The first thing I need to do here is define exactly what I mean when I use the word “community”. It’s more than just a group of animals living together. That’s a “pack”. Human community is not just a pack. It’s not much more, but I think the addition of “complex communication”

Since the advent of the human community, we have been constantly embroiled in a battle between people who are unwilling to act in the best interest of the community, and the systems we create to incentivize everyone to act in the best interest of the community.

In two high level categories, these systems are called Religion and Government.

In the thousands of years worth of experimentation, we have unfortunately found ourselves to be incapable of producing any system capable of consistently effecting the desired results. This may be primarily due to a combination of poor implementation and the fact that our communities have tended to grow faster than our systems are able to keep up.

Regardless of the reason, the reality, that these 2 systems seem to be incompetent, is inescapable. They just don’t work. If there is one thing we’ve learned better than all others, it is that almost anyone who is given any measure of control over these systems, seems destined to abuse them for personal gain. With only the rarest exception, we find our religious leaders scandalized by financial glut and sexual deviance. Our politicians have been distilled into a collective of greed and depravity; and I do not believe this is any fault of their own…

Evolved as we may be, we are still at the beginning of our journey. We are still plagued by the natural compulsion to hoard resources, compulsively reproduce, and defend our perceived territory on threat of death. Our old instincts, that we needed to survive are indeed a poison to our community. Deeper still, these instincts evolved in a time when our communities were miniscule; limited to a few dozen. They simply do not work in a community of 8 billion; and yes, we are all one community; like it or not!

If we accept that the limits of our community are defined by the limits of the impact of our behavior, then we must accept that any notion of an “isolated people” is at the top of it’s last breath.

There are scores of individuals that are still adamant that we remain isolated, although their idea of isolation is still far too broad to comprehend, and too chaotic to control with any government or system we have today. I have no reservations about openly stating that Nationalism is as hilariously useful as it is arrogant and cruel.

So what is the answer? I just simply don’t have the audacity to make such a bold claim as to have figured it out. However, I am audacious enough to suggest that the problem with the aforementioned systems is simply in that they have failed to properly emphasize the impact of their individual behavior. They have entirely failed to instill a sense of understanding of the gravity of their willingness to betray the established behavioral code, and that is because their teachers do not understand it either.

The problem with answering to an external enforcer, be it god or a court judge, is that it carries with it the natural insinuation that if you can hide your actions from your adopted enforcer, then we fool ourselves into believing that our secret trespasses have no real consequences. It is my vehement plea that they absolutely, always do.

The problem with judges is that they rely on law breakers being caught by law enforcers. The problem with God is that we paint a petty picture of a being that communicates only through internal vague impression, and we never hear it protest our behavior and have no tangible evidence of their disdain. Despite our clergy’s pleas for faith, we mostly remain content to ignore whatever voice may be requesting our adherence. In both scenarios, the systems of behavioral control fall flat on their face due to the simple fact that we are constantly asking people to act in the interest of a faceless 3rd party.

And so the clear course is one of individual accountability; one where behavioral ideals and beliefs are built upon a foundation of personal understanding with the hope of inspiring individual investment. It is the only way we will ever make any serious progress toward sustainable peace.