Humans are social animals. Social needs layer from the physical and safety levels through emotional need for connection and spiritual needs to expand our consciousness. They can’t live, let alone survive, without companions, partners, help, a tribe.
Society organises human interaction, aims to harmonise and optimise its workings, to maximise the strength of humankind as a body.
As such, the social contract is an absolute necessity, so critical to survival indeed, that humans are willing to sacrifice their individual freedom, self-worth and time for a chance at belonging.
On the flip side of control and mutual abuse, humans as a group have the power to channel universal wisdom, achieve magnificence and spread love. All it takes is authenticity, a seeking, and deep trust in the vital need for honest contact with others.
Sparing ourselves unnecessary hostilities opens up space and time for more productive endeavours.
These require us to find our own path.
In the walking, we find where we fit, why we are here, and the more clarity we have, the more harmoniously we play our part.
Familiar settings keep us stuck and narrow-minded, which we can’t see until we start wonder what is out there.
When we open our selves up to the strange reality that other people have other experiences, that reality is a different ball game elsewhere, and everything we hold to be true is completely wrong to someone or somewhere, our world expands.
And then comes the question… Are we willing to expand our circle?
Differences are the essence of diversity, not ranking.
When we confuse our specificities for marks of superiority -or inferiority-, or worse, for reasons to value or despise others, we miss the entire point of the Creation; that diversity makes for complementarity and inspiration, choice and adventure.
Sticking to a single definition of what is right and acceptable is a fearful and narrow-minded world view, a recipe for conflict and disharmony.
With the refusal to trust others comes self-inflicted loneliness and fear.
Granted, trust is learnt and not everyone is trustworthy or willing to return our trust, but until we try and trust, we are the reason we are alone.
Acts of mistrust give others reason to exclude us, deprive us of means to connect, and essentially keep us from growth or the freedom to go about our world feeling held and secure.
Power in numbers lies in defensive powers. When a crowd assails, the strongest, finest combatant will be overpowered.
Crowds don’t give a break, they come from all sides, they are unpredictable. An alliance of people is a wall, it elevates the cost of attack beyond bearable losses, inviting yet more unity and partnership.
All the same, as much as the group keeps us from hostilities, it keeps us from entering conflicts with others, whether to protect our clan or our belonging in it.
On the outside, we are different, foreign, contrary to each other. What we see first in strangers is what sets them apart from us, the unfamiliar.
More often than not, the unfamiliar is threatening, unsettling, it questions our etiquette, our choices, it is offensive. That is… When fear drives the show.
If we instead look into hearts for humanness, a belonging, common attachments to life, common struggles, we can bond and be friends.
Our centre is someone else’s margin. To strangers, our crew is made of aliens.
With that deep sense of otherness, we keep the world - humankind - fragmented, and ourselves isolated.
Whether we choose to belong to the margins, or to mix genres and connect to the oneness underneath the otherness, society asks us to choose to belong with others to survive and thrive.
People in Harmony
Fellowship of Man
Fellowship with men
Fellowship with others