Independence Day --> Interdependence Day

While we haven’t always been independent, we have always been (and will always continue to be) interdependent.

And so, while I appreciate the freedom won by the ending of British colonial rule over the Americas, and while I appreciate the hard-won and essential independence of thought, belief, and protest, what I believe is the most essential thing to celebrate is our innate interdependence.

In the words of the Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh,

“We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.”

As he puts it, we inter-be.

The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the very atoms and molecules that make up our bodies all circulate through us, through the respiration of plants, shared and sacrificed by other animals, ground between our teeth, moved into and through our bodies, extracted to build our own temporary bodies, none of which is truly separate, none of which is permanent.

The African philosophy of ubuntu expresses the human dimension of this beautifully.

I am because we are. My humanity is inextricably connected to yours. Therefore, I can’t deny your humanity without also denying my own.

And so, while fireworks light the sky, while jet fighters trail red, white, and blue smoke over the NYC skyline, and while some 4th of July celebrations verge on jingoistic (aggressively nationalistic), it warms my heart to remember what nothing can deny or dissever: that we have always been, and will always be, fundamentally and inextricably interconnected and interdependent.

Happy Interdependence Day, beloved community!

Love,

Shalom