Swimming the Sacred River

One of the central tenets of Sacred River states that intentional change is a moral imperative. This is grounded in the idea that the one thing that makes us most human is intentionality, the ability to plan, reflect, imagine, and act with forethought. We can choose to think and behave in ways that our primordial disposition might otherwise prefer. Further, we have the power to learn; one’s store of knowledge and skills is never fixed, even if age makes the process more challenging over time. And because our choices have consequences not only for one’s personal well-being, but also in regards to our social and ecological impact, we have an obligation to “educate the will” as Emerson put it.

The Second Virtue within Sacred River is Integrity. One aspect of integrity is genuineness, which can be interpreted as embodying one’s most authentic self. Of course, this “self” is not an unchanging relic, but an emergent process of being. There are many keys to achieving this flow of genuineness, but perhaps the most salient is self-knowledge or self-awareness. It is no small thing to be able to pay attention to the self, to one’s quiet motivations, expectations, beliefs, assumptions, fears, values, and all the obscured habits of the mind, to follow the tangled thread in the cognitive labyrinth that leads to our manifested actions and feelings. Any increase in such awareness can be considered another step in the journey of personal growth.

It is true that there is value in the knowing alone, but the true value is in using awareness of the self to change. One metaphor for this is Michelangelo’s description of sculpting, when he said that a statue is already fully formed within the stone, and that his job was merely to chip away the remainder. If it is true that a genuine self exists within each of us, then our job is to chip away at those things that prevent fully authentic expression.

Now then, all of these things are potentially disruptive—self-knowledge, chipping away at the inauthentic, and even genuine expression. By disruptive, I mean that processes within ourselves, our daily lives, and our social systems are interrupted and become more chaotic or unpredictable, often resulting in anxiety. For most people, disruption isn’t pleasant. This makes perfect sense—our survival has long depended on our (assumed) ability to control our environment and to predict outcomes. As such, well-being cannot be long maintained in a disruptive environment.

Considering how life is already chaotic enough without our intentionally throwing a wrench in the works, it makes sense that the idea of harmony, balance, peace, or tranquility would be a common theme in nearly every religion. Sacred River also supports these basic aims and recognizes their many values; after all, another aspect of Integrity is maintaining an optimal balance between all elements of the self. Outside of oneself, harmony in the social and ecological environment is vital to establishing fairness and sustainability. It goes without saying that finding peace and contentment in one’s life can be a source of great spiritual satisfaction.

The core aims of Sacred River are meaning, fulfillment, and joy. You may notice that tranquility is not on that list. This is because, regardless of its many positive virtues, tranquility is not an effective tool to achieve the kind of world for which we are working. Now then, one might experience tranquility as a byproduct of fulfillment, and no one here would begrudge that. But we are progressives here at Sacred River—we hold that things can always improve, and sustained contentment often inhibits the motivation needed to bring about change.

To be clear, I am not proposing we need to live a life of perpetual disturbance, or that it is good to induce chaos for its own sake. What I am arguing is that if we are going to aim for progress—both personally and socially—then we need to make friends with disruption. We each need to find ways to harness the power of disruption. A forest needs fires on occasion to stay healthy, and the same can be said of human life. Fulfillment and genuineness require that we challenge ourselves to break out of unnecessary habits of the body and mind, to learn new knowledge and skills, and to try novel ways of thinking and living. This requires the courage to leap into the unknown, the humility to realize that we don’t have all the answers, and the curiosity to wonder what change might bring.

All Posts, Praxis, Progressivism