Participation in Life

How one participates in their own lives and the lives of others usually depends upon a few basic things.
First, what is meaningful to that person?
Second, how much free time do they have?
and Third, What are they interested in?

For example, in my own life growing up there were a whole lot of very intelligent people that didn't trust other people very much outside of their families. On one level this is a very important strategy of ongoing family survival. But it does tend to make people very family clannish and to look at people generally outside of the family as spoilers and as people who might cause harm to the basic family structures. However, thinking too much like this isn't helpful to society in general, because if all anyone ever did was to protect their family against all comers, no society could exist very efficiently if at all.

So, being bigger than just being protective of one's family is what allows societies and cultures to progress into something more wonderful and amazing. Though it is true that unless one's family is protected as well, nothing works at all, it is also true that one must protect one's family while also developing useful relationships and ties with the world outside of one's family in order for civilization to progress at all anywhere.

So, how one participates in the world beyond one's family is always a very important question for everyone. Because the answer becomes "How everyone participates beyond their families is what every civilization actually becomes."