What stops humans from living in harmony?

JMiller said:

I think we are capable of doing this, but what keeps us from doing it?

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Lots of things...but for starters....How do you/I/we 'identify'?

Do you see yourself/describe yourself, first and foremost, as 'human'? citizen of a planet? earthling?....or is the identification national/cultural/ethnic/religious?

As long as my primary identification is 'Australian' my tendancy will be to look upon you as other/foreign...I may have a theoretical sence of "harmony"...but I will be a lot slower to leap to your aid when disaster strikes...because my concept is not one of all embracing 'family'.

JMiller said:

I am defining harmony as every human treats every other human with respect, kindness, support if need be, ensuring all humans are not in need of basic essentials.

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As above. For what you describe to become a global reality will require a number of shifts in human cosmology- "treats every other human with respect" will require that we learn/know/understand enough about 'the other' to be familiar with their history/needs/fears/desires sufficiently to pay "respect" to them...likewise " kindness, support if need be"...the first 'kindness' would be "To Hear and Understand"...to give all peoples a voice.

JMiller said:

Next question, is if today we as a species decided to enact this behavior, would the world be a better place, and is this something you would like to see take place?

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Certainly.
Care to discuss how such harmony might be brought about?

Seyorni said:

It's our basic phylogeny, our innate psychology.
Our psychology was honed over millions of years to compliment a hunting-gathering, small band society. It's not natural for us to regard others outside our band as "us." or to include them in our moral universe. In modern terms, band translates to status community, and it's still easy for us to deny moral consideration to communities we consider the Other.

We're still apes -- in three piece suits.

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I agree.

And yet.

We have overcome at various stages the mistrust of 'the other' to form villages, towns, cities, city states, nations..............and now..........

We slowly come to the mature realization that we are a planet...one people...and that we are confronted by a range of issues (environmental, economic, justice) that will require global cooperation if we are to survive.

[youtube]j8B8GQFbEoM[/youtube]
YouTube - ‪Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - History (I Was Born Blind)‬‏

There are subjective dilemma that many cannot sympathize or fail to do so, but can only be understood through experience.

If everybody right now were to all hold hands and try to understand eachother, then i can tell you that there are many that will leave the circle.

People dont want to live peace because they are more interested what's cooking in another house always.

Actually, the circle almost certainly splits apart entirely. It's impossible to treat more than 150 or so people as "individuals."