Last night I went to a benefit that my friend’s band was playing at (they were totally excellent). It was very funny as I thought it was a benefit for the gay marriage efforts. When I showed up there were a lot of crunchy hipsters there. I looked around and didn’t see anyone I thought was gay so I was a bit confused. It turned out to be a benefit for the medical marijuana efforts.
It is interesting how we all seem to find our place in society, all these different tribes. We have our own fashions and our own music. I was commenting to my friend who played that they should find a more punkish audience as their music has an edge to it. I love music with an edge. The phrase that came to mind was “cut by music”. I love it when music just slices right into the depths of my soul. It is amazing how sound can do that. The sound of rain on the roof this morning just moved right through me.
So anyway, we find tribes where we can express ourselves freely, where we feel we are accepted and understood. This is essential for us. Society should be a celebration of diversity, providing a framework where one tribe isn’t allowed to oppress another. Where fundamentalist are trying to ban gay marriage – society should not allow this. We have conflict and battles where one tribe cannot respect the boundaries of another tribe. They feel a need to dominate. This is human nature.
But we need not submit to the impulses of human nature. We need to balance out the impulse system with intellect and reason. The rest of the animal world, finds balance due to the intimate interdependence of the whole system. Humans have deceived themselves into thinking we can step outside of that interdependence. We think we are the inheritors of the Earth. Nothing could be further than the truth but because this reverberates throughout the human collective, it is so. But I think the deeper truth is, we are all just another tribe of animals living in a complex interdependent ecosystem. There is no “higher on the food chain”. That is a silly notion. What is higher, the lion or the ebola virus? Each tribe, species, and individual has a relationship to the whole, not just to the food they prey on. The mice chew the bones of the lion.
The idea of hierarchy needs to go. We allow hierarchical thinking to seep deeply into the mindsets of our human tribes – the end result being nationalism, fundamentalism, fascism, racism, totalitarianism, and all the other isms that don’t serve us well. By not serving us well I mean that we don’t have peace between nor within the tribes. We don’t find places where we can express ourselves freely.
I don’t have a solution to this issue other than to suggest we find our tribe and celebrate our self-expression. We need to pay attention within our own tribe and make sure hierarchy and cults of personality are not allowed to take control. And finally, we must give voice to the acceptance and celebration of diversity and equality for all, for every soul within our sphere or awareness.
The Animist Druid 