In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep.Albert Einstein said so, and like so many things he suggested about our universe, his insights still struggle their way into the mainstream meme pool.
His allusion to biblical stories demonstrate his universal geniosity, but as a non-specialist for psychology this revelation of the group mind remains hidden. We have many flock of sheeps nowadays (like always, globally seen), and not all of them organise themselves around religious themes. Music, Sport, Fashion, etc create a cornucopia of 'flocks' with its own set of rules, loves and hates. As we learn from Howard Bloom, human beings are a social species, solitary survival (in evolutionary sense) impossible.
Whether we like it or not, we get assigned to flocks, chose them ourselves or get adopted. Being male, white and german brightened my knowledge of prejudices immensely. Back to Einstein. An immaculate sheep obeys the rules, so must in first place know the rules. As each flock has its own rule set, mostly behaviourly and not written transmitted, choosing a different flock often causes conflict (sorted out by conformity enforcers).
A sheep straying away from the safety of the flocks has to face predators on its own, its survival becomes highly unlikely. Humans are predators themselves, leaving the flock for a while isn't such a big deal - in most parts of the world there is no dangerous wild life left, it's just abundant with flocks of pacified predators.
As Einstein said, to trot along one must be a sheep in first place.
6 comments:
Too literally, don't you think? What Einstein meant saying that -I guess- is not about our need to belong to any community either for protection or for our well-being in general, but the simple behaviour of sheeps, not questioning, not rebelling, accepting what arrives without fighting or struggling.
Putting it more clear. Human beings are not sheeps. And as predators we can choose to be like eagles.
Isabel, fighting the good fight in Spain
Difficult question. Social behaviour contributes to our evolutionary success, although most comparisons to social structures among animals don't really help understanding human nature.
Sheep can't question or rebel anyway, I think Albert rather poked some fun at the fact that humans can react like a frightened flock of sheep.
Never underestimate the social component in human existence, without others we would get nowhere.
I find the phrase raises an important port about the need for conflict. Humans are social but in more cases than not we are still tribal - as you point out. An important part of the progress of these tribes, including both low level (region) and high level (all human existence) is when the outcome of conflict or struggle of some sort. We rarely make a lot of progress whilst sitanding around with friends filling our faces with food gained from little person struggle. Even learning to correctly avoid the poisons around us requires, in the least, one of us to have ventured out and tried that poison.
That said. I agree very much with you winston. In order to be a part of the group one must be able to adhere to or better still posess the groups attributes.. One must be one of the group in order to be able to be one of the group. In order to obtain the benefits of that group, especially in today's western and developed economies, requires cooperation. Further cooperation as you say is a key strategy to success
Thanks, Crowie for your comment. I slightly disagree with your summary though. The tribe I see possible has more than 7 billion members, and certainly struggles at the moment a bit, but that's of minor importance. A tribe that big cannot function along conformity enforcement (One must be one of the group in order to be able to be one of group), but self-organised along the diversity of all participants.
Helping each other is part of our nature, and linked to our internal reward system. Self-organised group cooperation, united towards a goal, diversified as individual, creates empowering experiences, a win-win situation for all involved.
Cooperation outside the flock needs respect and love, but that makes it worthwhile.
A very good point
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