Mankind has required some sort of Wise Council that the community respected or feared in all cultures around the world. This leads me to believe we have always needed mediation for our affairs (public and private).
In some of the oldest written histories of the Sumerian Tablets, we find organizations responsible for keeping records of ownership and debts. This meant that there were people who could not manage this themselves, and records show the intervention by a governing authority was normal.
In my own experience of creating or managing teams, there has always been an unbalance regarding the collaboration vs. competition mindset.
When people come together to actualize an idea, there seem to be specific areas that create conflict.
Most of us have been raised in a pyramid structure type of society. There is a definite “Boss” and all others form layers of authoritative positions, empowered by the one above.
The goal is to move up the ladder, to attain a better status and receive more compensation. This results in people aiming for a position for the benefits rather than focusing on where they would best serve the organization and their own needs, desires, and wants.
For example, the person who is a gifted customer service representative, and benefits the company the most by being the point of contact, will most likely be the least compensated. This creates a disharmony.
When people are not happy with what they are doing, or how much they are appreciated, (monetarily and socially), they will never give their best for an extended time.
Anyone who has children, or spent a significant amount of time around them will witness the jealousy over a toy. This toy may have been sitting in the toy box for a month, yet when one sibling takes it out to play, the other then has an overwhelming desire to play with it.
This is where we instill the idea of taking turns and fairness. It is not something that comes naturally to children. While we may imbue in them some self-control either through love and praise or fear of consequences, I believe this is an underlying issue that is not entirely worked out in adults.
We see something someone else has and we want it. Depending on the morals of the person desiring the object, status, or ability, we then go about attempting to get one ourselves, steal it, or find something awful about them and run circles in our minds about how they don’t deserve it and we do.
Wars are still fought in our day and age by people who want something someone else has, and won’t work out a way to trade or go about getting it ourselves in an ethical way.
Competition bred the Mafia, Corporate Espionage and Tonya Harding syndrome.
Competition is inspiration with low self-esteem.
How does self-esteem come into all of this? Often, as humans, we look to others to define the value of what we bring to the table. In a competitive style world, our value is always on the edge of being lost to someone else. In a collaborative style world, our value would be stable and invested in by the community.
Yet even in a very supportive and collaborative environment, the individual may still hold patterns of fear, jealousy, greed, envy, and malice.
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.
How does a community approach the mental and emotional needs of the individual?
This has been the downfall of so many intentional communities and organizations around the world. It is not limited to a culture or belief system. It is inherent in the human condition.
Perhaps it can be simplified to fear of Lack. The “not enough” thought process.
“I am not enough.”
“There is not enough.”
“If someone else has some, there will not be enough.”
Perhaps we fear (and have experienced) that others aren’t fair and don’t think of us so we always have to take measures to make sure we have enough.
"If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don’t bother trying to teach them. Instead give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking"
Buckminster Fuller
I believe we have to build/create what we want and then bring people in. The Eco-Village is the tool for the future. The experience of immersion might be the only thing that is really a solution to this question about the conflict between mankind.
We can’t tell people, we have to show them.
I have seen the children who are brought up in these collaborative environments, where the foundation is living in harmony with self, family, community and the earth. Conflict resolution is a conversation where they listen and build upon other’s ideas, rather than tearing them down.
The children are the teachers to other children, and they build upon the transformative power of play to teach communication and trust.
It is not about being the best of the group, it is about being your personal best, and creating synergy with the group. In a collaborative community, the focus is on allowing each individual to work within their own skill set that they are passionate about.
(This is my picture of a structure built by some friends at a drum circle and community gathering.)
Ubuntu
The philosophy of Ubuntu derives from a Nguni word, ubuntu meaning “the quality of being human.” Ubuntu manifests itself through various human acts, clearly visible in social, political, and economic situations, as well as among family. According to sociolinguist Buntu Mfenyana, it “runs through the veins of all Africans, is embodied in the oft-repeated: “Ubuntu ngumtu ngabanye abantu” (“A person is a person through other people”). This African proverb reveals a world view that we owe our selfhood to others, that we are first and foremost social beings, that, if you will, no man/woman is an island, or as the African would have it, “One finger cannot pick up a grain.” Ubuntu is, at the same time, a deeply personal philosophy that calls on us to mirror our humanity for each other. To the observer, ubuntu can be seen and felt in the spirit of willing participation, unquestioning cooperation, warmth, openness, and personal dignity demonstrated by the indigenous black population. From the cradle, every black child inculcates these qualities so that by the time adulthood is reached, the ubuntu philosophy has become a way of being. The principles of ubuntu must be applied to the new generation of our children to not just pursue the Western dream but to use collective gifts for the community."
Ubuntu: Applying African Philosophy in Building Community
**All photos unless otherwise commented on created in befunky.com
This post is in response to the Question: What is the Root of the Conflict between Mankind?
What needs are not being met? by @ecotrain