While I agree that, in some ways, our lives would be healthier and happier if we adopted some of the tribal ideology (such as being more in touch with nature, for one thing), but I don't think that what you're referring to is in any way constructive.

Do you really think it is a good idea to start believing that the dead stick around and that they're here to help us?
We already have so much trouble dealing with wishful thinking such as the paranormal and religion and other stuff like that, and you suggest that we need more of that stuff? I don't think so.

Also I see no benefit in people remembering and worshiping my dead body, and the only reason one could want that would be because their own anxieties and the need to feel that somehow that they really were alive and that they really mattered. So I would look more into the reasons why I would want such a thing, if I were you.

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anyway, the point of my post is that it struck me harder than before, but these people have a more connected way of viewing the world and death than we do.

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Of course they do. They're 70 people living, like you said, isolated from the rest of the world. Why should we want the same thing? Instead of looking for diversity of cultures, ideas, and information, you say that what could really help us is to come to an universal agreement?

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MushroomTrip said:

Do you really think it is a good idea to start believing that the dead stick around and that they're here to help us?

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Do you really think it is a good idea to start believing that the dead stick around and that they're here to help us? 
We already have so much trouble dealing with wishful thinking such as the paranormal and religion and other stuff like that, and you suggest that we need more of that stuff? I don't think so.

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The point isn't to appropriate some aspect of a particular indigenous culture and magically start believing the background mythology as they do (for one, this is impossible) but rather to try and take off your cultural blinders for a moment, attempt to understand as fully as possible how a practice or belief fits into the whole of the culture and what part it plays in bringing people together and organizing thier worldview and perhaps to take inspiration from the intricately varied ways in which people concieve of the world and thier lives.

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Hmmm, let's see what I was talking about: "this tribe of like 70 people in Papua New Guinea thats almost 100% isolated from the world." (which are exactly the words of the OP)
I fail to see how this is xenophobic of me, and I fail to see how I overgeneralize anything, perhaps are to shed some light into it? Because, other than your own interpretation, which seems to be a speculation more than anything, I see no reasons why you would think something like that.

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read: primitive, undeveloped, backward, etc.

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Read where? Let's see the complete definition of the word tribe:

tribe    Audio Help  /traɪb/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[trahyb] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation,
–noun
1. any aggregate of people united by ties of descent from a common ancestor, community of customs and traditions, adherence to the same leaders, etc.
2. a local division of an aboriginal people.
3. a division of some other people.
4. a class or type of animals, plants, articles, or the like.
5. Animal Husbandry. a group of animals, esp. cattle, descended through the female line from a common female ancestor.

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How does me calling tribe people tribal mean that I was trying to insult them?
Also, when I said :"Personally I think that there are some aspects from the tribal life that can become very beneficial for our current life style if we adopted them, but, like I said, worshiping and blind belief are not one of those aspects. "... again, I fail to see how this is xenophobic of me?
Does referring to a particular way of living (a relatively small community of people, ties by the same customs, traditions and culture) automatically means that I was calling them undeveloped (which BTW, doesn't necessarily imply that I was trying to dis-consider them or suggest that they are somehow inferior)?

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What element of thier specific conceptual orientation are you defining as "blind belief" and what exactly are these people supposedly blindly believing in?

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Their belief is that tribal leaders or warrior heroes become immortal and protect the tribe through mummification and sitting their bodies upright overlooking the village from a cliff above them.
It was toucontinue to love ching to see the tribe chief visiting his father and addressing him and hugging him as if he was still alive.
The chiefs brother was buried traditionally in the groung which, to them, is far worse than death itself because "when we feed the earth blood, it screams for more."

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Personally I think that there are some aspects from the tribal life that can become very beneficial for our current life style if we adopted them, but, like I said, worshiping and blind belief are not one of those aspects.

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You didn't say "I think there are some aspects of the specific culture described by the OP that we would be better off adopting" You said "tribal life" in the general, not in the specific. "Tribal" is a term in a continuum of similarily general terms used to categorize diverse cultures along a linear "evolutionary" scale in order to evaluate thier relative level of development (read: inferiority/superiority) as defined by eurocentric colonial ideology.

There is no such thing as "tribal life" in the general. The concept and alot of the baggage that comes along with it is outdated and has been largely abandoned as it makes far too many assumptions about supposedly common features across a wide and disparate array of specific peoples. One such assumption is that their way of explaining ordering thier universe is naively superstitious, built on so called "blind" beliefs and the "worship" of various strange figures (strange gods, 'totems', ancestors...) This is an assumption clearly expressed in what you wrote and so I was compelled to call you on it.

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"Tribal" is a term in a continuum of similarily general terms used to categorize diverse cultures along a linear "evolutionary" scale in order to evaluate thier relative level of development (read: inferiority/superiority) as defined by eurocentric colonial ideology.

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So basically you're ignoring all the other definitions I provided with, and choose to focus on one that, in your interpretation, is offensive for tribal people. I really think you should reconsider your claims, or at least explain how you have reached the conclusion that when I made a reference to the tribal life I implied that it would somehow be inferior.
Perhaps you'll explain how using "tribal life" generally speaking is offensive, and how did you end up making the assumption that it was made thought the perspective of a "colonial ideology" - whatever that means.

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There is no such thing as "tribal life" in the general. The concept and alot of the baggage that comes along with it is outdated and has been largely abandoned as it makes far too many assumptions about supposedly common features across a wide and disparate array of specific peoples.

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Oh really? I'll just have to call bull shit on that too.
"Tribal life" doesn't "come" with any baggage at all. The baggage is the meaning that different people give to different words or association of words, and it is purely subjective and carries an emotional content. It is not my problem if you choose to attribute this kind of meaning to "tribal life", and it definitely doesn't mean that these words should be banned from being used together.
The most fragrant meaning that "tribal life" has for me, is being in a group of people that are close to me, that share the same joy to live and learn about life, that I trust and care for and vice-versa, a group that is not driven by hidden interests, fear, thirst for power and other mangling and destructive motives.
I am if my understanding of tribal life is different than yours, I am not trying to sustain that this is the only meaning it could possibly have, I even admit from the start that it is yet another meaning of the multitude of interpretations that one could give; what I'm having real difficulties in understanding is how in the world did you end up deforming and giving your own meaning to something I have said?

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This is an assumption clearly expressed in what you wrote and so I was compelled to call you on it.

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It is not an assumption since I was referring to a specific case, the case that the OP was talking about, and I already cleared this up.
What I said was: "Personally I think that there are some aspects from the tribal life that can become very beneficial for our current life style if we adopted them, but, like I said, worshiping and blind belief are not one of those aspects."
Obviously, when I mentioned that worshiping the dead was not a positive aspect, it was already self implied that I was referring to the example the OP provided with. If it was somehow unclear, I just took the chance to explain what I meant to say.

That being all cleared up, I am still wondering how the personal emotional baggage that you have regarding "tribal life", necessarily means only what you said it does, and, most important, how did you end up making the false assumption that it was where I was getting at. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

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Mermaid said:
our ancestors are always watching for us

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Really? How's that?

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Lat3ralus said:
.......all hope is lost for mankind

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Good. Now we can start having some fun