The Herd Instinct

The human being is a very gregarious creature. He finds it extraordinarily difficult to be alone and in modern times this is reflected I believe in the constant search for noise. When we are surrounded by a cacophony of noise, it is difficult to think and it seems that in that we find comfort. To think is painful. Our own company is often difficult to bear and this warrants examination. Why are we often so fearful of standing out in the crowd? We are individuals and yet seem to fear individuality. Perhaps it is because individuality requires perseverance. In Troilus & Cressida, Shakespeare described perseverance in this way:

“Perseverance keeps honour bright,
To have done is to hang quite out of fashion,
Like a rusty mail in monumental mockery.”

I believe it explains a great deal about the society and the world we have created over the millennia. We seek the company of others instinctively and compulsively except, that is, when we have been shocked or badly hurt. Then it is as though we know that only the inner strength of our own spirit can carry us through and we shun company for a while. It is difficult for many to comprehend this shying away from company and some of them press in on us at such times, feeling it is through their presence only that we will be healed. It is one of the many pressures, most of them more subtle than this, whereby society tries to compel us to be one of the herd. Society finds it difficult to accommodate those individuals who insist on going their own way, the non-conformists, who ignore the established mores.

If we examine human history we find the desire to conform has been almost impossible to resist. We are urged to be loyal to our race or to the colour of our skin; the country of which we are a native applies pressure for us to be nationalistic and support its actions whether they be morally right or not; we create clubs and organisations and, like Masonic Lodges, often swear the members to secrecy by inventing a raft of regulations that are only disclosed to members; we found religions and create creeds and dogmas that are designed to have exactly the same effect as the regulations of secret societies; in religion we add an extra ingredient, we insist that the creeds and dogmas have been handed down from an all powerful, godlike figure. To run contrary to them is to blaspheme. Again, we find comfort in sharing a belief with others and if we are thus relieved of the need to think, to find out whether or not this particular belief is good for us; that is comforting too. However, the ones who control these organisations have enormous power over the lives of others: The love of power is another dominant facet of life that seems almost as compulsive as the herd instinct.

I believe this explains the huge number of different religions we have and the fact that even though there may be just one version of a particular religion when it first starts, it is not long before different sects begin emerge. We join a specific religion often because our parents insist that we do so and in many countries, parental pressure is intensified by the State. The teachings of one religion are taught in schools and consequently, when children become old enough to make up their own minds, they have been so brainwashed by their parents and the State, they no longer have the desire to work out whether the religion they follow is best for them or not and the ostracism which results if they decide not to, invariably decides the matter, even if they only pay lip service to it. Being with other people who believe the same as us is also comforting. There are many subtle pressures to conform through unquestioning references to the teachings of the dominant religion in the media. In some places, Muslim countries for instance, the pressures are not so subtle and it seems the leaders of Fundamentalist Islam in particular, are so insecure in their beliefs that no criticism of any kind is tolerated.

Throughout history however, there have been individuals who have questioned this compulsion to conform, to discourage individuality and thinking for one’s self. As we become more mature as a species, this tendency is growing but mostly it has been channelled in negative ways. Many of the great poets and writers have urged people to think for themselves; to refuse to be led by self-seeking zealots who brook no questioning of their creeds. They have often given wonderful reasons why we should do this but others have adopted a nihilistic approach and have taught that only materialism offers a sensible alternative to unquestioning loyalty to creeds and dogmas. Their teachings are alluring, especially as so many have become accustomed to having their thinking done for them by others. The religious ‘herds’ have not been slow to adapt to this move and increasingly many religions openly support materialistic aims, though wrapping their message up in the language of mysticism. Most religions have always courted the rich and powerful and have been unwilling to offend them by appearing too radical: The reason? The rich, if frightened enough by the priests, will accede temporal power and great wealth to their chosen ‘herd’.

Is there an alternative, or are we destined never to be able, whilst on Earth, to free ourselves from this herd instinct, or the need to exercise power over others? There are alternatives and I believe an increasing number of people are beginning to discover them. More and more people are at last becoming aware of the spirit within; of the inner light which drives us forward to seek understanding and spiritual progress. They recognise the role of love, unconditional love, in raising the level of human understanding and behaviour. They recognise the need to go within – to be still – to listen to that “still small voice” and to try harder to place the interests of others above purely selfish desires. They are becoming more and more aware that life is not merely the short span we spend here on Earth and that, if we listen, those who have passed this way before, can and will help us to change for the better.

There is a wonderful paradox in all this. The more we go within, become conscious of the power of love and the spirit; the more individualistic we are; then the more we come to realise that through “me” we are led inevitably to “us”. Through the power of the individual spirit we are forced to acknowledge our indivisible links to one another and the need to create artificial means to bring us together is unnecessary. We are and always have been, sons and daughters of the Power that created all life. There is no real separation; as Pope observed so perceptively, “All are but parts of one stupendous whole.”