Workers of Wisconsin

Lately I have been thinking a lot about spirituality, psychology and human society at this cross-roads in our species’ existence. In explaining these things, I should start out with a few premises, which may be debatable but in which I profoundly believe:

-That we are currently living in a period of decline of human society, i.e. the decline of the mightiest empire the Earth has ever seen (the U.S.) and the corresponding decline of the capitalist system at its rotten heart. There are many symptoms of this decline which I will not take the time to elaborate on here, except for one that I think is particularly illustrative: recent polls have shown that for the first time, less than 50% of young people in this country believe they will see an improvement in their lives from the previous generation.

-That along with this decline, the masses of people living in this country and the areas it most affects are increasingly disoriented and scared. These fears breed reaction and a clinging to the promised certainty offered by evangelical or fundamentalist religion. This happens all the more so when the harsh reality of the decline can no longer be ignored by immersion into reality substitutes (T.V., drugs, etc.). As with the grim reaper at the window, the masses try to shut the shades and find a happy reality to immerse themselves in; though after a time, his presence is still felt, as with the loss of a job, the stacking up of debt, the decline of available income. So people run to religion, which offers a Way Out, and simply ignore that they may be used for political ends; they don’t want to think of the Church as mortal, but rather wish to see it as an escape from their problems.

-That the decline is marked also by spiritual bankruptcy of our society, brought about by fear and insecurity both rational and irrational. Our actions are quite often subconsciously driven by our insecurities, and unless we work actively to confront them they can have grave consequences. Why does the playground bully pick on others? Why does the car company tell us to help save the environment? The reason is the same: the bully is really afraid of his own weaknesses, so he must tear others down to make himself appear strong; the car company knows that it pollutes, so for the sake of acceptance by “consumers” it must convince them that it wants to save the environment. Now a pop quiz: why does the Bush Administration espouse the spread of “Freedom”?

This spiritual bankruptcy is perhaps the most dangerous thing of all, for how to we act to save society when we are paralyzed by our own fears? We are then unable to use our conscious intellect to solve problems, and worse, unable to see each other without suspicion, as brothers and sisters in the fight to save humanity.

I got into a conversations the other day with both an evangelical Christian and a liberal Episcopal minister for whom I have a great deal of respect. The former exemplified the insecurity, the yearning for certainty, and the ultimate spiritual bankruptcy which I discussed before. The latter held a different view. In his words, the purpose of life is love. He sees God’s creation as the ultimate act of love, that God created the world and Man so as to have something other to love. Note that I don’t share the religious view of a divine Creator; this is described for example purposes only. Still, this is a compelling idea. What are the implications for living if the purpose of life is to love?

I sympathize with this notion to a great extent. Thinking on it, I came to realize that, though I am not religious, perhaps ironically I have lived my life by many of the tenets and morals that I think come out of this spiritual view. Treat everyone equally. Show compassion and love even to those you don’t like or don’t know. Humans are inherently communal, not self-interested.

This last view comes from a slightly different starting point. I always started from the idea that our purpose here is simply to live; life is its own adventure, and there is no deeper purpose than life itself. But if you believe that humans are social beings – that is, we need each other to survive – then inevitably you wind up with the conclusion that any desire to improve life should lead to building the human community, and that takes love. It also takes bettering oneself so as to be able to act on and better the human community (and, through its holistic connections, the community of life).

My morals and ideas come from many sources, not the least of whom is Maria Montessori. An engineer, medical doctor, humanist and above all teacher, her philosophy of education was ingrained in me from an early age, but I am just now coming to appreciate how revolutionary her ideas truly are. In reading The Absorbent Mind, I came across this passage:

“If the standards to which we cling are solely connected with our own self-perfection, with the raising of ourselves to spiritual heights, this brings us into the region of spiritual pride. It is a grave error, perhaps the greatest that man can make… Man’s life is purposive. It is not enough to be always reaching out to higher levels of spiritual refinement and inward beauty. Naturally, a man may aim, and ought always to aim, at the highest levels of physical and mental perfection, but his life would be a vain and worthless thing if his wishes ended at this point. Indeed, what would be the use of his having a brain or muscles? There is nothing in the world which plays no part in the universal economy, and if we are endowed with spiritual riches, with aesthetic feelings and a refined conscience, it is not for ourselves, but so that these gifts shall be used for the benefit of all, and take their place in the universal economy of spiritual life.

“Spiritual powers are a form of wealth. They must go into circulation so that others can enjoy them; they must be expressed, utilized, to complete the cycle of human relations. Even the heights of spirituality, if pursued for their own sake, have no value, and if we aim at these alone, we shall be neglecting the greater part of life and its purposes. Were we believers in reincarnation, and said to ourselves, ‘By living well now, I shall be better off in my next life,’ this would be only selfishness speaking in us… If we are always thinking about ourselves, and of ourselves even in eternity, we shall be eternally selfish.”

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Though Montessori never proclaimed herself a Marxist, many of her ideas about society are undoubtedly shared by socialists and others seeking to better society by scientific means. One of the themes that she developed throughout her career as a revolutionary educator, which is shown in embryonic form by the above quote, is that work is sacred. Indeed, work, which she identifies as part of the “universal economy” (and here she is including not only humans, but all of nature, which humans are seen as a part of), lies at the very heart of spirituality. It is by our labor that we build society, and that we help one another to live in it.

What is so revolutionary about this idea is that it completely counterposes meaningful work to the warped idea of work as applied under capitalism, i.e. work as in a despised job which one must do to make enough money to feed oneself. It would be understandable for someone who only knows this skewed definition of work to recoil at the perception that what they do for a living should somehow be considered their sacred duty – indeed, it is this very idea that enslaved masses of people to the authoritarian Church-state complex for centuries under feudalism. But if we truly look at work as sacred, and that the meaningful work involved in caring for and bettering oneself and others, and in producing what’s needed for society is what gives purpose to our lives, then we see how putridly capitalism has defiled work to turn it into something hated. One can also see the modern Church’s interpretation of the Bible as playing into this twisted vision of work through the story of Adam and Eve, in which the consequence for eating the fruit of knowledge is toil in the wilderness for eternity.

It is indeed a revolutionary idea that real work and participation in the universal economy should bring one a sense of joy and fulfillment. This idea is held jointly by Montessori and by Marxian socialism. Instead of the vision of Man “toiling for eternity in the wilderness,” we get a vision of our work tying into the universal economy of nature, benefiting the whole. This view better reflects reality: ask any small farmer whether she feels more fulfilled working with the land or working in a city, and you will find that it is really only economic necessity that drives the farmer to leave her land. Going a step further, when the land is viewed as something to be subdued with chemicals and machinery, it tends to become quickly exhausted, whereas farming that works with and as a part of nature (call it “permaculture” or “organic” or “biodynamic”, what have you) is usually sustainable indefinitely.

Work in which the products of labor are exploited by business elites and not by those who labor to make them is artificial, deadening to the individual and ultimately fatal to society. It is another symptom of how unhealthy our society is that idleness is seen as an ideal, that the ultimate luxury for many people would be to be able to stay home and do nothing.

This idea of work gives us guidance toward what true spirituality means. Spirituality is fulfillment is work – work for a better society. Only if we can unify the masses to stand up to and depose the exploitative capitalist system under which we now live can we establish a healthy spirituality, one which recognizes the true value of human labor and community.