truth in their own unique way. i am just sharing the truth i am

discovering as i learn more and i hope i keep on learning and growing till the day i

die....sincerely sohail

drsohail,

So, anybody who is not a humanist is a tribal, and by extension responsible for all the wars and misery in the world. How skillfully you create a new US vs THEM where you are the good guys and those who disagree are the bad guys.

``I believe humanism is better than the divisive religions for harmonious life.``

Only in a moral sense. In the real free-for-all, dominate-by-any-means-possible competitive framework, humanism has no defense against divinely-ordained divisive tribalism.

And when divine tribalism focuses first and foremost on subverting its followers` sense of morality, it can become almost unstoppable.

So its doubtful that you will break any associations. Afterall, ``WE ARE ALL CHILDREN OF MOTHER EARTH`` is the oldest, most hackneyed wisdom on earth. It has been said a million times before, a million times better.

drsohail:

Thanks for writing on a topic which apparently is so easy to understand yet is very complicated inherently.

I remember, a friend of mine made a comment some thirty five years ago, on religion being the root cause of trouble in the world. He said, even if you remove religion as a ``common factor`` from the equation, humankind will remain engaged in suicidal wars. I am still pondering on this point to see if it can be refuted. There are many factors other than religion which contribute to our fateful doom.

In the end, it seems we are perpetually entangled in the struggle of ``survival of the fittest.`` Your analysis is quite accurate but the solution is `idealistic.` Although it seems very callous (I wish somebody proves me wrong), it appears that wars are a natural implement to keep the human population on this planet within reasonable bounds. It is a kind of natural `control mechanism` (calamity) between population growth and decay. Now we have reached a stage where it may cease to be a control mechanism but may become a source of universal nuclear holocaust and end the human race.

On a different note, I believe humanism is better than the divisive religions for harmonious life.

Mohammad Gill

Re: # 30
dear nazarhayatkhan....i agree with you. i hope one day text books for children are

prepared by enlightened people who are inclusive rather than exclusive....thanks for your

comments....sohail

Re: # 29
dear ahad..i agree act local..think global....sohail