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increase in number. The essence of humanity is that of nation, the essence of nation is
that of the tribe, and the essence of the tribe is that of family. The degree of warmth
involved in the relationship decreases proportionately with the increase in size of the
social unit. This is an indisputable social fact denied only by those who are ignorant of it.
The social bond, cohesiveness, unity, intimacy and love are stronger at the family level
than at the tribal level, stronger at the tribal level than that of the nation, and stronger at
the level of the nation than that of the world.
Advantages, privileges, values and ideals based on social bonds exist where those bonds
are natural and undoubtedly strong. They are stronger at the family level than at the level
of the tribe, stronger at the tribal level than that of the nation, and stronger at the nation's
level than that of the world. Thus, these social bonds, benefits, advantages and ideals
associated with them are lost wherever the family, the tribe, the nation or humankind
vanish or are lost. It is, therefore, of great importance for human society to maintain the
cohesiveness of the family, the tribe, the nation and the world in order to benefit from the
advantages, privileges, values and ideals yielded by the solidarity, cohesiveness, unity,
intimacy and love of family, tribe, nation and humanity.
In the social sense, the familial society is better than that of the tribe, the tribal society is
better than that of the nation, and the society of the nation is better than world society with
respect to fellowship, affection, solidarity and benefits.
THE MERITS OF THE TRIBE
Since the tribe is a large family, it provides its members with much the same material
benefits and social advantages that the family provides for its members, for the tribe is a
secondary family. What must be emphasized is that, in the context of the tribe, an
individual might indulge himself in an uncouth manner, something which he would not do
within the family. However, because of the smallness in size of the family, immediate
supervision is not exercised, unlike the tribe whose members continually feel that they are
under its supervision. In view of these considerations, the tribe forms a behaviour pattern
for its members, developing into a social education which is better and more noble than
any school education. The tribe is a social school where its members are raised to absorb
the high ideals which develop into a behaviour pattern for life. These become
automatically rooted as the human being grows, unlike classroom education with its
curricula - formally dictated and gradually lost with the growth of the individual. This is so
because it is formal and compulsory and because the individual is aware of the fact that it
is dictated to him.
The tribe is a natural social "umbrella" for social security. By virtue of social tribal
traditions, the tribe provides for its members collective protection in the form of fines,
revenge and defence; namely, social protection. Blood is the prime factor in the formation
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of the tribe, but it is not the only one because affiliation is also a factor in the formation of
the tribe. With the passage of time, the differences between the factors of blood and
affiliation disappear, leaving the tribe as one social and physical unit, though it remains
fundamentally a unit of blood in origin.
THE NATION
The nation is the individual's national political "umbrella"; it is wider than the social
"umbrella" provided by the tribe to its members. Tribalism damages nationalism because
tribal allegiance weakens national loyalty and flourishes at its expense. In the same way,
loyalty to the family flourishes at the expense of tribal loyalty and weakens it. National
loyalty is essential to the nation but, at the same time, it is a threat to humanity.
The nation in the world community is similar, to the family in the tribe. The more the
families of a tribe feud and become fanatical, the more the tribe is threatened. The family is
threatened when its individual members feud and pursue only their personal interests.
Similarly, if the tribes of a nation quarrel and pursue only their own interests, then the
nation is undermined. National fanaticism expressed in the use of force against weak
nations, or national progress which is at the expense of other nations, is evil and harmful
to humanity. However, strong individuals who have self-respect and are aware of their own
individual responsibilities are important and useful to the family, just as a strong and
respectable family, which is aware of its importance, is socially and materially beneficial to
the tribe. Equally useful to the whole world is a progressive, productive and civilized [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]