America The Beautiful

                                                                       America the Beautiful

                                                                   “O beautiful for spacious skies,
                                                                    For amber waves of grain,
                                                                    For purple mountain majesties
                                                                    Above the fruited plain!”

                                

It is appropriate, in these times of great division and fragmentation, to return to certain cohesive principles and passions that have, and always will, keep us under a cultural and national banner of unity. This is dependent on us embracing our many many differences as many facets of one shinning diamond in the rough.

So this article is written to help us rise above our differences and see that we are trulyone people, one culture within a multicultural matrix (a unity within diversity), and ultimately one nation.

                                                                       Consciousness or Fate

Carl Jung wrote; “What is not brought to consciousness comes to us as fate.” This is most appropriate in these times where it seems as if a fatalistic, societal train is hurdling down the tracks, out of control, hell bent on a catastrophic outcome. This is the apocalyptic myth that we are enamored with in our collective unconsciousness, but it is only a mythic possibility (like nuclear war), it is by no means fate. That is, unless we allow the train to function on auto-pilot and fail to captain our own vessel.

To live consciously is to be open and engaged to your soul’s intentions. You cannot know what these intentions are unless you have the willingness and skills to listen and act, herein lies the need for good guidance and being around those that have journeyed the hero’s journey.

                                                                          Manhood In America

                                      

                                                         

In his book Manhood In America, Michael Kimmel explores three distinct archetypes that have greatly contributed to American social consciousness for males. These archetypes are still with us and carry some of the undercurrents of our social consciousness, one is the Genteel Patriarch;

“The Genteel Patriarch was an ideal of masculinity transplanted directly from Europe to the New World. The Genteel Patriarch defined manhood in terms of aristocratic landownership. He was an upper-class man who prized honor, character, and etiquette and had refined (i.e. European) tastes in clothing and food. The Genteel Patriarch sought to govern his vast estate with benevolence and kindness, and he spent much of his time doting on his children and ensuring they received the moral education they needed to be active and engaged citizens in the young republic.”

The next archetype relevant to our American heritage is what Kimmel refers to as the Heroic Artisan.

“For the Heroic Artisan, manliness meant primarily independence and self-reliance. His independence made him an invaluable citizen of the new republic: a man whose vote could not be bought or sold. Although fiercely independent, the Heroic Artisan also valued community. He was loyal to his fellow craftsmen, treated his customers/neighbors fairly, and embraced his civic duties. He was the patriarch of his family, and with his shop often located in or near his family’s house, was able to oversee his household throughout the day.”

                           

And finally Kimmel discusses the Self-Made Man;

“The Self-Made Man was the restless go-getter who constantly strove for success in the public sphere and the marketplace. Instead of basing his identity as a man in landownership, genealogy, or artisanal skills, the Self-Made Man rooted his manliness in personal achievement, status, and wealth.”

                     

The self-made man is closely related to the Biblical notion of God making man in his own image. There is a positive as well as a very dark shadow side of this archetype (and every archetype).

                  

We can see how these, and many other archetypal patterns have been woven into the very fabric that makes us who we are as an American culture. But archetypes, like stereotypes and myths, are only metaphoric, generic, possibilities. It is up to each one of us to live as consciously as possible, and to embody and enact our individual and collective values with our shared democratic vision. Otherwise we abdicate our power, others will make decisions for us, and we will live in the default mode like a herd of lemurs.

                                                                                                            

                                                                        

                                                                                     Potential

                                   

If we are anything, Americans are a people that seek to maximize potential. We are not satisfied with the status quo, we have a passion for excellence, and pursue education to continually help us to shape our individual and collective identity into ever “new and improved” versions; 2.0, 3.0, 1000000.0…

We are a people that have a deep seated sense of freedom. We are willing to fight and die for this principle. We interpret freedom very different, but we do not disagree that freedom is a fundamental value that all Americans share.

We have a faith in the value of popular government and believe in self-rule, “of the people by the people”. Our constitution, bill of rights, and declaration of independence are the finest political documents ever written (and also the most difficult to put into practice!), and we are the first democratic republic ever.

We have a willingness to experience and experiment with new things, and we value innovation, creativity, and initiative. We strive for excellence, want to be the best, and will train, learn, practice and compete to try and be #1. We believe that competition and self-interest also serve the greater good, and we are generous, charitable, optimistic and hardworking toward giving opportunities and help to those in need.

Our negative stereotypes and shadows we carry are that we are a "Gun-loving" culture of violence, we are materialistic, we over-consume, exploit, have extreme capitalism, that we are lacking in cultural awareness, that we are Racist, Environmentally ignorant, arrogant and boastfulness, and that we have an Industrial Military complex with a Hawk’s zeal, and believe we are "the world's policemen."

These possibilities and potentials are what we are always on the threshold of manifesting one way or another. Now is the time to choose the best version of ourselves that we can be, and consciously live this fully!

            

                                                                         This Land is Your Land

Each cultural matrix begins in the same place, which is the land and ecological web that we inhabit. Geography, climate, and the resonance of nature is the first imprint on a people and their evolving culture. But we Americans must first acknowledge that the first cultural matrix that was thriving in relation to the land were the Native Americans. Just as the Jews will never forget their Holocaust, we should never forget that our country and culture began with a Holocaust.

But once Europeans established a beachhead in this land, it was indeed the land that began to shape who and what we would become as a people. The miscalculations of weather and climate of some of the original settlements such as Jamestown were early lessons to not underestimate the power of the land and climate to facilitate life or banish it.

So the early New Englanders, and Northerners in general, became a very tough breed, introverted, having to contend with fierce winters and the tempestuous Atlantic ocean. Life was quicker, industrial, and more focused, so there were less amenities of cordiality. Whereas the warm, languid, and agrarian South developed a slower pace, and one more suited for hospitality and gentility. The South also had slaves doing most the work, so this makes one more amenable to receive gentleman callers and sip mint julips on the porch swing!

Then we have the Wild West, which is the land of milk and honey, gold, gunslingers, and cowboys. The mystique of the West was in some ways the same mystique that immigrants believed, namely “the grass is greener” syndrome.  Steinbeck’s “The Grapes Of Wrath,” helped to quell that illusion.

These few examples of land shaping a people are meant to show that we belong to the land, not the other way round. The land is something we American’s fight over, value, and believe that we can own it. This is something the Native Americans were taken aback by; the notion that European’s were deluded to think we could own, buy, and sell land.

But as much as we may delude ourselves about our relationship to the land, we American’s truly do value the land. Our National park system is the operationalizing of this National value.

                                                                                    Manifest Destiny

                                              

For much of American History, wilderness was viewed as an evil wasteland that had to be conquered. The idea of Manifest Destiny included the ideas that God is on our side and wants us to subdue the land and people and make them like us. This idea was highly contested even though there was much damage in God’s name. The land left untouched by man was described as “deserted,” “savage,” and “barren,” and it needed to be “developed.” I still cringe when someone tells me they are a “developer.”

By the end of the 19th century, backlash against a rapidly industrializing society ushered in a new fascination with the natural world. Writers like John Muir and Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau, as well as painters such as George Catlin and Thomas Cole were busy redefining wilderness as “the preservation of the world” where “nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.”

This is something we share as Americans, not everyone shares it, but I think a predominant number of conscious people do. And our National Park system is the embodiment of this shared value.

In 1832, Catlin was travelling the Great Plains to document disappearing Native American tribes when he penned the words credited for creating the concept of a national park. “By some great protecting policy of government,” Catlin argued for, “a magnificent park ... a nation’s park, containing man and beast, in all the wild and freshness of their nature’s beauty!”

A few decades later, in 1872, Catlin’s dream came true when a natural wonderland spanning Wyoming, Montana and Idaho became the world’s first official national park. They called it Yellowstone.

                                

                                              Visitors at Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone, in 1876.

In 1903, Muir convinced President Theodore Roosevelt to join him on a camping trip in Yosemite, and three years later the park was under full federal control. So a stamp of national unity directly related to the land is something we can all claim and “own” as what we hold to be fundamental to being American.

                         

                            View up the valley from the Coulterville Road, Yosemite Valley, Cal. 1861-1873.

                                                          

                                            

                                                                         Woddy

Another part of our national unifying heritage is music. America has put her stamp on several genres of music that we can be proud to call our own. These include jazz, blues, rock, country, and our own utterly American folk music.

Music, like land, conveys a resonance of the people that we incorporate and integrate like dialects of the soul. Our jazz conveys our spontaneity, our willingness to break the rules, and our ability to improvise. Blues conveys the depth of our soul, our tragedies, and our inhumanity to one another (listen to Billie Holiday’s “The Hangin’ Tree). Rock n’ roll gave adolescents the hip gyrations of Elvis, and enabled us to shake rattle and roll our way through being a teenager. And our folk music conveys our political savvy, our protests, and our visions and dreams of what we can and should be.

Woody Guthrie, and later Bob Dylan, are two of my favorite uniquely American folk singers. Woody’s song “This Land Is Your Land” is a perfect example of Americana at its best.

This Land Is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk songs. Its lyrics were written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie in 1940 based on an existing melody, in critical response to Iriving Berlin's "God Bless America." When Guthrie was tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on the radio in the late 1930s he sarcastically wrote "God Blessed America for Me" before renaming it "This Land Is Your Land."

Sarcasm, satire, protest and irony are quintessential aspects of our American wit. The original lyrics to Woody’s song included this verse: "There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me. The sign was painted, said 'Private Property.' But on the backside, it didn't say nothing. This land was made for you and me."

This is most appropriate considering the current political candidate that promises to build a big wall to keep Mexicans out of the U.S.

                                                               You’re Not The Boss Of Me!

                                  

                             

                                                                         

Another quality Americans share culturally is our stubborn, independent, self-reliant, and rebellious nature. Americans are often critiqued in this way as being adolescent (see Robert Bly’s book “The Sibling Society”), but I also think we have a mature side of our collective ego that is fiercely independent in a good way.

When the French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville toured and lived in America in the 1830’s, he had great insight into our strengths and weaknesses that only an outsider could see.

“Tyranny in democratic republics does not proceed in the same way, however. It ignores the body and goes straight for the soul. The master no longer says: You will think as I do or die. He says: You are free not to think as I do. You may keep your life, your property, and everything else. But from this day forth you shall be as a stranger among us. You will retain your civic privileges, but they will be of no use to you. For if you seek the votes of your fellow citizens, they will withhold them, and if you seek only their esteem, they will feign to refuse even that. You will remain among men, but you will forfeit your rights to humanity. When you approach your fellow creatures, they will shun you as one who is impure. And even those who believe in your innocence will abandon you, lest they, too, be shunned in turn. Go in peace, I will not take your life, but the life I leave you with is worse than death.” 
― Alexis de Tocqueville

This is certainly a prescient message, as only a good study of history will teach us, to be warry of the dark sides to our democracy and to consciously actualize the best of who and what we are.  

We Americans are a contentious, feisty bunch, in this country, we are literally a microcosm of the world as the inscription on the statue of liberty says;

                                 “Give me your tired, your poor, 
                                 Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free, 
                                The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, 
                                Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,
                                I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

But once our ancestors arrived in America and settled, we rolled up our sleeves, got to work, competed, collaborated, and conspired, as well as fought like hell for what we wanted and believed in. We still believe in those things. We are descendants of generations of oppressed and disenfranchised people and we will not bow down to authority without knowing and testing the depth of that authority. We explicitly wrote into our constitution the idea of overthrowing a morally corrupt government, so we definitely believe in accountability and checks and balances. This is what and who we are as Americans, and we are continuing to change!