Interdependence Day

We (humans) absolutely have the knowledge and capability to unwind the unprecedented problems we have wrought, navigate a way through the challenges we will soon face, and create a world of prosperity for all. To do this, we have to figure out how to better work together, at all levels of scale.

Today is Independence Day in the USA: A celebration of the “Great Experiment” - the ambitious breaking away from Great Britain to establish a nation founded on the principles of democracy, liberty, and the rule of law.

There is a lot to be said about where we are as a nation on this Fourth of July. Our political situation is absurd, terrifying, and tragic. While better leadership is certainly needed, more fundamentally, we need a change in values; a wide scale evaluation and evolution of the principles and motivations that shape our perceptions, decisions, and interactions.

Liberty, freedom, independence, individualism are related values that have long defined the USA. The last one - individualism - is a distinct and definitive aspect, not just of the USA, but of global western culture. It is a key element of our mythos and, I believe, a false and dangerous idol, responsible for a good part of our current confusion and difficulties.

On a recent Nate Hagens podcast, the journalist Krista Tippett speaks to this: “The ethos of modernity has been separation in the name of dignity of (the) individual, in individualism and individual happiness.” Later in the podcast, speaking to our current time, she says: “It’s hard to be alive right now… As a species, it is a stressful time to be alive… And I think this individualism… that is such a core value in American society, becomes critically problematic in a situation like this… we need to be there for each other.”

My partner, Samantha Sweetwater , likes to call July 4th: “Interdependence Day”. In doing so, she is calling attention to the fact that none of us are truly independent. Rather, we all exist, at varying scales, in intricate webs of countless interdependencies. Samantha writes: “The freedom celebrated today is meaningless without belonging to a sacredly interdependent world.” In her upcoming book, True Human, she exhorts her readers to: “Find the dance between self, other and world that makes meaning possible. Be a member. Be a participant. Be unseparate.”

The psychiatrist Dr. H. Steven Moffic, offers this simple call for an Interdependence Day declaration for “peace, prosperity, and the pursuit of the common good.” https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/do-we-need-an-interdependence-day

If you know of others playing with this theme, please post links to them below.

The sooner we see individual freedom as a value that cannot be extracted from a grounding in dependence, community, responsibility, empathy, generosity, and the like, the sooner we can begin to find real solutions through the greatest challenges we face.

While understood by many, as a country, the USA has yet to fully accept that the mythos of the rugged settlers of the American West was, in large part, a coverup for genocide.?

I live in California. I love California; the land mostly, but also the mythos. I could not be more grateful for living where I do. In parallel, I have a responsibility to honor the fact that the land I live on is the unceded ancestral land of the Huuku’i’ko (aka Coastal Miwok).?

California was founded on genocide and the enslavement of indigenous people. In 1850, in what is generally thought of as a “free state”, the “Act for the Government and Protection of Indians” legalized the enslavement of the indigenous of California.

Appreciating these horrible truths, what is there to do??

I suggest listening to and learning from the indigenous people of what is sometimes called “Turtle Island”. The indigenous way of seeing is a corrective for the way of thinking that has us now facing a panoply of existential threats.?

One month ago, a white buffalo calf was born in Yellowstone National Park. While many will see this as a natural random occurrence, that is not the way it is viewed by the Lakota people, who see the calf as the fulfillment of a foundational prophecy.?According to a New York Times article:

Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate in South Dakota… believes the prophecy shows now is the time that people around the world must unite and become better stewards of the planet. [The calf is] a warning "that a spiritual awakening must happen."

Indigenous peoples are diverse in just about every way possible. However, a consistent theme of “pre-scientific” cultures is a respect for the interdependence of life. An indigenous worldview teaches that we are embedded in systems to which we must show reciprocity. It is time for us humans to grow up and start taking ethical responsibility for our actions. I’m not talking about the past, I’m talking about what we do individually and as a species going forward.

Professionally, my focus is on creating experiences that foster a true appreciation for the gift of being alive, and a sense of awe and wonder at the amazingly complex set of systems that make it all possible. To me, the change in perspective from an independent self to a unique individual who only exists due to an amazing set of circumstances has been one of the most profound and extensive learning experiences of my life.?

On this Interdependence Day, I invite you to celebrate with me the interdependence of all life.?

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Thank you to many authors and teachers who have helped open my eyes to this way of seeing. In addition to those mentioned above, a few key ones, both personal and from a distance: Don Ramer , Daniel Schmachtenberger , Charles Eisenstein, Forrest Landry , Bayo Akomolafe , and Tyson Yunkaporta .