The Me/We equation

     Humans are social animals. They live in groups and depend upon one another for protection and physical and emotional support. Alone we aren't much of a match for Nature but as cooperative collections of individuals humans rule the planet. Human success is due in large part to their language capacity which allows them to share complex ideas and imagine things no one has experienced. The complexity of their language also absorbs natural orders of things hidden in Nature and allows the naming of reoccurring events increasing their predictive powers and expanding their scope of awareness. Beyond their articulate tongue, humans possess an opposable thumb and walk upright with hands free to use the tools their language and their inventiveness leads them to fashion. Humans name each other, and the tribes to which they belong, and as with all social animals they differentiate between their personal needs and the needs of the pack. Like all social animals living in mutually supportive groups they also establish relationships, position and rules, and establish a relative balance between their personal needs and the needs of the tribe. This balance between the individual and the group is the "Me/We" equation.
     The "Me/We" equation is weighted and balanced by circumstance but is perpetuated and observed as a matter of perception and is sustained by the acquiescence of the individuals within the group. Nearly all ancient societies were weighted heavily in favor of the "We" side of the equation. Individuals thought of themselves as subservient to the ordered society around them and were sustained by myth and sometimes tyrannical rule, and marched in step without complaint. Order was imposed and maintained partly by fear of punishment but also by the feeling of security afforded by being a part of a greater and protective whole. The Roman Empire was expanded by force but persisted by being all inclusive and making certain all of it's citizens benefited by being under Roman rule. The "We" perception was weighted heavily against the "Me" for most of human history and has provided the glue that allowed empires to persist for centuries.
     A few thousand years ago, however, a "Me" message began to take hold that, for good or ill, has tilted the equation toward "Me" as being equally or more important than "We" and we have been struggling with this shifting balance ever since. One can establish numerical values and assign them to the "Me/We" equation for periods of recent history and to Kingdoms and Nation states. 8Me=2We, (or the State is four times as important as the individual), might describe communism under Stalin for example, but I will leave that fruitless task to others and use the concept of a "Me/We" equation only as critical thinking tool that can be used to shed light on many of our current organizations and political views and to point out that religion has added an additional variable to the equation, "The Other Me" or "OMe".
     The "Other Me" is the concept that beyond ones perception of their responsibility to their tribe, and themselves is another "Me" called their soul that is responsible not to their tribe, (unless the leader or Emperor is a god},  but to an all seeing God that will save all "OMe" believers from death and reward or punish them according to how well they have obeyed the precepts of their religion. We now have a "Me/We" equation that looks like this "OMe = Me + We".  To balance this equation the "OMe" must always outweigh the sum of ones allegiance to both self and tribe.
     One can apply the equation to one's self for a self evaluation, to another persons perception of their status with regard to the strength of their allegiances, to an organization, a political party, a terrorist group or a nation state, not as a clear measure of the truth but as an illuminating exercise in critical thinking.
    
    
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