This question is inspired by an insightful one-minute clip of Chris Rock speaking about liberals and conservatives, and also by taking an educational course on Not-Two Is Peace.

This is one of the most important points Adi Da makes in his book, about tribalism.  I have become more and more conscious of this in my own life habits, choices and such.  It's amazing really.  Certainly in the political arena I can say that I get how that all works and have been very critical of the attachments and illusions folks have about being about for or against one party or another.  It's all a game to me.  Old order.  But even in life over all, in relations, or just being too set in my "point of view", I continually see my own error of tribalism...

I, me, mine... gang of one.  I most certainly have this tendency. :)

I think a gang mentality is inevitable so long as we define ourselves in cornered attributes of race, culture and politics. It's almost impossible to not have an us vs. them sensibility, because even genetically, we are predisposed to protect and preserve what is OURS. Can be a loving act, but can be divisive too...

Just to clarify, I don't think this book is criticizing the idea of having friends or family, or taking care of one's personal possessions, or being a good steward, or anything like that.

But it DOES appear to criticize our desire to identify with a "collective ego" in the form of a gang (the book uses the word "tribe"), which then opposes rival gangs.

Youths join a street gang because they feel it provides a source of protection, something to identify with.  You wear certain colors, you dress a certain way, you flash certain signs, you learn to talk a certain way so you are perceived as an "insider" rather than an "outsider".  You stop having to think for yourself so much, as Chris Rock says, because the gang tells you what to believe.

Likewise when we join a church, we learn all the lingo that we're supposed to use to be perceived as "insider" rather than "outsider".  Eventually, the way people outside the church think and talk feels very foreign to us.

Or when someone talks about politics or climate change, you know immediately what response you're supposed to make to the discussion based on the "gang" you belong to (in the U.S., often it's called Republican or Democrat), almost as if you've memorized the lines in a script. 

It's almost as though life were nothing more than a theatrical production, complete with costumes, scripts, and people watching us to make sure we get our lines right.

At least that's how it seems to me sometimes.

@Jocelin, I think what you say is true - it's almost inevitable to have a 'tribal' point of view.  That's one of the reasons why I think this book is important, because it questions that point of view, which is instilled in everyone, and causes us to look our activity in that arena, and to assess whether it really is the only way to be, and whether it's actually helpful to ourselves and others.  I think in some situations (such as bonding with friends and family, working for common causes, helping us to feel we belong) it's helpful, and in some situations it's destructive.