We Are Exiles. So Where's HOME?

For a Wind to Watch, steel by Tim Holmes

My dear friend Crystal asked me to elaborate on a concept I shared with her that we are a people exiled away from home. So, of course, she asked, where's home? 

First of all for me it refers to values carefully constructed over centuries, values we've abandoned. Like politeness, civility, refinement, taste. We grew up in a system that seems absolutely normal to us, like a fish unaware of its watery world, but I find our environment laced with a sickly smell. Look for instance at the very recent tolerance of swearing or lying in public life. When I was a kid I might get my mouth washed out with soap if I used a bad word. I’ve grown up valuing the dignity of proper language, whereas now crass language floods the media. Nor do we respect others enough to honor the with the truth if we can benefit from a lie. What happened to the motivation toward dignity? We don't realize the severity of that loss.

 

We participate in a constant decline in the qualities of civilization that our ancestors painstakingly constructed over centuries, building away from the squalor of primitive brutality. Politeness is but an example. I am much more worried about the demise of the core religious values which formed the roots of every civilization in history. Now for the first time in this secular-based society, we've substituted our core community values with capitalism, devoid of any ethic north of self-interest. We've lost an uplifting ethic! Is it any wonder that individuals have become so incredibly selfish and have lost a sense of the value of their community or nation!?

 

Generally we live very tiny lives, circling wee personal problems, oblivious to the greater movements around us. I wonder how many people spend their lives conforming to what they believe is expected of them, never venturing a dream beyond those our ancestors knew of starting a family, or a business or perhaps writing a little book. Who dreams of a new kind of life; a new version of relating; a new structure of community; a new dream beyond simply making money and relaxing on the beach every summer? John Quincy Adams said

“I am a warrior, so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet.”

Now we all get to be poets, but not yet––our favorite show is on! Perhaps all of us are not called to be dreamers and visionaries, but shouldn’t the vision of the society aspire to more? The founders of this nation pursued a grand idea that has turned into a transformational civilization called democracy. How did a bunch of pioneers escaping from feudalism, scraping a living out of the wilderness, come up with such a grand scheme? Furthermore, they carried it into reality! AND WE INHERITED THEIR GREAT NATION! I imagine them looking down at us with perplexity––if not horror––that our imaginations are so tiny, our dreams so pathetic!

 

Humans have a in-built compunction to transform into a whole new kind of creature. We are the marvelous results of many such transformations throughout history! (Inventing language, taming nature, harnessing energy, cooperating to leave the planet!) But how many of us feel this transformation now as a life goal? The tech explosion, having solved most of the life-threatening difficulties that hampered thousands of generations of our ancestors, should have launched us all into fabulous realms of existence undreamed of before. Instead we use it to drown ourselves in more work to make more money to spend on...vacuous entertainments. No wonder so many say, "is that all there is?"

I long for a planet that uses its technology not to grind nature into money but to nurture our imaginations, to foster vibrant relationships, to astonish each other with new art, music and ideas; that cares for all creatures, beautifies the world, enriches the lives of all. That was the world I was born into; lying at my mother's breast, that great loving, nurturing mother who provides everything I need while gently encouraging my growth. That feels like home!