Essays From West of 98: Tribe and Community
What makes us tick as humans?
It’s a rather existential question that has dogged any number of thinkers for centuries. I am no philosopher (I certainly don’t have a philosophy degree from NYU like Dalton in “Road House”) but this question is deeply important to the concept of community and how to renew and grow the connection between people and community.
A few years ago, I was recommended the book “Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging” by Sebastian Junger. Like 74.3% of my book recommendations, it came from the book discussions on Ed Roberson’s Mountain and Prairie podcast. It is a short but powerful book. Journalist Sebastian Junger (who also penned “The Perfect Storm”) examines the human instinct to seek belonging and purpose in life. It is the shared human connection that draws people together. Junger explores this shared connection—“tribe”—through indigenous cultures, combat veterans in war, and more. He also explores the downside of life when humans lack positive tribal connections.
A while back, I observed that the first negative reference in the Bible was that it was not good for man to be alone. Junger’s observations are an expansion of that very idea. Humans need connection with other humans. It creates a sense of belonging, meaning, and purpose. It creates a feeling that we have something worth fighting for. It is a life and a spirit of community worth saving and preserving.
In “The Need to Be Whole,” Wendell Berry observes that as our society has become more mobile and less oriented to place, it has become more fractious. An agrarian society is typically oriented around place. People generate their living from their individual place and buy and sell goods and services within local markets. People feel a connection to the people and place, which we call “community.” When those communities struggle, decline, and collapse, the people move on, often looking for a new spirit of community. But in a society that has largely de-emphasized the meaning and spirit of place, people often struggle to find that connection in a new place or in the current place that has less positive meaning. Berry points out that much fractious political discourse comes from this very problem—if people struggle to find meaning in place or community, they will find a red or a blue jersey on which to orient things. Instead of fighting to save or improve a place, the human instinct for tribe manifests itself in “saving” abstract political ideals. And far too often, there are political demagogues of all stripes who are eager to use that human instinct for their own gain. Vote for me, I’ll save you!
Today, I do not have a grand solution to this problem. But if you have never read “Tribe,” I encourage you to do so. It will help orient your mind around the problem of humans finding and lacking purpose in life.
Humans need purpose. Our brains will find purpose somewhere, whether healthy or unhealthy. If we channel that human instinct once again into the improvement of place, then we will restore the strength and shared spirit in those places that we call “community.”
James Decker is the Mayor of Stamford, Texas and the creator of the West of 98 website and podcast. Contact James and subscribe to these essays at westof98.substack.com and subscribe to West of 98 wherever podcasts are found.