Universal Dualities

Anthropologist - Donald Brown

 Fear of Death The Need for Security
Because every society fears death, celebrates,
fertility, and prohibits murder and suicide, we
have a strong need to secure our own lives and
those of our loved ones.
Fear of the Outsider - The Need for Community
People fear strangers and make rules to define
membership for the group. We organize ourselves
to keep the herd strong. Community gives us a
degree of safety, identity, and acceptance and
expands our comfort zone.
 Fear of Chaos - The Need for Authority and Order

Every society establishes systems of classification in order to

organize their world. From this desire springs a need for
authority, for someone or some collective to take charge.
Laws, structures, and systems evolve to stabilize the
community and regulate acceptable behavior.
Fear of Insignificance - The Need for Respect
Although the distribution of power among individuals varies
within each society, all societies see the individual as having
worth distinct from the group.

Each society has a word for self-image and belief that a

positive self-image is better than a negative one, which
underscores the craving for prestige and the respect that comes
with it.
 Fear of the Future - The Need for Clarity
Every society has a concept of the future and a word for hope.
Because the future is unstable, unknown, and potentially
dangerous, it engenders a level of fear. Prestige is given to
those who claim to be able to predict the future whether they
are seers or shamans or stockbrokers or politicians.