Book 211 - A Year of Magical Learning (Part 3/5)

Reflection Title: Where Culture Forbids…Biology Enables!

Book – Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (Part 3/5)

Book Description: From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”

One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?

Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.

Reflection:

As we’ve discussed many a times on our journey together, culture is humanity’s collective superpower. The ability for us to communicate, spread an idea around the world, unite, create, and conjure up something new and beautiful into this world is truly incredible. It is truly unique and one of the main reasons why we are the dominant animal inhabiting this Earth.

However, culture is a double-edged sword.

With all the shared progress, growth, and prosperity culture can deliver, it comes with a hefty price tag. That price tag is standards, rules, norms, and expectations that we all must follow in order to manifest that original idea into reality. Often times, the cultures we belong to ask us to check our unique values at the door before entering, whether knowingly or unknowingly. For culture to work at scale, everyone must be united around a shared vision, values, and purpose for it to produce its magic.

This is a big sacrifice that individuals make for the collective. This sacrifice of subverting our personal values, ideas, and meaningful work in service to the collective can become a huge source of conflict eventually…I know it is for me at least.

We see the results of this every day in our modern-day society on a macro level. Marginalized individuals that didn’t choose the cultures they belong to want to express their unique selves and it turns into an all-out battle royale. Some very visible examples we see are fights for racial, gender, or sexual orientation equality just to name a few. However, these conflicts exist on a micro level in every culture that has ever existed.

This makes sense; remember, we are 90% Chimp and 10% Bee after all. Culture wants us to be 90% Bee, and 10% chimp.

When we subvert our inner creative and unique chimp, it is only a matter of time before that will bubble up to the surface and we will feel a need to rebel and express ourselves eventually.

There is a silver lining to all of this that Sapiens was instrumental in opening my eyes to seeing, the author shows us that where culture forbids, biology always enables.

That 90% individualistic, brilliant, and creative chimp that lives in all of us will never stop pushing the boundaries to figure out the limits of where our minds and bodies can take us. This is how we are made. If we can dream it, we’ll do it.

So be the 90% chimp you were designed to be. Dream of the life that you want to live and then go create it and bring it to life. It is guaranteed that someone out there in this world others will feel the same way you do, value the same things you do, appreciate what you are trying to build, and want to unite together to make it better. Biology also made us 10% bee after all. People will follow eventually and before you know it you will deep into building a culture of your own around these shared ideas, values, and norms.

That is the beauty of this life and humanity.

Here is what is most important to remember, don’t get to upset when others start to push back against the world you are creating, it is inevitable. What you can do is figure out a way to make your culture adaptable from the beginning to embrace new ideas, diversity of thought, and inclusion. This won’t please everyone, but hopefully you can support them long enough until they are able to successfully build their own cultures and expand on their unique ideas.

I heard once that the measure of any leader should be how many leaders they help to produce. Maybe culture should be measured similarly by how many unique cultures it helped to produce?

Question: Are the cultures you belong to right for you? What’s stopping you from building your own based on whatever you value most in this world?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? - An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari