Making our small world feel more connected under one big sky
By Ray Brimble, posted on September 25, 2015
When I was a child I rode in a small boat down a benevolent river. Images of other children dressed in the garb of many nations smiled down from above us, joyfully singing “It’s a small, small world.” To a child, the vision seemed obvious — a bright future wrapped in global harmony, with peace and justice for all. God bless everyone. No exceptions.
Indeed in my lifetime the world seems to have dramatically shrunk in both distance and access. The world DOES seem smaller. Globalization has brought us closer together, but to many, there’s the feeling that we are on top of one another, furiously competing in a zero-sum game with jobs exported, terrorism and drugs imported, and everyone’s traditional values being trampled. In this dystopian view, the smiling faces of Disney’s vision of the world’s children have been replaced by snarling zombies eyeing their next meal.
Tribalism is back, and it fuels discussion on major networks, in newspapers and blogs around the world. “They” (insert your favorite here, be it immigrants, the Chinese, robots, whatever) are a threat to “us” (your religion, political party, ethnicity, region, etc.). Tribalism dictates a circling of the wagons around perceived notions of purely defined community to protect against “them” which can be pretty much everyone and everything else.
In some ways, this might be a natural reaction to the homogenizing effects of globalization. Tribal values can be a force of preservation of tradition, diversity, and even freedom. But here’s the problem with the dark side of tribalism. It ignores the fact that we are all part of many tribes simultaneously, and by only identifying with one particular tribe, each one of us dismisses many other parts of ourselves, and of our connection with a larger community.
To understand this concept better, imagine that your “identity” is a series of concentric circles. At the core is your dominant vision of yourself. This might be your ethnicity, your place of birth, your religion, even your favorite football team (yes, YOU, Aggies!). That’s your tribe, right? But it doesn’t stop there. No matter how strong your dominant tribal vision, you are also a member of other tribes. Visualize additional concentric tribal circles around your core: Methodist, politically conservative, architect, lover of ′80s music, neighbor and friend of Sandeep, married to Maria, who’s family immigrated to Texas five generations ago, father of Michael, who last year told you he is gay. All of these, and more are also your ” tribes,” whether you wish to acknowledge them or not. It gets complicated — but also very, very wonderful.
Welcome to the geography of your “self.”
This geography resembles circles within circles, or ” a wheel within a wheel.” It is your unique fingerprint, and is added to as you go through this life, like the rings of a tree. It also contains points of intersection and overlap with other tribes and people. Be mindful of your geography and of its many intersections with the other “tribes.” This is the essence of both community and an individual human being.
An old Native American saying that sometimes began intertribal pow-wows said, “We may be of different tribes but we all live under one sky.” No matter how different and imperiled you believe your own tribe might be, I challenge anyone to deny this truth. We are empowered with a fundamental meeting point.
The friends of Interfaith Action of Central Texas will gather for the festive annual celebration of this truth of our shared humanity at the Umlauf Sculpture Garden, 6:30-9 p.m. Oct. 6 for “A Night Under One Sky.” Tickets are $50 and at interfaithtexas.org. We have witnessed the expansion of our community of friends at this gathering as Austin itself grows and diversifies.
Disney was right — it is a small, small world after all, and we all share a big, big sky