Allegiance

The Hierarchy of allegiance is similar to the Hierarchy of Continuance.

First and foremost - Allegiance to the paradigm of Transcendent Reality, which promotes the highest sense of the greater social good - the conscience GOD.

Second - Allegiance to the state (country or nation) in which one is domiciled and holds citizenship, and its sense of the greater social good for the state - its conscience state God (not necessarily a formal religion.)

Third - Allegiance to the state (country or nation) in which one resides, if different from the state of citizenship, and its sense of the greater social good for the state - its conscience state God (not necessarily a formal religion.)

Fourth - Allegiance to the tribe to which one belongs, and its sense of the greater social good for the tribe - the conscience tribal god.

Fifth- Identity to the clan to which one belongs, and its sense of the greater social good for the clan – the clan identity.

Sixth - Belonging to the family from which one was born, and to in unity with it – family unity.  However, when a state exists, the family takes precedence over tribe and clan.

Seventh - To be true to oneself as an individual and an important member of the society in which we live. 

When a lower level allegiance conflicts with a higher level, the higher level must prevail, unless it too conflicts with an even higher level of allegiance.  However that may be resolved, the individual has the right and duty to question whether the highest level of Transcendent Reality is being served, and to reject all intermediate levels of allegiance that do not serve the highest level.

Conflicts of Allegiance

Conflicts of allegiance between evolutionary social levels occur quite frequently.  Perhaps the most poignant is the citizen drafted as a soldier to fight in a war he disagrees with, fought against his own clan, tribe, or country of national origin, and in which he dies.  Certainly the interests of himself, his family, his clan, and his tribe are not served.  And, it could be argued, it is not in the greater interests of the state to draft such individuals with emotional conflicts that all too often result in an unreliable soldier who transfers to the opposing side at the first opportunity, or covertly aids and abets the other side.

Another frequent conflict of allegiances is on actions that promote the unity of the family, clan, or tribe over the state.  One such mechanism is on marriage.  The strongest family unity lies on the closest family blood ties, which are incestuous between family members - father and daughter, mother and son, and brother and sister. Many ancient cultures practiced such ties. 

However, such relationships are inimical to clan identity, and a wise clan forbids it, promoting first-cousin marriages instead - to weaken family ties and favor strong clan ties - as strong clans prevail over strong families in a conflict.  First cousin marriages are common among Jews, Arabs and many third world tribes.

Strong clan identity is inimical to strong tribe allegiance, and a wise tribe will discourage both incestuous relations between family members, and first-cousin marriages (intra-clan relationships), in favor of more distantly-related individuals.  This strengthens allegiance to the tribe at the expense of clan identity and family unity - strong tribes prevailing in a conflict with clans and families. 

Strong families, clans and tribes are inimical to a strong state, and a wise state will prohibit incestuous relations between family members, prohibit first-cousin marriages, discourage any more distant-related marriages, and promote the marriage of unrelated individuals in order to weaken family unity, clan identity, and tribal allegiances in favor of allegiance to the state. 

In actual practice, few states are successful in completely eliminating clan identity and tribal allegiance.  For most states, and, in particular, third-world territories given state status, the existence of strong clans and tribes make the emergence of a true state difficult to impossible. 

The family is the basic social unit for most states, but incestuous relations are now almost universally forbidden, and most western states, but not all, prohibit first-cousin marriages, and some prohibit more distant levels of sanguinity from marrying.

For a fuller understanding of the Hierarchy of Allegiance, see the Hierarchy of Continuance.