The manifestation of individualism around the world has made people more entitled and narcissistic more than ever. The sense of self-expression and self-love has found its way to tarnish the sense of a ‘true’ community and respect for others. We strive to become independent and have the ability to stand on our own two feet yet most of us would make the worst kind of roommates. And if people can’t stand to live with you, there are not too many places to be but by yourself.
However, this seed of thought was planted into our brains at a very young age. People tell us that we are unique and different and that we possess qualities that make us stand out. Science however is not on our side. While we think we look different and unrelated, we are 99.9% the same and merely 0.1% odds. We are not unique. Yes, we might have one thing we are extremely good at, but you will find that others do too. We share knowledge and skills passed on from generation to generation that helped us thrive as a group. Without each other, we would still be a simple Homo (genus of humans) that were hunters and gatherers. Homo sapiens only thrive because of their social skill and shared skills. Which makes it threatening to our civilization as individualism is taking over.
Imagine if we did not share our intelligence. If Thomas Edison did not share his invention with the rest of the world. If our ancestors did not teach each other how to make fire. If Cerf and Kahn did not gift us the internet. We only are a collectively enhance society because we share our skills and knowledge with each other. Together we were able to stop epidemics and widespread diseases that use to kill us off.
Individualism is also probably the cause of depression in society. Because while individualism has encouraged ordinary people to realize their potential and inner depth, it in consequence made those that feel they lack it insignificant.
Our community also enables this problem. We create groups of people that only share commonalities with us in belief, traditions, lifestyle, and ethnicity that feeds into our sense of individualism, cheering each other on what we have in common in order to walk away feeling prideful on our own. However, we need each other, just as an artist needs a scientist and a farmer needs a tailor. Islam needed Christianity. Christianity needed Hinduism and Buddhism, Hinduism needed Judaism, and Buddhism needed Spirituality, and so on and so forth. One gives rise to the other and without each other, they would be just legends and mythology.
True community is not one that contains only people who are similar but one that shares all kinds of differences. Homo sapiens unlike other Homos were able to succeed and evolve because we had a great sense of sharing our skills and knowledge and work together as a species to thrive. Without each other’s help, we would have simply been like apes and chimpanzees with simple skills.
It is good to have a sense of self. To be content with what you have and what you are but to also accept what we lack and what we do not thrive. We are not that brilliant. Even the smartest of the smartest lack something that does not possess. To survive in our normal livelihood, we all depend on each other. We need farmers, architects, scientists, educators, philosophy, and all of the knowledge we can find and share with each other what we have and learn of what we do not.
If you want to rid yourself of these selfish doings, start by talking to people who are different from you and you will find things you can learn from them. We have evolved and can only continue to evolve with the help of each other.
References:
1. Article: Is Individualism good or bad?
2. Article: Individualism is Spreading…
3. Sapiens – A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
4. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/oldest-religions-in-the-world.html
