An Ant Hill As An Allegory For Micro And Macro Collectives

I recently stepped on an ant mound by accident. They quickly began to rebuild their home, I noticed (after making sure that none had gotten in my shoe. A few hours later I was passing through the same area and, careful not to step on it again, I marveled at an immaculate ant hill. No sign of my shoe print was there; instead, a perfect volcano-shaped hill was located in its place.

Communities are an interesting thing. A single individual would take years of laboring, thinking, and innovating to do what a single community could do in days or hours. Communities have the promise within them of much effectualness and success. Monuments and empires are possible through them, as we can see by looking at history. But as witnessed over and over throughout history, communities not united can be harmful.

Every constituent of the community is crucial to its success. Every cog in the machine is equally essential. I've often heard it muttered under the helpless breath of one individuals or another, "What will my vote matter?" or "It's not like having me there will make a difference." Perspective is what these individuals are lacking. It likely won't mean the end of the world if one person doesn't pitch in. However, you might soon have a problem if one individual doesn't contribute, and then another. If an individual of the community vanishes, that's less of an issue. The other members of a community must make up for a person who is still present but just not producing, or worse, hindering progress made.

When some members are productive and some are useless, this produces an imbalance in a society that believes that all should have access to the same resources. In time, the resources will be used up, and those that produce might lose the motivation or desire to continue to produce.

Let's call the aforementioned scenario of an imbalanced community a micro community. Imagine this disproportion is happening to a nearby community to yours. What happens when the neighboring community begins to really struggle and asks for help from your community? To help the other community, what would it mean to your community members? Would you all of a sudden start having to labor harder and produce more? Suddenly your community is subjected to an asymmetry. As individuals of your own community choose not to contribute, because it's easier for them, and instead rely upon the neighboring community, the asymmetry sustains itself. Suddenly the macro community as a whole is affected.

Some perspective in both micro and macro communities would do them each good, in my opinion. A pal recently explained how one group is approaching this issue by empowering individuals at a macro level. This group is NXIVM, which is held to be a vital resource for expanding this kind of thinking, one by one.

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com

How to Advice .com