30/11/2023
You gotta fight for your right to party - Beastie Boys, 1986
Everywhere you look in America and many other places, you’ll find individuals and groups demonstrating, protesting, and drawing attention to themselves in an effort to gain exposure to some type of plight or oppression.
This seems to be the way of things.
From a group of men dressing up as Indians (or should I say Native Americans?) in order to transform Boston harbor into the world’s largest cup of tea, to a woman protesting her claim to a bus seat, our own nation’s history is one of individuals and groups who refused to budge in the names of independence, freedom, and liberty.
Our leaders have even admitted as much:
Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. — Woodrow Wilson
Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
We are very quick to remember the work and the sacrifice of those brave individuals who orchestrated large-scale change in our collective culture. We applaud those who have taken a stand for our individual rights and freedoms.
We are disappointingly slow, however, to recognize our own responsibilities in maintaining those freedoms and liberties on the part of the common good, neglect our duties to one another, and once again face the prospect of enslavement due to our own dereliction.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of what, exactly?
Indeed, the words ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ have been taught to us as children, repeated throughout our lives, and echo in our minds. They are our birthright, our expectation, our entitlement.
In today’s vernacular, we tend to use the word ‘happiness’ in terms of our own comfort or pleasure. Being ‘happy’ is to be free from obligations, debts, worry, and trouble. Our pursuits have become ways to improve our standard of living, make things more convenient, retire early, or otherwise win back some portion of our lives from our labors.
These efforts have been well intended, but have borne much rotten fruit, effectively introducing even more noise into our lives. More statuses to check, more deliveries to monitor, more devices and accounts to maintain.
As far back as 1863, in his work Life Without Principle, Thoreau stated:
I do not know but it is too much to read one newspaper a week. I have tried it recently, and for so long it seems to me that I have not dwelt in my native region. The sun, the clouds, the snow, the trees say not so much to me. You cannot serve two masters. It requires more than a day’s devotion to know and to possess the wealth of a day.
These are not new problems. Liberty has become a casual excuse to do whatever one wills. Independence has become isolationism. And both still fail to make us ‘happy'.
To derive meaning and happiness from our liberty by these definitions is both nonsensical and foolish. It also fails to consider what sort of ‘happiness’ Mr. Jefferson actually had in his mind when he penned the words. He was in fact referring to John Locke, an even earlier thinker who said:
The necessity of pursuing happiness [is] the foundation of liberty. As therefore the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness; so the care of ourselves, that we mistake not imaginary for real happiness, is the necessary foundation of our liberty. — John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1689
Locke’s remarks point to a divide between what he called ‘imagery’ and ‘real happiness’ that he describes as 'true and solid'. A sharp boundary between the temporal and a truly meaningful life.
As it relates to the topic at hand, our independence has actually suffered by our appetites for more trivial pursuits. We chase our ‘slice of the pie’ as independent individuals, but have abandoned our awareness as an independent group, nation, or people. We look out for ourselves, neglect the needs of our communities, and offload the burden of care to an ineffectual and inefficient government.
In considering what independence truly means, regard the statement made by our first president in his letter to Marquis de Lafayette in 1788:
Nothing but harmony, honesty, industry, and frugality are necessary to make us a great and happy people." — George Washington
President Washington relates the new nation’s independence to a set of simple virtues by which the collective can self-govern, maintain, and build.
In keeping with our theme of ancient virtue, take a moment to review the following, written by an ancient near-eastern teacher thousands of years ago:
I have seen personally what is the only beneficial and appropriate course of action for people: to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in all their hard work on earth during the few days of their life that God has given them, for this is their reward. Ecc 5:18, NIV
In essence, our independence, our value, and our worth are derived from the fruit of our work, not our freedom from it. Our 'harmony' with others, as Mr. Washington puts it, not our detachment from them. Being able to work willingly, according to our own best interests as well as those around us without the presence of outside constraints is the true meaning of independence.
A required shift in perspective
As an antidote to our contemporary version of independence, driven by a misguided sense of self, I propose a shift to a slightly different term: interdependence.
In order to maintain and promote our collective independence, we must begin to realize that we are actually reliant on one another.
The typical suburban home is difficult to purchase without a real estate agent, and cannot be built without skilled labor, and an architect. To call a home ‘mine’ seems a misnomer, and leaves out the long line of other craftsmen and contributors to its existence. The device on which you‘re reading this article required engineers, designers, and manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, and perhaps even a real-life salesperson to make it into your hands.
Even the nations of Europe couldn’t have maintained their own independence without reliance on their neighbors. The same is true today.
Without each other, can any of us truly be what we currently believe is ‘independent’?
Independence is truly a great power, but simply cannot exist without our own collective contributions. This is the paradox, and unfortunately the pendulum has swung too far to one side and the rights of the individual have surpassed the common good.
As in our last article regarding legacy, we again find that real independence, real freedom, and real purpose are found with the service and caretaking of others. It has nothing at all to do with doing what you want when you want, but instead a collective awareness and duty to self-govern responsibly with a high regard for those around us.
He who wishes to secure the good of others, has already secured his own. —
Confucius
We simply can no longer afford to pursue independence as a means to advance ourselves while disregarding our own communities. Only in complete isolation does this type of independence truly exist. Our modern concept of individual independence is simply a myth.
Getting to ground
1. Find ways to support your local community. Get involved with a local non-profit, church, or social organization that serves. Learn the power and the benefit inherent in helping others.
2. Get to know the people around you. You likely see the same strangers everywhere. In your neighborhood, grocery store, or gas stations. Simply say hello, learn who they are. Independence is ironically strengthened by relational connections.
3. Look around your home for things that you used to call ‘yours’. The simplest chair, table, or decoration passed through many hands and stages of work to finally get to you. Imagine the work of those others and their true contributions to your independence.
In closing, our independence ultimately hinges on our ability to remain interdependent, manage ourselves, and cling to ancient virtues like wisdom, humility, contentment, and community. Can we remain truly independent while refusing the responsibility that comes with it?
We’ll close with one final quote from my favorite president:
This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.
— Theodore Roosevelt
What can you do to make it a good place for all of us today?
Is independence truly the freedom we think it is? The power to do as we will, when we will, and how we will? Or is true independence more restrictive than we might imagine?
