Most of us believe in an objective reality that is universal for everyone, and we think our personal view of the world is that universal objective reality. Most of us live in a culture or extended family that holds the same views of the world and reinforces our idea that we perceive the correct view of reality. We will call this group our Tribe.
What should rid us of this idea that our view of reality is universal is when a member of our Tribe goes rogue and disagrees with us about the-way-things-are. Then we exile the rogue member from our Tribe and sever communication with them. This keeps our Tribe pure, allowing us to continue to imagine that our view of reality is correct. That’s what we do, demonize anyone who fails to see the world as we do and eject them from our family or cultural group. These people are labeled: wrong, deluded, insane, criminal, traitors, terrorists, enemies, evil, or various other names used by our Tribe to discredit wrong-thinking outsiders.
What we fail to realize when we reject the views of others is how small our Tribally-defined world is compared to the views of the rest of the world. Our Tribe of like-thinkers may be a dozen or so out of a world population of some 8 billion. Our assumption that all right-thinkers agree with our views may not be justified.
The truth is we all live in separate worlds determined by the Stories that we tell ourselves. Stories are the tales we tell ourselves and other members of our Tribe about the world we live in, who we are, and how we came to be who we are (or think we are). Shared Stories are those held by all members of our Tribe that hold the Tribe together. Personal Stories are those that hold a personality together, giving that person a consistent way of interacting with other Tribal members and the world. Stories define us and the world we live in.
Ethnic shared Stories may describe how the world and people came into existence, how the people overcame adversity and evil, often with the help of divine power, and how virtue or divine power gives them the right to their land. Personal Stories may describe how that person achieved success through effort or deserved success because of virtues. Personal Stories for those their Tribes label as failures may include how they were raised poorly, how people harmed them, and how good fortune eluded them. All these Stories are deemed essential to the people who believe them, because they support their worldview.
If we attack or discredit people’s Stories, they will push back, often violently. Often the Stories of people or Tribes conflict with the Stories of other people or Tribes, causing the conflicting people and Tribes to try to harm one another. Anger, pain, killing, war, and other forms of chaos result. To avoid chaos, we have to know and understand the Stories of others in order to build shared Stories that promote harmony among people and Tribes. We may have to change parts of our Story that result in conflict, or at least accept that their Story is their Story and coexist.
Ideally we should try to combine our Stories into a harmonious shared Story. The only way our personal Story will not be detrimental to other people and the earth is if our Tribe expands to include the entire world and all the creatures dwelling there. Our worldview must encompass the world. I think we must become global in our thinking. What do you think?