Monday, August 10, 2020

On Tribes

 Claire Wilson over at Living Freedom has an excellent post about Our Tribal Future, which is a thoughtful ramble about our essentially ongoing devolution into a tribal sort of society and the kinds of "tribes" that actually work (Tribes, Monastics, Communities).  It is a rather fascinating and thoughtful read and well worth the 10 minutes or so you will invest in it.

As a preface to this consideration, she laments how the tribes in her own life have been breaking down over the last few months - and how rather surprised and saddened she is by this.
It is certainly a thought that has been on my own mind of late as well.

It is interesting - when we moved here 11 years ago I do not know that I would have said I had a "tribe".  I had a few friends, not as a collective whole group but a series of individuals I did things with.  Moving to New Home, as I slowly found activities that I became involved in - Iai, Highland Games - I thought I had found my tribe, both in the physical sense with the individuals I saw physically as well as the connections I made online.  Life felt good: I had friends, I had support, I had a bulwark to weather the storm.

But that feels that it has slipped away over the last few months.

The Plague of 2020 has helped nothing, of course.  I have not thrown since November of last year and it is quite possible I will not throw again until next year.  Iai continues, but due to the Plague we train and then get out as quickly as possible from the Dojo.  And online social media connections have become fraught with the danger of the modern era:  on the one hand, saying anything is likely to lead to issues; on the other, many people do make comments and suddenly the 10% of things you shared in common becomes buried beneath the 90% that you realize you do not agree on.

Suddenly, those tribes you built have essentially evaporated.

My choices are threefold.  The first is simply to continue on as if nothing has happened, that those tribes still exist as they did - difficult, because I know that to not be true.  The second option is to let those tribes go and possibly build another one based on actual needs and interests, not the perceived ones - although I question how much more successful this would be than before.  The third, of course, is simply accept the isolation and prepare to go it alone.

I am not  yet clear on which makes the most sense.

The one thing that I can come out of this with that makes me a bit happy is that I have discovered a tribe of sorts - you, gentle readers, and those that write the blogs that read and follow.  We are certainly much more of the same mindset than many others in the past, and although all of you are far away, we still manage to give some form of moral support and practical advice.

So maybe the choice is a bit easier:  a form of going it alone in the immediate vicinity but knowing that there is a community, out there, backing me up.

In a world of dissolution and abandonment, maybe this is the best we can do.

13 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:45 AM

    I'm guessing ancient tribes had troubles like this as well. Just because you are a part of a community does not guarantee that all will get along 100% of the time. Personalities - religious beliefs - we all have our own personal quirks. That is why these tribes relied on tribal elders, people who had experienced this before to help settle disputes.

    This pandemic has proven to be a place where the rubber meets the road. What you thought you had taken care - isn't. Or not as strong as you thought it was. But it is far better to find that out now so that remedies can be done to fix them. Or just in a better place where it isn't a surprise at least.

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    1. Anonymous - You are quite right, from what tribal history we know. Tribalism often seems to come with internecine war - one of the greatest Irish Epics, The Tain Bo Cualinge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) was a cattle raid between two tribes. And Native American history was replete with raids and counter raids. So elders - and formalities, like how to make war - helped to manage such things.

      The Plague has been a great settling out, has it not? It has tested concepts of preparation, of long term living in place with what you, and with our associations. Hopefully all of us - myself at least - have learned something.

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    2. Anonymous10:41 AM

      Thought a real 'slate wiper' type of plague was possible, Ebola becoming common and just laying out nearly everyone. COVID (at least the current mutation) does not seem to be as lethal. Thank goodness.

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  2. This has been coming for a long time, my friend. For three or four generations now.

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    1. Glen, I am coming to believe you are right. Shame on me for not noticing it sooner.

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  3. Very interesting read, thank you for sharing it with us.

    I have to say that the recent use of the term "tribe" has been a bit too trendy for my taste, and anything trendy I think of as being basically mindless or manipulative. Consequently, I've dismissed it. I think "communities" (Claire's 3rd model) makes the most sense for the times we live in.

    Of my own experience, I've never actually participated in a community (or would-be community) where there wasn't a power struggle. There always seems to be someone (an individual with or without cronies) who wants to take charge and have everything their way. I'd love to think it could be different, but I've not experienced it.

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    1. Leigh - Excellent point about the word "tribes"; it has become somewhat trendy (My rule of thumb: if I know it from Social Media, it is probably overly trendy and over used.

      Communities arguable make the most sense (as you say), but the difficulties with communities is finding them and forming them; they take a lot longer than tribes (probably therefore more enduring) and I am not sure yet how the idea of virtual "communities" would work - maybe this is the next new frontier.

      Power struggles - yes, my experience as well. Probably why I end up dropping out of any community that exhibits that behavior. I have neither the time nor the psychic energy to manage such things anymore.

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  4. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

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    1. Anymore Jeff, that is the way of it. Sadly, my idea of what the "best" is keeps getting ratcheted down as things slide farther and farther apart.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. Tribes come and go. But the longest tribe which I’ve been a member is the blogging tribe. I think that is due to the reason you mentioned.

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    1. Ed, it is an interesting thought that I had not considered. Perhaps I stumbled into a tribe I did not anticipate.

      Part of the attraction, of course, is that we discuss actual ideas amongst ourselves. In some ways, we may be better informed about each other than individuals we see regularly.

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  6. too true. A feast of friends. Time and distance are no hurtle to kindred spirits.

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    1. It is true EGB. And in that sense I am grateful to the Social Internet that has allowed it to occur.

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