Why do we fear people who are different to us? Why do we get uncomfortable when we have to venture outside our comfort zone?

As always, I am just verbally rambling, exploring ideas and opinions and have absolutely no scientific basis for these points of view, but to me it seems fairly obvious that this fear that is endemic in humans to the point where we barely recognise it as fear, is a species survival mechanism.  Or rather, it used to be.  Now I think Ego gets in on the game far too often.

You can kind of understand the fear by imagining yourself as ancient Homo sapiens, sitting with your family in a nice warm, dry, cozy cave with a fire that drives away the darkness.  Outside it might be raining but you are dry and protected.  Hunting was good and you are are warm, well-fed, and feeling relaxed with your clan. 

Then a stranger hurtles into your space.  He looks very different with a short, powerful-looking body, bandy legs, over-hanging brow ridges and a low pushed-back forehead, and you immediately sense a threat.  Even more so because of his very different-looking but obvious humanness.  You need to protect your clan, your fire, your home. 

That threat would have triggered your Fight or Flight response and your body would be flooded with hormones getting you all ready for a fight for survival.  Maybe you win that fight but then, afterwards, every time you see a Neanderthal you feel that threat.  You teach the children of your clan to fear that threat – and they, in turn, will teach their children.  And that seems right, so you decide to go get rid of the threat and you take the attack to those others.  It’s not warfare – it’s about me and my survival.

Now imagine that survival reaction being replicated through a thousand different situations over millennia.  Constantly being reinforced.  It makes it seem pretty natural for humans to come together into groups of people who think, act and maybe even look alike.  There is comfort and safety in being with people who look and think the same as us. 

But we consider ourselves as knowledgeable, intelligent beings; aware of the hows and the whys of living on this planet.  We know how genetics have played a role in why most people with red hair and green eyes will be found in Ireland, Scotland, and the North of England, and rarely anywhere else.  We know that the colour of someone’s skin is the result of where their ancestry was based on Earth.    We also know that all these wonderful differences allow us to be diverse within the uniformity of being human.  We know that the entirety of humans on Earth can be traced back to a single woman – Mitochondrial Eve.  We are all brothers and sisters, yet we fear each other. 

We fear those with different skin tones.  We fear those with different ideas.  We fear those who come from a culture or belief system other than ours.  And I have no idea why this aspect of being a human from planet Earth has developed so strongly and has become so much the norm that we don’t seem to be able to grow past it. 

We need to learn to understand that ‘my way’ is not the only way.  ‘My beliefs’ are not the only ones to hold merit.  When we stepped onto that path it was led through the out-of-control Ego of strong individuals, and this has also travelled through the psyche of humans for millennia.  It’s in-built.  There will be strong people with strong ideas and we will follow them for the protection we think they offer.  We fear that which is different to ourselves and our ego puffs itself up and tells us that we have every right to be top-dog.

We will not, ever, be able to say that we are Citizens of Earth until we can get past our fears and our egos and break down the barriers of that fear of each other that was first built when our species was barely human.

Ashirvad Shanti
Blessing of Peace

Auri’An