Of Habsburg Jaws, Mental Inbreeding and Intentional Travel.
In the physical, inbreeding is a no-no; its consequences far outweigh any reason for trying it in the first place (expedience notwithstanding).
The interesting case of the Habsburg family is a well documented one where incestuous relationships accounted for 9 out of the 11 marriages in that royal lineage. Due to incest, the family’s genetic line progressively deteriorated until Charles II, the final male heir, was physically incapable of producing children, thus bringing an end to Habsburg rule.
A similar parallel can be drawn when it comes to considering mental development in humankind. It so happens that the greatest levels of bigotry, intolerance and ignorance are found among people who have only those with similar opinions to theirs to cross-pollinate ideas with.
This is one of the tragedies of our day: Pinched, narrow minds with even narrower breadths of thought that do not allow for tolerance and more extensive development of common grounds but rather insist on having superior understanding.
After the civil war between Biafra and Nigeria, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was instituted for the sake of compulsorily making travel a part of the culture of Nigerian youths. A greater measure of tolerance ensued with more young folks getting familiar with the previously unfamiliar cultures, norms and mores of other people. However, the drudgery involved in the youth service nowadays seems to be terribly defeating that purpose. Yet, the key idea behind the creation of the NYSC needs to be seen as an integral way of escaping the ill-effects of mental inbreeding.
Travel should be a key part of the lives of young men and women. But travel in two forms, physical and mental.
To travel physically is to enjoy an immersive experience in new locations based on your five senses but to travel mentally through books is to place a demand on your imagination to recreate what your five senses would have experienced.
However, the best kind of physical traveller is that one who has done many mental travels. This way, physical travels are elevated to augmented reality experiences; the place as imagined superimposed on the place as is.
The detribalization of my mind and the richness of my imagination may be traceable to some essential travels and experiences I had in my formative years.
Born a Yoruba but with Esan family friends from Irrua, I had multiple holidays in that Edo village eating ema and black soup, while substituting TaiKen (as twins are called in Yorubaland) for the Odion and Akere of Biniland. International School, Ibadan, plunged me into the midst of varying cultures but that was shortlived as I had to move to Federal Government College, Warri…
That’s where the real detribalization took place as I was surrounded by virtually every kind of tribe.
Day in, day out, for about 6 years, I was surrounded by people who were at once familiar but who were on the other hand unfamiliar. For those who were willing to learn, they quickly got a handle on emotional intelligence. The waters to navigate were really tough especially as we were boarders. One got to mingle with those from differing sociocultural & economic backgrounds as well so the mind got better adjusted to know where people were coming from. During midterm breaks, I lived with my Isoko & Ogwashi-uku guardians for those 6 years… A roller-coaster ride it was if there ever was one.
Looking back, I realize how every single minute of those times was worth it. None of it was wasted.
Truth be told, travel could make you really vulnerable especially travel that puts you squarely in the midst of natives and not those where your stay revolves around hotels. This involves you being the guest in the homes of those whose cultures are different from yours; where words mean things different from what you are used to them being. Where you have to closely watch your host to take cues on what to do next at the dinner table so as not to break any conventions. Tasking as this may be, what happens after you have gotten a hang of it is an irreversible education of your mind.
In conclusion…
You may be susceptible to mental deformities just like the Habsburg jaw if all you know comes from people whose thoughts are so similar to yours that they do not task you.
Be intentional about learning from others. Speak with others with differing viewpoints; read books that challenge you to think about things more critically; travel to places and immerse yourself in cultures different from yours. You can begin to plan your post-COVID life around this and I know you will thank me later.
Observe, I didn’t mention international travel deliberately. This is so that no one has an excuse of, “But, I cannot afford it.” Let me add “yet” for you. You will be able to afford it in no time but what hasn’t been developed as a habit doesn’t happen overnight.
There are persons who do a dozen or more international trips annually and yet are as narrow-minded/bigoted/intolerant as ever. So, it’s not in the traveling, it’s in the why of the traveling. Traveling for some may simply be a status symbol but for others it is for building an excellent mind. Be the latter.
Soar!
PS. What book or travel experience most contributed positively to a shift in your mindset and approach to life? Let me read from you in the comments section. Cheers!
