Tribe Change

We belong to tribes.

They affect our thinking way more than we realise.

Your country has a tribe. I’ve lived in multiple countries, and have felt the influence of their cultures on my mind. It’s a thing, whether or not it can be seen.

Your industry has a tribe. I’ve operated in multiple industries, and have seen the affinities and disdains for different business models, marketing strategies and corporate cultures.

Your philosophy or theology has a tribe. I was raised in religion and discovered truly independent thinking in adulthood. There’s a world of difference between finding peace from faith in the conjectural vs a reverence of reason.

Your family has a tribe. The inner battles of our parents become our own base code, the culture of our families our norm, upon which we patch new understanding.

Your social media have tribes. Groupthink exists in Twitter circles, Discord servers and subreddits.

How do we notice when our thinking is driven by tribes?

By seeing the alternative so that contrasts become clearer.

The colour ‘blue’ is just ‘blue’ until we put it on a colour wheel, then we can see if it’s a deep blue, or a greeny-blue, or perhaps even purple.

By opening our minds — reading a gardening magazine when you hate gardening, or making friends with someone with hugely different political orientations for instance — and forgoing our inclination to disagree for just long enough that we might learn something about ourselves.