Mindfulness of Interdependent Liberty

Photo by Partha Narasimhan

Every year around this time I make it a point to reflect on what it means to be living in these United States and the value of liberty many of us enjoy celebrating. This year I’m especially aware of the miracle of who we are as a people and a place, with all its harshness and sweetness. The liberty we value depends upon our recognition of our fundamental interconnection and a recommitment to solidarity in its pursuit.

Over Father’s Day weekend I had the pleasure of spending time with my in-laws. Traveling from the noise and heat of the city where I live through the shaded single lane country roads to their home in a small town, I was reminded of the contrast in lived experience of our people. It’s no wonder we see so many things so differently sometimes. The landscape is different. The horizon looks different. There are few universals and it takes imagination to consider beyond our own circumstances.

We were also celebrating my in-laws’ wedding anniversary and thinking about their rich family history. We marveled at the diverse causes and conditions that brought these families together. Like so many American families, even the last name has transformed over the years – perhaps in a quest for belonging.

A collage of some of my ancestors

My own ancestry investigations have brought home the complex warp and weft that is the American tapestry. Of course most ancestry research is limited as it relies so much on what has been written or photographed or otherwise recorded and saved. Lots of people – especially the first people on the land or people forced here – didn’t have this luxury. As best I can tell, our ancestors came from all over the globe, alone and with kin, for adventure or enrichment, or because the only alternative was death. Some may have been here from the beginning.

We’ve come to discover that some of the stories that were passed down were simply not true. They were probably changed to soften harsher or more complicated realities. There have also been some real surprises. We aren’t who we were told we are – or who we thought we were. One thing seems certain – life was often hard and more so for some than for others. Lots of people died young. Some people tried to make their own lives easier by taking advantage of other people, or by deceiving them, or using their bodies. Some made it exponentially harder for others than it needed to be. Some just did the best they could. A rare few did extraordinary things.

It’s been a very fortunate coincidence that my contemplative practice and ancestry work have converged. Learning about my ancestors and their journeys has deepened my compassion for the complicated mess of contradictions I can be as an individual, and we can be collectively as a family, a country and a species. It has offered another way to see beyond myself and my current situation – to see myself within the context of a much larger web of interconnection.

The truth of interconnection and the wisdom of balance are evolving gifts from my mindfulness practice. The gravity of this has become evident in an embodied way from the broader perspective of our family’s history. I’m asking myself more and more, how do I keep hold of the rudder of my deepest values while maintaining sufficient flexibility to navigate the changing seas of life? How do my choices and actions impact not just me, but the greater good? How will these choices affect the present moment and what implications do they have for the future? This bigger picture awareness feels very important, but is much harder to live in alignment with when life is challenging.

Navigating the ever-changing tensions between individual, immediate wants and needs and collective, long-term well-being is our noble and challenging ongoing task. The division feels real, but it’s an illusion because there really is no bright line between mine and yours. Getting mine now at your expense temporarily shifts some of the suffering (maybe a little like a shell game) by matters of degree, time, place, kind, etc. When we look at some of the decisions our government is making lately around freedoms being expanded or restricted, we have to ask ourselves, are we doing this balancing in a wise and compassionate way? What will this mean for lived experiences different from our own, for those beyond our borders with shared needs that transcend borders, not just for now but down the line, and for the ones who come after us?

On this day of celebration, may we remember the messy miracle of these United States and that our liberty is interdependent. May I realize that my happiness and well-being are not separate from your happiness and well-being. Even when its difficult, may we see beyond I, me and mine, making choices for the greater good, working together in solidarity toward a thriving future.

The same stream of life that runs
through my veins night and day runs
through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy
through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and
breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle
of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world
of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages
dancing in my blood this moment.

– Rabindranath Tagore, Stream of Life

Resources

• Vote 411 – Educate yourself about local and federal candidates and elections and vote.
• Vote Forward – Writing letters to get out the vote is a research proven way to increase voter turnout. This year and during major election years MAM offers a nonpartisan letter writing gathering.
• Become a poll worker – Our democracy depends on ordinary people who make sure every election runs smoothly.
• Roots Deeper Than Whiteness by White Awake is the contemplative ancestry course I took that helped me connect my family history with the broader historical and political context.