We are bombarded daily with news about wars, protests,
mass migration, growing inequality, economic dislocations, poverty, epidemics,
climate change, sectarianism, and so on.
Things seem to get worse in front of our eyes, before they get better. What is going on?
I am in particular befuddled by the surge in sectarian
violence. We are in the 21st
century yet it feels like we are reverting to the Dark Ages when religious
fervor trumped reason and respect for others’ beliefs.
A little
theory …
Some time ago, Clare Graves, a noted social scientist,
taught us that people rise through seven levels of
existence. At the very bottom, he
posited you would find those who are in a reactive
stage (children, the elderly, the disabled), people who need others to take
care of them because unable to do so on their own.
On the next rung, you will find those who live in a tribalistic condition where their
survival depends on the immediate and extended family unit. Loyalty to the
tribe is a requirement for one’s security and well being.
The third level is occupied by people Graves called ego-centric, a level populated by
individuals who focus on their personal needs and go about trying to meet
them. Egocentrics are known for their vociferous and confrontational argument, demanding a better deal.
Conservatives occupy the next level, folks who are focused on
maintaining and protecting what they have been able to achieve. Nixon rightly referred to them as the silent
voting majority. They want to keep the
lid on; they abhor violence and challenge to the status quo.
A few escape to the next level that Graves called manipulative. This group uses its cleverness, drive, and
ambition to achieve greater power and control.
Many try to get in, but few actually make it to this level.
Once the manipulative achieve their objectives and
accumulate a satisfactory level of resources and power, a small portion
advances to the sixth level that Graves calls socio-centric – a level where the focus shifts toward doing good,
helping others, sharing the wealth.
Folks who manage to graduate to this level establish most, if not all,
philanthropic foundations. Monastic
folks occupy this space, they manage to skip several layers.
It is rare, but possible to navigate to the ultimate
level that Graves calls the existential
level where the focus is on an exemplary and balanced life. I would like to add that very few occupy this
rung. And once you get there, it does
not mean that you will be able to stay.
Changes in circumstances push us down to the level commensurate with the
threat we face. This pancaking effect is
often sudden and unexpected.
So goes the
theory … now the practice.
Famines, wars, pestilence, and colonial practices
work to pancake some people to the tribal level. During this retreat, ideologies thrive on
resentments, xenophobia, and religious divisions. All that we have achieved as a civilized
world gets wiped out and re-written under narrow interpretations or
misinterpretations of religious scriptures.
I have worked and lived in the Middle East. My observations have been that the seeds for
sectarian warfare were planted long time ago by colonial powers, when they decided
to create arbitrary borders, when they amalgamated distinct
groups into artificial countries, and where their “divide and conquer” foreign
policies laid ground to an enormous amount of unfinished sectarian
business.
Most people flocking to join ISL from the West, in my
view, are disaffected young people.
Those coming from the region are mostly radicalized young people. Folks
who see a limited future in front of them: few job prospects, limited
educational opportunities, dislocated and/or orphaned by wars, wounded by
discrimination, and with other grievances.
They are folks trapped between the tribalistic and egocentric worlds,
desperate to get out and willing to take matters into their own hands to create
what they perceive a more just utopia.
They will resort to outrageous deeds to gain notoriety and publicity.
They are the disenchanted and they can be found in every continent, in every
country, and in every ethnic and religious group. Witness the many demonstrations in the West
against the "system", a system perceived to be stacked against
them.
Long term, bombs and economic quarantines will not
defeat them. They will continue to bleed
us while the root cause of their struggle goes unresolved, and not before their
grievances are addressed, and not until we lift the conditions that fuel their resentment.
This is my
view! What is yours?
