LOVE and FREEDOM:
Common Values for a Divided America
Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, Macomb, Illinois
August 29, 2004
Professor
of Religious Studies/Western Illinois University
More than ten years
ago, Time magazine ran a cover story
entitled, “The Fraying of America.” The essence of the story was that the
productive creativity that made this nation great has been poisoned by an
argumentative, divisive attitude that has rendered us economically, socially,
and culturally impotent. The author who
used the word “fray” made an excellent choice.
As a noun, “fray” means a fight, scuffle, brawl or heated dispute; as a
verb the word means to unravel, wear away, or tatter, to strain or chafe.
Today, the word “fray” might be too weak to describe the cultural
climate in America. Americans are so
“frayed” that we’re even afraid of the “fraying.” On a recent trip to Des
Moines, Iowa, I conducted a completely unscientific research poll on the number
of political bumper stickers adorning the various vehicles traveling on
Interstate 80. In all my years, I’ve
never seen so few declarations of party allegiance. Where once political bumper stickers could spark a healthy debate
at the rest stop gas pump, now it can ignite road rage. Have you noticed how people tend to avoid
political discussions at social gatherings?
It is as though we are afraid of the emotional intensity of our anger,
and bewildered that friends and colleagues, surely good folk one and all, could
possibly support the “evil other,” whoever fills that role in our own minds.
We are the “polarized states of America.” The nation is literally unraveling at the seams because without a
clear vision of national purpose and meaning, we are reduced to fighting for
survival. Indeed, world history is
against any political entity bold enough to call itself the “united
states.” Civilizations inevitably
fall. On a recent trip to Egypt, I
brushed my hand along the crumbling walls of one of the grand pyramid at
Giza. Echoing the poignant lyrics from
“Dust in the Wind,” the 1970s hit by the rock group Kansas, dust and
stone is all that remains from that grand civilization. And in our own time, who among us who
quivered under a 5th grade desk during nuclear war drills ever
expected to see the fall of the evil empire of all evil empires, the Soviet
Union?
Here in the 21st
century, in the country called the United States of America, in the year 2004,
we fight. Anger, disagreement, a
pervasive sense of betrayal are now conveniently focused on a presidential
election, but the root cause of the such animosity between family members,
colleagues and one-time friends goes much deeper. The citizens of the United States have lost their vision.
Another way
of framing the challenge is to ask, “What are the “states” that Americans wish
to unite?” Before political “states”
can be united with all the accoutrements of boundaries, flag, national anthem,
army, politicians, and national agendas, we must be united as a people in
“states of heart and mind” - the ideals of a nation must live in the hearts and
minds of its citizenry before any authentic political form can be
realized.
I would
submit that America, in its most pristine form, has always been a spiritual
experiment. William Penn, 80 years before the American Revolution, called his
own early adventure in “uniting states of heart and mind,” a Holy Experiment. Then and now, those states are love and freedom. I propose that the citizens of the United
States of America find common ground and common cause in reclaiming the United States of Love and Freedom. Enter
the “fray” for freedom and love. Whereas our forbearers fought a bloody war of
revolution against forces that restricted love and freedom, today, in the midst
of this agonizing polarization, if this nation is to survive, we must wage a
spiritual revolution to recover our core, the heart of America. Almost 40 years ago, the Beatles sang, “You
say you want a revolution?” Well, yes.
What is called for is a new kind of peaceful revolution; a spiritual revolution
to re-ignite the “holy experiment” that is America. The Dalai Lama puts it well
in his call for a global spiritual revolution.
He says,
“Our problems, both those we experience externally such as wars, crime and violence and those we experience internally as emotional and psychological suffering will not be solved until we address this underlying neglect of our inner dimension. That is why the great movements of the last hundred years and more – democracy, liberalism, socialism, Communism – have all failed to deliver the universal benefits they were supposed to provide, despite many wonderful ideas. A revolution is called for, certainly, but not a political, an economic, or a technical revolution. We have had enough experience of those during the past century to know what a purely external approach will not suffice. What I propose is a spiritual revolution.”
Time is running out for a spiritual revolution in the United States.
Polarization and divisive argument are sapping the energy of the nation, and
what unravels at the spiritual level soon manifests at the political. The
ideals of this nation have been allowed to dissipate, and we are slowly
becoming victims of what the Jewish Talmud refers to as “vain hatred”; a hatred
that has lost any sense of reason or meaning; like a wildfire in the west, it
feeds on itself and burns out of control.
Reflecting on “vain hatred” and its applicability to the American
cultural climate reminded me of an experience I had in Jerusalem in 1998. As part of the collection of video material
for the second edition of my teleclass on religious diversity, Beliefs and
Believers, the video crew visited the Shalom Hartman Institute and
interviewed Rabbi Lorberbaum. The rabbi
explained that the Hartman institute exists to promote peace and understanding
in the divided world of Israel.
Students, scholars, and religious teachers rely on the sacred texts in
Judaism, the Torah and Talmud, to provide models for constructive dialogue,
retain the deeply spiritual ideals of peace and harmony among all people, and
to make sense of life’s complexities in the modern, pluralistic society of
Israel today. Our interview interrupted rabbi Lorberbaum’s study of the Talmud,
and when he randomly opened the book to explain the structure of Talmudic
writing, ironically he turned to a commentary on “vain hatred.” The rabbis were trying to understand what
lead to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70c.e. After much thought, they concluded that, in
part, it was simply a burning, unfocused, out of control hatred. Dr. Lorberbaum, a scholarly and learned
intellectual, actually got tears in his eyes as he acknowledged the vain hatred
that exists in Israel today and his struggle against hopelessness on resolving
societal tensions.
Two helpful lessons emerge from this chance encounter, lessons that
will help us wage a spiritual revolution.
First, beware of “vain hatred.”
Nip it in the bud before it develops.
One strategy that will ease unnecessary animosity is to avoid directing
your frustration about nation policy towards a particular political party or
person. In the context of the coming
presidential election, it makes little sense to harbor hatred towards George W.
Bush or John Kerry. Instead, what we
all kind find detestable is would be leaders who commandeer the reigns of power
then betray the ideals of this nation.
The solution to the problem is to elect leaders who respect and nurture
those ideas. Put the wasted energy of
hating candidates into improving the electoral process.
“Vain hatred” flourishes in the “dysfunctional states” of false dualism
and negative identify formation.
Negative identity formation, forming your own identity by vilifying and
hating “the other,” creates false dualism – us v. them -, which inevitably
disrupts, dissolves, and destroys “unites states.” Remember that the federal
government is not the United States.
The political poles of conservative republican and liberal democrat are
a simplistic way of dividing two complementary forces in any successful,
self-organizing system; patterns of stability and patterns of
transformation. The conservative
Republican agenda represents
patterns of stability. Another way to frame it would be maintaining
patterns of social stability or protecting the status quo.
Equally important are patterns of transformation, embodied for the most
part in the liberal Democratic agenda. and infinitely more interesting, are patterns of change or transformation. Transformation,
above all, calls for a new way of thinking, a new way of seeing the world and
interpreting experience. Rather than
fighting between these falsely assigned “opposites,” any ongoing and successful
society learns to balance the two complementary tendencies. Most of all, avoid personifying these
complementary forces as Bush or Kerry, Republican or Democrat. As always,
dialogue, listening, respect, and consensus are time-honored methods for
avoiding vain hatred. Does a policy
ensure love and freedom or division and restriction?
A second important lesson drawn from the encounter at the Hartman
institute involves the recover of our cherished national ideals. What better
way than to review the founding documents, just as Rabbi Lorberbaum explored
the Talmud in his quest to find clues for peace in Israel? It makes sense. When social vision is lost,
look to the founding documents to recover the ideals. In this case, I would return to the Declaration of Independence
and revisit certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. I will make the case that we
can find common ground in two interrelated and indispensable values: freedom
and love.
Finding Common Values: Love
and Freedom
In the opening words of our Declaration of Independence, Thomas
Jefferson offers the 2004 American, struggling to maintain united states,
a simple list of shared, common values; life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. Let’s consider them in
reverse order and see how, ultimately, pursuit of happiness, liberty, and life
are not possible without love and freedom.
Consider the pursuit of happiness.. On the back of the common American one-dollar bill, beneath the
pyramid topped by a single staring eye, we find the Latin phrase novo ordo
seclorum – in English, “a
new order of things.” In that simple
phrase we can detect much of the impulse, the energy, the imagination that went
into the creation of a new nation – the United States – and forever put the
stamp of freedom on the American way of life.
Put simply, you cannot put boundaries around love and freedom.
Of course, as author Diane Ackerman notes, our Constitution doesn’t
guarantee us the right to possess happiness; only the right to pursue it and
for that hot pursuit, we need liberty and life. Happiness is a little like God, only noticed and pursued in its
absence. The pursuit is part of human
nature, and pursue we will. America is
the land of endless possibility, and, as University of Chicago historian of religions,
Martin Marty, humorously notes, all of American history can be summed up in two
words, “We itch!”
Consider liberty. Liberty means freedom to pursue
happiness. To co-opt an existential
mantra from the X Generation, liberty
means no boundaries. When you put boundaries around something,
control and power become the order of the day, not freedom and love. Of course, no boundaries can be scary. To overcome fear, we need to rely on yet
another important ingredient in any “united states” – trust. The essence of liberty is trust. A people cannot be free unless
they trust their leaders and, more importantly, trust each other. Fear replaces freedom if people are not able
to live in a social environment built on trust. The antidotes for fear is always trust, and trust grows when our
differences are a cause for celebration, not polarization and animosity.
Appreciating and cherishing difference dissolves “vain hatred.” In an
atmosphere of trust, our unity is actually strengthened by our diversity.
I absorbed this insight in
August listening to the democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, Barak Obama,
speak in the humble confines of the Chandler Park gazebo. I would sum up his
remarks in one phrase, “Folks, we’re all in this together.” Unity in diversity
is what America is all about. To be united is to share life freely, in liberty,
and to trust each other because, indeed, we are all in this together. The grand
cultural experiment that is America is one of endless possibility. Barak Obama
is living proof of the positive pursuit of happiness. Son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, he
has ridden the wave of life and liberty to extraordinary personal
accomplishments. And, with great
humility, he recognizes that his story reflects well on the real America. Of
course none of this would be possible without an abiding appreciation for unity
in diversity. He put it well in his
keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. Calling for a truly united America, he said,
“There’s not a liberal America and a conservative America – there is a United
States of America.” What people want from government is life, liberty, and
pursuit of happiness. In his words,
“They sense, deep in their bones, that with just a change in priorities we can
make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life and that the doors
of opportunity remain open to all.”
When I listen to George W. Bush or John Kerry on television or read
their speeches, the transformative qualities of hope and trust seem to be
missing. I sense those qualities in
Barak Obama, I hope he is worthy of our trust, and, if he is, I can only hope
that many more Barak Obama’s are waiting in the wings to lead the spiritual
revolution of this nation.
Consider life. Life is
nothing less than the expression of love and freedom. And life could easily be a synonym for love. The fullness of any individual life rests on
love. That is why Jesus reduced all of
religion to loving God and loving your neighbor. Because when you strip religion of cultural trappings, the
spiritual core is, “we’re all in this together,” the same political insight I
drew from Mr. Obama’s talk revealed as spiritual insight. There are a number of
mystical interpretations of the words “holy” and “spiritual,” and I leave those
interpretations to the mystically-inclined.
For the down-to-earth, yet spiritual humanist, the “spirituality” means,
“we’re all in this together.” Not just “all us humans regardless of color or
country” but all us creatures from the tiniest animal to the cosmos. Love means freedom for everyone and
everything to pursue happiness. It also
means that I can never find personal happiness if I restrict your freedom and
limit your life. That’s the catch. We do it together; or we don’t do it at all.
I cannot be happy unless you are happy.
I cannot be peaceful unless you are peaceful. Once you lose love and
freedom, you are left with power and control. Love cannot exist without trust
and trust requires freedom. Love and
freedom are common values because, without them, nothing remains united.
Recovering the Holy
Experiment
Recently, Bruce Springsteen announced the Vote for Change tour, and I
was struck by the distinctly spiritual language he used in his final paragraph,
“It is through the truthful exercising of the best of
human
qualities - respect for others, honesty about ourselves,
faith in our ideals - that we come to life in God's eyes.
It is how our soul, as a nation and as individuals, is
revealed. Our American government has strayed too far from
American values. It is time to move forward. The country we
carry in our hearts is waiting.”
I have used the words, “holy experiment,” a few times already. In tracing the roots of the love and freedom
in American history, I harken back to William Penn’s “Holy Experiment,” the
massive land grant known as Penn’s woods or Pennsylvania, developed in the 17th
century. Penn, born in 1644, the
pacifist son of a naval hero, was devout member of a radical Protestant sect,
the Quakers, a mystic, democratic theorist, champion of religious freedom, and,
for his time, one of the most inclusive of social thinkers. Pennsylvania, called by Penn a “holy
experiment, quickly became of bastion of tolerance in world of “vain
hatred.”
Penn was
keenly aware of the spiritual nature of human governance. In fact, in considering all forms of human
governance, he wrote “So that government seems to me a part of religion itself,
a thing sacred in its institution and end.”
Many may be put off by the word “religion,” but Penn understood
“religion” to mean the embrace of freedom and love. Of course, the connection between spirituality and governance was
dependent on “liberty of conscience.”
In the “Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges,” written in October of 1701,
his first and founding principle of these privileges rests on liberty of
conscience. He writes, “…no People can be truly happy, though under the
greatest Enjoyment of Civil Liberties, if abridged of the Freedom of their
Consciences, as to their Religious Profession and Worship.”
Not only do we need to reclaim a spiritual understanding of religion,
we need to reclaim the Bible as our guide to love and freedom. Penn’s “holy experiment” drew substance and
sustenance from the Bible, but not the suffocating moralism and restrictive
biblical literacy preached by today’s Christian Taliban. Biblical stories fly on wings of love and
freedom, and moralism becomes merely the wrapping in which the gift of love is
delivered. The entire Old Testament saga is about the struggle for human beings
to live free or die. In the New
Testament, Jesus uses beautiful, down-to-earth parables to describe the kingdom
of heaven, but there are no comparisons when it comes to describing God; God is
love and perfect love casts out fear.
“Religion” in America, like our political institutions, needs a “soul
injection” of spirituality if we are to recover the biblical roots of love and
freedom.
I speak of ideals, yet the pragmatist in me recognizes the very real
challenges we face. Bruce Springsteen,
skilled musician and wordsmith, summarizes our political dilemma well,
“Like many others, in
the aftermath of 9/11, I felt the
country's unity. I don't remember anything quite like it. I
supported the decision to enter Afghanistan and I hoped
that the seriousness of the times would bring forth
strength, humility and wisdom in our leaders. Instead, we
dived headlong into an unnecessary war in Iraq, offering up
the lives of our young men and women under circumstances
that are now discredited. We ran record deficits, while
simultaneously cutting and squeezing services like
afterschool programs. We granted tax cuts to the richest 1
percent (corporate bigwigs, well-to-do guitar players),
increasing the division of wealth that threatens to destroy
our social contract with one another and render mute the
promise of "one nation indivisible."
Results really do matter, they indicate intention, and the threat to
unity Springsteen describes comes not from love and freedom; it is the result
of fear. When freedom and love become the measure of policy, it really is not
difficult to find common ground. We
know what policies mirror the ideals of a “united states,” and what policies
undercut our shared ideals. Trust allows love and freedom to flourish. Then, there is no more argument, no
polarization. You can be polarized over
issues, political agendas, party-affiliation, and such but not over love and
freedom. In conclusion, I would simply repeat my opening thesis; the two
fundamental values we need to recover are love and freedom. To make it even simpler, they really
are one and the same. There can be no
love without freedom and no freedom without love. Presidents, potentates, principalities, political parties,
kings, warriors, and armies will pass, but not love and freedom. By uniting the states of love and freedom
in their hearts and minds, American citizens will be able to overcome
polarization, find common ground, and most of all, keep the fires of this holy
experiment burning forever.