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Nobody:Somebody

A thought crossed my mind the other day:
I am nobody
We are somebody

I thought about how valuable it is to think in this framework to reduce ego and being self-centered. How to think beyond my personal needs and make my actions and efforts on the part of something larger, beneficial, and more powerful than myself. I can choose to give over my personal, individual needs to put my efforts towards that of the whole. I can come together with others who are like-minded to build something greater than what we can achieve as individuals.

My thought process continued though that this concept is likely a central tenet, philosophy, or doctrine of gangs or terrorist groups. In this case it's a tool to break down the individual, to strip him of his identity and replace it with total subservience to the group goals and ideals. In this case the needs of the individual are erased to serve the needs of the group, which are really the needs of the leader or leaders.

Herein lies the fundamental difference between the two applications of such a perspective philosophy.

How, then, to apply the positive side of this philosophy? Particularly, living in Israel, this is challenging. The default mentality here is "I am the most important", unless there are small children in need of something. I see the problems such self-centered mentalities present when scaled up to the national-international level. Why are we locked in so many conflicts - here and elsewhere in the world? Because as humans we are wired to be self-centered it's easy to think this way, it's natural. So we have to fight our natural instincts at selfishness to rise above it and conquer the baser instincts to become part of something larger than ourselves.
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