Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

FAMILY (What Tribe Do You Belong To?)
journal entry

According to the renowned E.O. Wilson, (Harvard professor, American biologist, researcher, theorist, naturalist and author), humans are all tribal. If you don’t belong to a tribe, you tend to be dysfunctional in your isolation and that leads to stuff that permeates the headlines today. (His biological specialty is myrmecology, the study of ants…and I recently became totally enamored of this man, a truth seeker and way ahead of his time like many trail blazers of science.)

Anyway, I could go on and on with pungent relevant quotes by Ed Wilson but that is not my quest this morning. I want to talk about Family or Families and our Tribes. There are our immediate families (good, bad or indifferent), our friends, our co-workers, peeps within our sphere that believe as we do, yadda, yadda, yadda… All are our Tribes and within that tribal mentality, a common thread, whether it be DNA or just belief systems.

In my particular case, I grew up in a close knit family whose main goal was to raise (and protect) functional, productive and self assured children with an altruistic bent. I was lucky that way, evidently, because I know (and live) with those that didn’t have that as a goal for their children. (Hence, wounded children who grow up to be wounded adults.) But, since my belief system says, “all happens for a reason, even if the reason isn’t apparent” I accept that the life lessons from those Tribes is exactly what is needed for them.

And the fact that I live (and lived) in a mixed Tribe of functional and dysfunctional, that too is just what I personally needed. We all, I believe, come into this life with many gifts and innate abilities (and that is a long story which I will spare you for now). My Family Tribe has a long and storied history which fascinates me to no end. My Friend Tribe, which intermixes with my Family Tribe (in the case of old and close friends who know the immediate family). And then there is my Work Tribe and this includes people that know me because of what I do…i.e. writers, artists, farmers, crafters, organizers, herbalists, mystics, musicians, etc… These folk are mostly, as I refer to them, Gypsies who live outside the norm of regular 8 to 5 type jobs, in fact, a lot of them shun that kind of lifestyle but do it if it is necessary for their immediate well being and that of their Families.

Then, in my case, there are the Supporter Tribes. Those people that love what the Gypsy Tribes do and allow us to live off of what we create, prop us up when we need a stake… (Hah! I am funny, at least I make myself laugh!)

My opinion (for what you may think it is worth) is that if you are not doing what you absolutely LOVE to do, you are in the wrong Tribe and are probably an emotional refugee, just getting by. To me, it doesn’t matter if one stays a waiter all of one’s life as long as it allows you to do the things that really matter to you. Being successful (and I don’t think for a minute that money and power and material things equates success!) is being happy within the Tribe you feel most comfortable in. If you want to belong to a Tribe of hobos, so be it, if it makes one happy…

I love my Tribes, I love being a part of a peaceful group that is not afraid of outsiders and puts out the welcome mat for any and all. What about your Tribe (and I know if you are reading this, you are a part of mine…)?

S.E.A.Lee
10052015
8:10 am
Kiki’s Night or as Nate calls it “Chicken Taco Night!!!”

I'm with you a 100%......have many tribes....have a reunion this Saturday with people that I shared every spare minute together from the age of ten years old until we became adults, and even then did a lot of camping with them through our thirties,,,,first kid-less, then with all the kids riding their big wheels down hills so steep they needed to take their feet off the pedals that were spinning way too fast for little feet....that was a most important tribe, as my family life was a little oppressive...so we learned how to play guitars, and stole off to the woods, behind the Maryland School for the Blind, and sipped wine and sung our hearts out....and I've never felt more alive....and many still live in this area though we don't get together as much, I could call and ask anyone for something, knowing they would be there. One woman is coming to MD. from California, some from Florida, Pennsylvania.....and we will sing again, and play our instruments...and bathe in something unique to many in my other tribes.... more on the other tribes later

One of best friends is an aging lesbian Hippie Gypsy that has totally lived off any accepted grid as measured by the masses...we still play music regularly....though my instrument of choice these days is my stand-up bass....the possibilities are endless if you open up to the the magic of the universe....She also had a stint in the Fla. Keys like myself....though we never met there....but I do wonder if the Keys shaped our thinking....I knew most every Hippie in the lower Keys, but she was staying on Christmas Tree Island, which I never visited

Thanx for sharing your tribal experiences...it's a most worthy topic of discussion

Thanks Saw, and thank you for sharing your Tribal memories as well...!

I don't know either Justwait but it made me smile... I n my case, I see no separation (or deviation) from nature...I am star stuff...