Greetings, Friendlies!
Are humans naturally good or naturally bad?
Question the premise.
Maybe humans are naturally tribal.
If I consider you as inside my tribe, I am naturally “good” to you. I will take care of you; I may even risk my life to save you or that which you love.
If I consider you outside my tribe, look out. I will eat you, destroy you for my own gain or pleasure, destroy you out of fear, maybe torture you to prove something about my own superiority, or at the very least I will completely ignore you, imagine you have no inner life, take no concern whatsoever for your welfare. (Ie, be naturally “bad”.)
Coming from a strong evolutionary perspective, I understand this tribalism as inherent to our evolutionary psychology; it is behavior/proclivity that allowed our ancestors to survive long enough to become ancestors. It is the wiring with which you and I arrived into the world.
The goal, as I see it, is to learn/train/cultivate such that our tribe becomes so large it encompasses the entire ecosystem. Maybe being itself.
Metta, anyone?
Dharma PhD 
4 replies on “Nothing Good Or Bad But Tribalism Makes it So”
Yes! Yes! Yes! Humans are inherently good, inherently bad, inherently tribal – and everything inbetween – all at the same time. Ebola, Zika, and Covid have given us an inkling of global “tribalism.” Dittto for some natural disasters. And bless the Olympics for bringing most of us together under the same “good” tent for a short time. The threat of invasion of Planet Earth by something in outer space may motivate Earthlings to achieve your goal lickety-split. Should we train ourselves to welcome the invaders – whomever/whatever it be? Have I seen too many movies? 🙄
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Hah! I have long had this idea myself…
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I believe that everyone is born with an inherent trait to take care of their own desires. Children will automatically pick up on “no” or “mine” but have a hard time with “yes” or sharing. Parents have to train children to become, as you call it, tribal. Taking care and believing that others are just as important as they are is a training thing.
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You’ve really exposed the character of my younger days, eh? 😹
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