Can consilience and reconciliation overcome parochialism and xenophobia

As humans we are hard wired to divide people into two groups – us and them. As a general rule we like and support us and dislike and exploit them.

Can we, by taking wide ranging thought, expand our concept of ‘us’ and make friends with what used to be them?

For most of human history ‘us’ numbered from about 30 to 100 stone-age hunters and gatherers. The small groups tended towards chronic small mindedness and a fear of strangers.

Can we, by taking wide ranging thought, expand our intellectual understanding of the planet, its ecosystems, and its people.
(see www.bighistoryproject.com for an attempt at “big history”)
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Using big words:

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Consilience refers to the principle that evidence from independent, unrelated sources can "converge" to strong conclusions. That is, when multiple sources of evidence are in agreement, the conclusion can be very strong even when none of the individual sources of evidence are very strong on their own.

Most established scientific knowledge is supported by a convergence of evidence: if not, the evidence is comparatively weak, and there will not likely be a strong scientific consensus. (Ref E O Wilson (1998) Consilience – the unity of knowledge)

Reconciliation is a key concept in two distinct but theoretically linked states.

Thich Nhat Hahn in 2010 wrote about “Reconciliation – healing the inner child.” He reckons that “in each of us, there is a young, suffering child. We have all had times of difficulty as children and many of us have experienced trauma. To protect and defend ourselves against future suffering, we often try to forget those painful times.” When there is reconciliation with the inner child the outer adult will be more peaceful and compassionate towards others who still suffer.

And there is also the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid. Witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations were invited to give statements about their experiences, and some were selected for public hearings. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution. It seems reasonable that the perpetrators of violence were motivated by their traumatised inner child.

Parochialism - a limited or narrow outlook, especially focused on a local area; narrow-mindedness, insularity.

Xenophobia – a state of mind where a person is unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign people.

NOTE: mindfulness meditation is a technique that might facilitate the changing of minds.