Finding Your Cultural Milieu

You'll notice if you haven't already, that there are others who participate in the very same thing you take enjoyment in. This might seem like a simple common sense observation, although it's very telling about a fundamental aspect of humanity.

Each place that I've lived or traveled to, I've observed how regardless of what people do for a living or the social/political conditioning they're under, people will find pleasure in some activity where these issues are abandoned for the time being. Out in a surf lineup you'll be catching waves with police officers alongside lawyers; go to a festival and there'll be millionaires right next to poor bohemian types. These divisions become largely irrelevant when individuals partake in shared interests.

The only thing that really separates people from one another is their views on life and how one chooses to live. Ancestry, race, ethnicity, education level, political factions, religion, age, attainments, and other categorizations are secondary and superficial if not a false appearance. Of course these groupings might all be something shared by a particular culture, though the characteristics of a group is not the distinguishing division between one person over another.

Commerce for all it's faults, is still the obvious example where you see people who have nothing alike in manners or temperament, associate as individuals in the marketplace looking to gain either by selling or buying products and services. The market, especially a plain free market has no bias against the character of a person, what is at stake concern is just purely exchange. The first explorers of new lands were merchants who were out to make a buck; and they didn't care who would buy them as long as someone did, prejudice if it was even there, was an afterthought to these people.

Nevertheless, when you share commonalities between random people it feels more comfortable, open, and easy to get along. Go to any event or environment catering to a specific interest and you'll see how it's made up of all different types of folks where those previous categorizations are essentially forgotten. They are all primarily there to enjoy activities such as tennis, skateboarding, opera, geotagging, or dance.

This aspect of tribalism, if you want to call it that, is perhaps the only pure and certainly the most cosmopolitan of a normally destructive instinct which the great portion of humanity still holds to this day. Instead, this "tribal" mentality revolves around coming together based on individuals voluntarily choosing what they enjoy and creating a lifestyle around it. It can be universal practiced, not forced upon, and it's a great way to apply your energies to live a more humane and wholesome life without wasting time in reform movements which are inherently futile.

Digital communities such as here on Steemit serve as an immediate case of people coming together to blog and there are even encompassing sub-communities revolving around particular interests like crypto or travel.

Get in where you fit in—participate in some endeavor, whatever it may be, so you can appreciate them as part of your cultural milieu and not letting yourself get caught up in the negative circumstances of life.

img src