Still Life by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Still Life

Page 25

The Philosophy of Non-Diversity

In this world, the highest virtue was coherence. To be part of a tribe was to be legible, predictable, and mythically aligned. Diversity was seen as a kind of spiritual noise; an abomination, an interruption in the sacred rhythm of sameness.

And yet, beneath the surface, strange things stirred. A rogue Irish poet dreamed in Swahili. A Polish baker started sculpting sushi. A Russian philosopher began to question whether melancholy must always be frozen. These were the heretics, the whisperers of a forbidden future.

In fact, tribalism emerges from:

Cognitive Patterning: Humans evolved to sort, group, and identify with those who share language, rituals, and appearance. It's not malicious; it's mnemonic. It helps us remember who we are.

Mythic Anchoring: Tribes often form around shared stories, sacred ancestors, and cosmologies. These aren't just cultural; they're existential. They tell people where they came from and why they matter.

Survival Logic: In pre-modern societies, trusting outsiders could mean death. Tribal cohesion was a survival strategy, not a