Distributed Mind

No, not that group theory...

The dangers of group mentality are the dangers that come with any association of like-minded or like-cultured or like-skinned people. Obviously, people with common properties will be drawn together and any close-knit community is going to have some common foundation (more on that later), but the danger comes when the group becomes important over the interests of others outside the group (a.k.a. nationalism, racism, *-ism). Specifically, when we see ourselves as part of a group (part of an in-crowd) we may feel that we can and should defend the clan from anything that does not secure its position, whatever that may be. The worst thing that can happen is that ethics and truth are pushed aside in the name of the clan, though we're good at rationalizing it in terms of select principles. Today, nationalism is considered an okay thing by many, yet it has led people to give up the very freedoms that they claim their nationalism is founded on (see: Patriot Act) and in the worst cases has led to atrocities (see: wars, genocide).

But what concerns me more than the examples given above, is when shared religious belief forms an unhealthy group mentality. Since religion is concerned with ultimate truth, it is very bad to get into preserving the clan - i.e. to make the church a club. Truth is truth no matter where it comes from and for it to be truth it must be accessible to everyone. In other words, in my book there are no special mysteries (see: Gnostics) to be initiated into.

So there it is...