...you can feel it: we need our tribes. We need our bonds, our alliances, our security, our missions, our rituals, even our traditions; we need to belong. And yet, we also know that tribalism is part of the problem, part of the narrow mindedness, dysfunctional competition and collective action failure at the root of the world’s problems. We need our tribes to be less like self-serving interest groups and more like nourishing eco-systems learning how to help each other in a regenerative, awakening world.  

It was not just the above paragraph that resonated with me; the whole article did. It is entitled AWAKENING THE TWELVE TRIBES OF TRANSFORMATION, subtitled "How the human tendency towards tribalism can be harnessed to bring about a society focused on the right kind of unity, rather than the wrong kind of division" and written by Jonathan Rowson. In his schematic of twelve tribes I most identify with is the Metamodern pioneers but probably few others share this affinity. In this tribe I am very much a follower, not a leader.

When I first arrived at Lakeside I thought I found my tribe. I joined the Lakeside Freethinkers, a group convened by Ken Crosby. But I quickly realized that this organization really consisted of two tribes that did not easily coexist. The founder and roughly half of the group were militant atheists and were the ingroup. The rest of us self-identified as secular humanists and we were the outgroup. I was active in the Lakeside Freethinkers for several years but eventually I lost interest. 

Over the years my concerns with growing societal polarization has steadily increased. The left/right, secular/religious, masculine/feminine, white/black, rich/poor and many other divides seem to be deepening. But lately I have come to realize that there is a better, but more problematic, framework for understanding this dynamic.

In an article written by Peter N. Limberg and Conor Barnes, The Memetic Tribes Of Culture War 2.0, they identify 33 warring tribes. Our society is better understood as badly fragmented rather than as suffering from bipolar divides. Some of these tribes are potentially very dangerous, particularly QAnoners, and a few members seem to reside in Lakeside.

What the metamodern pioneers understand is that no tribe will win the cultural war. Somehow a new grand narrative needs to emerge, a story so big and so powerful that significant numbers of people will cease their battles and live in peace. I am hopeful, but not optimistic, that this will occur in my lifetime.

I applaud work such as More in Common which seeks to bridge divides.

More in Common works on strengthening societies against the increasing threats of polarization and social division. We aim to build more united, inclusive and resilient societies in which people believe that what they have in common is greater than what divides them.

More in Common identifies seven tribes based on political orientation:

I took the quiz and, no surprise, I landed in the Traditional Liberals tribe. I fit the profile but it does not energize me. I seek to transcend the liberal / conservative divide.

Conor Barnes and  Peter Limberg are instrumental in attempts to have meaningful dialogue between tribes, outlined in their article Hippocratic Oath for the Culture War.

It is too dangerous for us to indulge in outrage—and too easy. We take the easy way out when we let our tribal instincts control us. But we can use our tribalism against itself. By taking the oath, we step away from our memetic tribes and closer to a pan-tribal collaboration. We will never agree on everything. Our values vary too widely; our passions run too hot. But we still have a choice. We can accept a world in which we live in fear of outrage mobs, or we can choose to cooperate, even agonistically. YouTubers, freelancers, editors, bloggers, commentators, bystanders: the choice is ours.

After my false start with the Lakeside Freethinkers I continued to seek a place that would meet my need to belong. I found online communities of interest but I also wanted face to face interaction with real people. In 2018 I launched the Lakeside Pathfinders and it slowly evolved. By the end of 2019 I was very pleased with what had developed as a screening tool. I was very pleased with the new people I was meeting. But unfortunately we are currently not meeting in person because of the coronavirus crisis. I am looking forward to once again being with my tribe of like-minded people and until then my online communities suffice.

In July I read an article, Eric Weinstein Mistakes an Enemy for a Friend by Daniel Addison, that I thought was a very insightful example of the challenge of effective communication between members of different tribes.