Common means to a common end.

Suppose there is a group of people wandering about a desert in search of an oasis. This, for the immediate present and foreseeable future, is their purpose, and all of them being in agreement as to their purpose, they move in a unified direction. Now suppose as they move along, the heat of the sun and the dryness of the desert draining their energy, and the pains of what little life remains in them baring down upon them, a bird is seen to fly overhead by a few members of the group. “Look!” One boy exclaims, “A bird has just flown overhead! Perhaps he knows the desert and may guide us to an oasis!” The group ceased in marching and began to speak among themselves. “In which direction did it fly, boy?!” One man asked. “To the east, to the east!” Replied the boy. Then after a few moments deliberation the group began to march eastward. “But wait!” Exclaimed another man, “I too saw the bird fly overhead and he flew west! We must go west in search of food and drink!” The multitude ceased in marching once more and once more began to speak among themselves, soon falling into discord over which direction the bird had flown. “I trust the boy!” One woman shouted, “He spoke first! We must trust him!” “No!” Shouted another man, “He is just a boy. We must trust the man of age!” And so discord persisted until the two factions of the group could not be reconciled and they parted ways; one set off to the east and the other to west. And though they set off in different directions, the purpose of the two groups had not changed. Now, naturally as the two groups continued their separate marches and the heat of the sun and the dryness of the desert and the pains of what little life remained in them bore down on them with greater intensity, doubts were raised. “Boy!” Sounded an angry and impatient voice, “You are certain the bird flew eastward, are you?” “I cannot be certain,” The boy replied, “but I am quite sure, yes.” The boy did not yet understand what passions could be inflamed by uncertainty and once again discord erupted. “What do you mean you can’t be certain?!” Some voices shouted. “How can we be sure the boy even saw a bird at all?!” Shouted others. “We should never have trusted the boy!” Others insisted. And after some time the factions of the group could not be reconciled and they set off in different directions. One group who still trusted the boy continued east, one group who mistrusted the boy’s sense of direction set back west, and one group who questioned whether or not the boy had seen a bird at all once again began to wonder aimlessly in search of an oasis. And so it would also come to pass that the group who had initially set off to the west met with a similar fate and themselves became divided. Each group now a division of a division. This process continued within each faction, growing smaller and smaller until no groups remained as no common ground could be reached and each member of the once unified multitude wandered alone, each of them utterly convinced that they had chosen the right direction and would soon arrive at the oasis.