As I begin this column, sunlight streams through south~facing windows while my mother's holiday tablecloth and napkins spin in the washer, soon to be hung out to dry in the westerly breeze. And though Thanksgiving has passed, its all~inclusive, non~denominational message lingers, a perfect kick~off to the end~of~the~year celebrations to come. No matter our religious belief or political persuasion, a little gratitude can go a long way to unite us.
Thanksgiving has its origins in a 3~day feast celebrated by indigenous peoples and European settlers in 1621, after the Pilgrims had received the assistance of various native tribes to survive a harsh winter and effectively farm during the summer months. Given the importance of indigenous knowledge then, it seems fitting to share now a piece of their wisdom I recently came across. Hopi elder David Monongye shared these words with the United Nations in the middle of the 20th Century:
"The original instructions of the Creator are universal and valid for all time. The essence of these instructions is compassion for all life and love for all creation. We must realize that we do not live in a world of dead matter, but in a universe of living spirit."
A beautiful perspective to hold, one that would create a very different experience for Earth's inhabitants were we to enact it and live by it today. Compassion for all life. Love for creation. Recognition that we are surrounded by living spirit.
And we really are partway there. Humans have an innate capacity for love and connection, a truth that flies in the face of the concept of survival of the fittest, which was, it turns out, a distortion of Darwin's actual position.
In The Descent of Man, Darwin identified compassion as "the almost ever~present instinct" and "one of the noblest with which man is endowed." He noted that communities with "the most sympathetic members would flourish best and rear the greatest number of offspring." Darwin also wrote that the qualities of compassion or altruism arise "from our sympathies becoming more tender and more widely diffused, until they extend to all sentient beings."
Evidence across various fields of study, from psychology to anthropology, from economics to evolutionary biology are confirming that, though we do not always act out of this capacity, it has been key to ensuring human survival in the past. And it obviously remains key to our survival into the future as well.
Listening to "the better angels of our nature," as Abraham Lincoln put it, does take practice though, especially when so much of modern society encourages self~interest, even greed. Yet I find it comforting to be reminded that this capacity is intrinsic to who we are as human beings. We needn't create it from scratch, but merely fan a flame that lies within us already so that it can burn brighter and more consistently.
I recently came across a Mexican proverb that points us in that direction: "Do good and don't worry to whom." Similar to practicing random kindness and senseless acts of beauty, it stresses that good done for the sake of good is an honorable pursuit. Just as sunlight streams through my window and those of my neighbors without first deciding who is deserving of it, we can shine our own light outward, indiscriminately and without measure.
A worthy post~Thanksgiving Day practice, giving thanks for what has been given us and extending our own gifts outward to others. Just cuz. Just cuz it allows our sympathies to grow more tender and become more widely diffused.
Thanksgiving was declared a national holiday in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln, who hoped it would become an observance to "heal the wounds of the nation." Seems like something we could use ourselves right about now, doesn't it?
Whether it's practicing random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty, doing good and not worrying to whom, enacting the Golden Rule, or practicing Christ's commandment that "as I have loved you, so must ye love one another", let's do it. And let's do it every day~~Practice! Practice! Practice!~~as we are carried toward those end~of~the~year celebrations and into the new year to come.
And in this vein, I thank you for all that you do and all that you are.
Leia
