Removing Illusion Ii Stepping stones to enlightenment

[TheSeeker 1]

One concept has plagued my existence consistently throughout my life. It wasn't until recently that I recognized the source of this unhappiness. From a very young age I had a sense of seperation... it seemed as though I was born in the wrong age, the wrong continent, and perhaps the wrong planet. For many years I tried to go against my own nature so that I could fit in, so that I could get past being an outsider. Even though I learned to fit in, the result was not what I desired. Years of introspection led me to the following realizations.We create seperation through one concept, and that concept has created more ideologies that support that concept. That concept is inequality. There are several contributing factors that create inequality, but the one that seems to stand out in the crowd... "we are the chosen ones." If we are the chosen ones, then everyone else must not be. We are right, they are foolish. Whether it be race, religion, geographic location, finance, political views, sex, appearance, or any other affiliation. Peole justify unthinkable atrocities (genocide, murder, torture, etc) under one banner or a combination of several. We stop seeing our fellow beings as they are, and we see them as a collage of labels. Even worse is how the general public accepts these labels and decide that the way they are treated is their lot in life because life isn't fair. The priveledged have more then they could ever use while under-priveledged are left cold and hungry. People see themselves as better or worse then those around them... constantly judging and trying to get to the top of the heap. With each step up the ladder you become better then those below, yet there is still envy for those above. It is a miserable existence in my oppinion. We are all the chosen ones... we are all here. Variety is the spice of life. There is enough for everyone to have what they need without raping the planet. Peace can be accomplished through changing our mindset of consumption at all costs (or sticking our heads in the sand) to a mindset of finding harmony with every life on the planet. Change is inevitable, my hope is that we change for the better before we blow each other off the face of the planet while destroying what natural resoursces are left. We don't need a God to reign destruction upon us, we are doing a great job of that on our own. Our fellow humans are not the enemy, the enemy is ignorance. United we stand, divided we fall... it applies to all of humanity.

[Bikerman 2]

Belonging to a group seems to be a fundamental human need. On the smallest level we have the family and on a large level we have our country, but we evolved in groups bigger than family and much smaller than nations, so we have a need to belong to groups of size around 150 people. This was proposed back in the 1920s by a biologist who analysed many primate groups comparing the neocortex -- the "thinking" part of the mammalian brain -- volume with the size of primate social groups. Looking at the data from 38 primate genera and extrapolating to the human neocortex size, he predicted a human "mean group size" of approximately 150.

Interestingly this number seems to occur frequently in society - it is the approx size of a Neolithic farming village, the size of Hittite settlements, and the basic unit in professional armies from Roman times to the present.

Larger groups are unstable, since members do not know each other well enough to develop close loyalty bonds - we don't think of members as 'people' but rather as groups of people. For these larger groups to function requires a formal organisation structure with some heirarchy.

There are actually several 'natural' group sizes for humans. The smallest (3-5) is a "clique": the number of people from whom you would seek help in times of severe emotional distress. The 12-20 group is the "sympathy group": people with which you have special ties. 30-50 is the typical size of hunter-gatherer overnight camps, generally drawn from the same pool of 150 people.

 

No matter what size firm you work for, there will be only about 150 people you consider to be "co-workers." So in small companies accounting is done by Fred and Jane. In larger companies it is the 'accounts dept'.

The 500-person group is the "megaband," and the 1,500-person group is the "tribe." Fifteen hundred is roughly the number of faces we can put names to, and the typical size of a hunter-gatherer society.

Check a typical military structure out and you will find: squads of 10 to 15 (sympathy group) organized into platoons of three to four squads (hunter-gatherer camping group), organized into companies of three to four platoons (co-worker group), organized into battalions of three to four companies (megaband) organized into regiments of three to four battalions (tribe).

[anwiii 17]

bikerman, he was talking about society in general, not groups of people. get a clue, will ya? what does your post have to do with spirituality. it has more to do with psychology. now on topic with your post and the people YOU don't know, what do you call a person who doesn't have any friends to belong to any group who will be there for them? in my opinion, you would label this "group" of people outcasts. you know....the ones who try to make up for their own disability to think they "know it all" just to try and fit in. sound familiar?your response to a spirituality post wasn't even an argument or debate against it. i was surprised. i think you actually thought you could talk about spirituality.