“All human beings only want two things in life. They want happiness, and they want hope for a better future. So we must show people what happiness actually is, and make them see that better future is not only possible, but inevitable. As long as we do what it takes to make it happen.”
Tribalism is the most powerful force in the world.
It’s the binding magnetism that exponentially increases our power as a species.
It can focus the energy of humanity like a laser beam.
Giving us the ability to cut through anything that stands in our way.
And allowing us to create massive change in the world.
Which can be a good thing…
But it can also be a very destructive thing.
And the bigger the tribe, the bigger the affect.
Which is why most people think that we have a population problem.
Because we are destroying this planet exponentially on par with our population growth.
But the real problem isn’t just growth.
That’s a cop out.
An easy answer for simple people.
The truth is that it all depends on the collective actions of humanity.
When I use to work in the bar industry we had similar problems.
But it wasn’t about the numbers.
All it took was a few people who wanted to kill each other to make it a terrible night.
But if we had a thousand people who all loved each other, it was a great night.
We don’t have a population problem.
We have an asshole problem.
Greedy, selfish, scared little monkeys.
Deathly afraid of insignificance and tribal exclusion.
Thinking that the only way they can be significant is through fear or greed.
Either hurt people so they fear you, or collect the most resources so they envy you.
But people are forgetting something very simple.
To be valued, all you have to do is be valuable.
It’s not exactly rocket science.
It’s biology.
We value people that help us, and make our lives better.
So as an individual, this makes life quite a simple thing to figure out.
Figure out how you can help people, and then go help them.
As for humanity as a whole, it’s a little more complex to explain, but just as easy to understand.
Like any tribe, unification is absolutely paramount.
Without it you cannot win.
The military has perfected this in the form of decentralized command.
The lead commander figures out what the desired end state is, and then communicates it in the form of the “commander’s intent”.
The commander’s intent is a simple statement to communicate exactly what we’re trying to accomplish and why.
By having this one simple piece of common knowledge, it doesn’t matter if your team leader gets taken out by a scud missile.
Because everybody still knows what we’re trying to accomplish.
We can lose all communication with mission command, but we still know what we’re doing and why wey’re doing it.
In sports, the lead commander would be the coach.
The commander’s intent would be to win the game.
Everybody knows the rules of the game, and now we just play to win.
We don’t need to know exactly how we’re going to make that happen.
We just go out and play.
We adapt, we adjust, and we play as hard as we possibly can.
Working as a team to win the game.
Trying to fulfill the commander’s intent.
Now imagine if that didn’t exist.
If there was no common vision around what we’re doing, or why we’re doing it.
And if everybody on the team thought that we were running a different play.
If the quarterback’s plan was to throw a Hail Mary into the end zone.
But some players think that we’re kicking a field goal.
Others think that we’re playing defence.
And the receivers are grabbing a beer and a hot dog with the cheerleaders.
Chances are we wouldn’t be winning the Superbowl.
Because we are a very confused group of people.
There’s no common vision to unite us.
No leadership showing us a path to victory.
No cheerleaders there to support us.
This would be an absolutely laughable game to watch.
We would get savagely destroyed.
And what if the military soldiers had no unified purpose?
Are we just give everybody some bazookas and F-22s and tell them to go have fun?
Probably not, because that would be chaotic, pointless, and pretty stupid.
But think about humanity.
Everybody’s out there running a different play.
There’s no unification around a common vision or purpose.
There’s no leadership showing us a path to victory, or giving us hope for a better future.
Because we don’t even know what game we’re playing.
We’re just confused and divided.
But the game of life is very simple.
The rules are encoded within our DNA.
We just need to focus on what we are, instead of who we are.
This is how we can unite humanity and save the world.
So let’s get started…
First we have to understand that all human being only want two things.
Happiness and the hope for a better future.
And realistically, hope for a better future is just more happiness in the future.
Okay, so humans just want to be happy.
Seems like a good target.
But what is happiness?
If you ask a hundred people, you’ll get a hundred different answers.
They will list off a whole bunch of things that cause happiness, but won’t be able to explicitly tell you what it is.
Because they don’t know.
They were never taught, and never stopped to actually think about it.
Never stopped to define the target they’re going to spend their whole lives trying to hit.
But if you don’t know what the target is, then how can you ever expect to hit it?
You’re basically hunting with your eyes closed.
Just shooting at anything that makes a sound.
But happiness is literally only one thing.
Once you know it, you can build your life around doing things to become happy.
And avoid all of the things that will make you miserable.
Because you’ll know the difference.
So here’s the reality…
“Happiness is just a chemical reaction in your brain.”
Once again, not rocket science, just biology.
And very important biology if you really stop and think about the purpose of happiness.
Or if you actually want to survive.
Because happiness is just a chemical reward for doing things that keep us alive.
Anybody in history that was happy to go around slapping grizzly bears didn’t make it into the gene pool.
So their DNA did not move on to the next level.
Eventually the pool got emptied of all the bear slapping idiots, and so now we’re only left with people who think that slapping grizzly bears is a bad idea.
It doesn’t make them happy, it makes them run.
Which allows them to live and have lots of babies that are scared of bears.
Our DNA has evolved in a way so that we get rewarded chemically for doing things that help us survive.
And it punishes us chemically for doing things that threaten our survival.
Pretty simple, and most people can comprehend that part.
But this next part is where ignorance is not bliss.
If you do not understand this next part you will live a life of torturous hell.
Always feeling like you’re chasing happiness, but you can only ever catch it for a second.
Then it disappears.
And you have to start chasing again.
Because there are two different types of happiness.
There’s pleasure, and there’s fulfillment.
Pleasure is based on survival in the moment, and fulfillment is based on your overall probability of survival.
Eating food makes us happy.
Because if it didn’t, we wouldn’t do it.
And then we would die.
Water makes us happy.
Sex makes us happy.
Compliments make us happy.
Pleasure is a chemical reward for doing things that help you survive.
But it’s fleeting.
You get a shot of dopamine and you’re done.
But fulfillment is a different story.
Fulfillment is based on your overall probability of survival.
If you slap a grizzly bear and now you’re running for your life, you’re not going to be very fulfilled.
Because you’re about to die, and your body lets you know that your probability of survival isn’t great.
But if you have all the food, water, and protection you could ever need, have billions of dollars, and everybody absolutely loves you, then you would probably be quite fulfilled.
Because your overall probability of survival looks pretty good.
Pleasure is happiness in the moment, and fulfillment is our constant state of happiness.
So fulfillment what we truly want more of.
Not pleasure.
I mean, pleasure is fine.
But it just doesn’t last.
Which is why it can never truly make us happy.
Because we will always want more.
It doesn’t matter how much we get, it will never be enough.
Fulfillment is what will keep us happy over the long term.
So now the question becomes how do we increase our fulfillment?
Simple…
By increasing our probability of survival.
And what increases our probability of survival more than anything else?
Having a large tribe of quality people who love us and value us highly.
Why?
Because if we’re sick, they will take care of us.
If we’re hungry, they will feed us.
And if we need shelter, they will house us.
This has nothing to do with who we are as individuals.
It has everything to do with what we are as animals.
We are a tribal species.
It’s hard coded into our DNA.
Being in a tribe gives us the best overall chances of survival.
Tribal exclusion usually meant certain death.
Which is why we are deathly afraid of it.
The people of history who weren’t afraid of tribal exclusion got excluded.
Their DNA decided to exit the gene pool.
So now all we have left are a bunch of scared little tribal monkeys.
This is what we are.
All of us.
Every single one.
Knowing this will set you free.
Because understanding the difference between pleasure and fulfillment is truly the difference between a life of happiness and a life of misery.
There is a reason that we have so many millionaires and billionaires who kill themselves.
They could buy all the pleasure in the world, but they had no fulfillment.
Because there are two different ways that you can make money in this world.
Either helping people or hurting people.
People who make money helping people are incredibly fulfilled.
Because they are incredibly valued by society.
Their sense of tribal inclusion, and therefore their sense of fulfillment, is sky high.
But if you get rich hurting people, you will not be valued by society.
You will never have a sense of tribal inclusion, because nobody will ever want you in the tribe.
Therefore you will never have any sense of fulfillment.
And all of your money will be worthless.
You will just keep spending it on pleasure, trying to fill that hole within your soul.
But it’s an endless black hole that cannot be filled with pleasure.
Only fulfillment.
The only possible way to be valued within humanity, is to be valuable to humanity.
When our species can come to realize this, humanity will change.
Unification will replace division.
Because we will finally realize that we’re actually all on the same team.
And we all want the same thing.
Just happiness and hope for a better future.