Cultivating Sustainable and Continuous Solidarity within the Community of Life: Living Together as Fully Human Persons in a Living World

my thesis in this essay is that each of us must actively cultivate sustainable and continuous solidarity within our community of life that will allow all of us to live together as fully human persons in a living world. This imperative “must,” as most ecologists and environmental philosophers use it, is an “outside view” claim that overwhelming empirical evidence shows the practical necessity of acting to assure the pre-conditions for future living of diverse, interrelated live beings within Earth's complex systems, which are now in crisis. As an “inside view” moral demand, this “must” is a call to all of us humans to feel, think, and act in ways that advance the common good of our life communities; to respect the needs of all their members for conditions of their full development and flourishing; and to connect us as individuals, families, and cultures to sources of gratitude, guidance, growth, and meaning in living, beauty, and mutually energizing caring.1When we lack such experiences of continuous immersion in caring community solidarity, we humans feel disconnection, depression, anxiety, anger, and loneliness, and we act in ways that harm other live beings with whom our lives are interwoven, because of our ignorance, our incapacity, or our active choices, as we flail around and pursue false idols, seeking meaning, purpose, and healing for what ails us. Most modern people suffer from this felt disconnection from other humans and the larger whole of nature in this time of interlinked crises within our human communities and within Earth's larger systems. What follows is a prescription for healing ourselves, our communities, and our beautiful planet's spiraling, reciprocal processes of life.This healing process begins with the self-understanding that underlies our perceptions, our values, our thinking, and our actions. A meta-philosophical webwork of pragmatist, feminist, and Indigenous philosophy, well-supported by recent scientific inquiries, recognizes that we humans are eco-social beings to the core. We individuate, develop our human and personal capabilities, use these in various ways, and experience our lives within context-specific communities of diverse live beings within interpenetrating communities of various kinds and at various levels. As feminist philosopher Sally Haslanger draws on recent social science research to explain, all of us humans “are embedded in social meanings,” which can change, but “the change must be social change, collective change, cultural change” (20).2 To assure that our diverse cultural communities endure over time, respond resiliently to present and future challenges, and provide strong reciprocal support for each live being's needs and creative purposes in living, all of us humans must cultivate a caring solidarity with other community members that is both sustainable and continuous. We can inherit and transmit such a culture- and place-specific immersive experience of caring community solidarity through stories, ceremonies, educational processes, and daily ways of living.While the eco-social “sustainability” of Earth's community of life and its complex larger systems must remain a guiding practical and moral goal for all of us across cultures, Manulani Aluli Meyer's use of the term “continuous” highlights the importance of cultivating community relationships across time that offer such inherited support (intellectual, material, social, and spiritual) for living fully human lives with other human persons, with other live beings, and with our living world's other elements, processes, and places. We can draw freely on this cultural inheritance to support and empower our present lives while passing this inheritance forward if we fulfill our responsibilities of active mutual caring for other members of our community of life. By combining Manulani's wisdom and her healing voice with those of other Indigenous thinkers, pragmatists, and feminists, we begin to see how we can live meaningful, purposive, satisfying lives within culturally diverse, locally attentive relationships of sustainable and continuous solidarity as actively caring, fully human persons within Earth's dynamic, reciprocally responsive community of live beings.Robert Bunge (Lakota), a polymath philosophical explorer of differing cultural “worlds,” offers a helpful point of entry into this empirically well-supported webwork of pragmatist, feminist, and Indigenous meta-philosophical thinking in his little-known 1984 masterpiece, An American Urphilosophie: An American Philosophy BP (Before Pragmatism).3 Underlying webs of intellectual-and-practical ideas that have guided Indigenous thinking across generations can be “surfaced,” Bunge suggests, and then theorized in terms of a set of dynamic meta-philosophical concepts that closely relate to, but extend beyond those of Charles S. Peirce, William James, Jane Addams, John Dewey, Alain L. Locke, and other originary American pragmatists.4 As Bunge “surfaces” their urphilosophie, Native American thinkers during the early years of intercultural contact with European colonial settlers expressed a profoundly different meta-philosophical web of experience-based ideas that cannot be abstractly explained or “justified” to those who cannot or will not catch the living perspective they express.Consider, Bunge suggests, how these Indigenous thinkers responded to the Western conception of “land” as privately own-able “property,” which English-speaking colonists and government negotiators “justified” by referring to Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and sometimes the Bible as supporting their own practices. Their often-puzzled Native American counterparts tried to explain to them in meta-philosophical terms of caring community solidarity that none of us humans can own the land, within which we are subsumed, and to which we are responsible, both as individuals and as peoples, in location-specific ways. This is why, instead of trying to resolve disputes by making abstract arguments, offering “objective” evidence, and citing universally binding rational principles and legal precedents in the Western way, Indigenous thinkers told stories, gave gifts, held feasts, and conducted ceremonies to bring differing peoples together to find a shared way forward, while understanding that peoples who have differing experiences, perspectives, and traditions will imagine this future differently.Moreover, like William James, as Bunge explains, Indigenous thinkers have always treated dreams and “extra-normal” mystical experiences as potentially truth-bearing and change-guiding, after these have been interpreted with expert guidance and ritually enacted by the communities for whom they were intended. Then and now, Indigenous peoples fiercely protect the “innerness” of each individual person, while at the same time holding all to high standards of responsibility to each other and to the land. In meta-ethical terms, thinking-and-acting well is guided by “We-go” rather than “ego” for Native Americans. This requires collaborative reflection and decision making among those whose processes of reflection, self-discipline, and life-testing from childhood onward have shown them to be reliable partners in important undertakings with others on behalf of the well-being of their community of human and other-than-human live beings, and that of Mother Earth, on which the meaning and continuity of their intertwined lives depend.Roger Dunsmore, a contemporary European American ally, essayist, teacher of Native American students, and student of their elders, transmits this shared inheritance from originary Indigenous thinkers with a more conscious, appreciative awareness than we find in the works of the originary American pragmatists. Because of their narrative traditions, their meta-philosophical webworks, and the cultivated habits of thinking and living that these guide, Indigenous people can and do think with Mother Earth because “the Earth and myself are of one mind,” as the great Nez Perce leader generally known as Chief Joseph—whose real name, Hin-mah-too’-yah-lat-kekht, translates into English as “Thunder Traveling to Loftier Mountain Heights”—replied to European American “negotiators” only a few years after Peirce and James first met with “The Metaphysical Club.” Speaking in May 1877 at his people's final meeting with representatives of America's government before they sent US Army troops to “remove” the Nez Perce as a way to “resolve” conflicting political, economic, and cultural claims to the Wallowa Valley in northeast Oregon, Hin-mah-too’-yah-lat-kekht stated that giving up his people's claim to and responsibility for this place would involve crossing “a moral and cultural red line,” which they could never do willingly.More than a century later, Hin-mah-too’-yah-lat-kekht's words raise a series of deep meta-philosophical questions for Dunsmore: “How is it that the earth has mind? How is it that we humans might share in that mind, or have ‘one mind’ with the earth? What is that ‘one mind’ which both Joseph and the earth are made of? And what do we mean by ‘mind’?” (Dunsmore 105).Reflecting on what “mind” could mean to Hin-mah-too’-yah-lat-kekht and to other originary Native American philosophers, such that it can live within matter and be shared with the Earth as such, Dunsmore traces the English etymology of “mind” to its Indo-European base, mem-, which means “to think.” He then traces “think” to its Indo-European base, tong, which means “to thank.” This spins off a second set of meta-philosophical questions for him and for us: How are we to understand that linkage? Is true thinking thanking? Is thanking the primal form of thinking? Is the thinking which constitutes “mind” in our own origins the recognition of all that to which we are indebted for our bones, our skins, our tongues? (Dunsmore 42)Thinking turns into thanking, Dunsmore proposes, when we realize that sustaining our own lives depends upon taking the lives of other living beings who also share Earth's mind; such a realistic recognition rightly calls forth our gratitude to them. As many Native American thinkers have pointed out, this path of reflection evokes awareness that we humans are “cannibals” who eat other-than-human live beings with whom we hold responsible relationships of we must and those whose lives we by caring for the members of their kinds and for the larger whole we share with while understanding that we must our own to the to the that life can from this have been what Chief known as whose people live on the in America's when like this to in must that the their is the of our that they will respect the land, what we have our that the earth is our the earth the of the upon the upon never the beautiful that gave them of this is in the of my and has been by or in upon which now more to their than to because it is with the of our and our are of the (Dunsmore Hin-mah-too’-yah-lat-kekht, our “innerness” and the of our within a process of from Mother Earth, caring for her our and our to her to for future generations of human and other-than-human beings, who will this same and moral the is to Native American elders, who him by This him to think for the first time of not as a but as a great for life within and on which all life the its or through our and ways of Mother Earth, other live and and other live beings (Dunsmore from these originary and contemporary Native American philosophers how to think with the of Mother Earth, Dunsmore has to understand the of the cultural thinking or modern people must in to our from the of the of and great within their in and of whole of and in many of the that we can the cultural that within our living relationships with the such an intercultural of our and forward through and eco-social Dunsmore us that the English from the same as the meaning the English (Dunsmore the second of the the first and humans from Mother Earth's this same as the words of those and English-speaking peoples who that our human lives from the and will to do as as as members of Earth's well and with its other live members within its great systems of and we must to feel gratitude when our in ways that S. Peirce calls deep processes of of the through which Earth and its always interlinked a to Earth's his by the great legal and who the wisdom and of Western cultures while Indigenous traditions and the of American of have for An Is A Native of of and Earth, Native and the of in with philosophical to a meta-philosophical a a a a and of and of these intertwined draws on a more understanding of on the values, experiences, and of diverse peoples, and on the Western in with Indigenous ways of of students, philosopher this process by What if we the and within the Western in of which for the in who as a creative that sometimes works with humans and sometimes works What if moral reflection us to this philosophical as well as the that it, in of understanding that is interrelated and within Mother Earth's web of What if all are within such that that the web in all its and must be Hin-mah-too’-yah-lat-kekht and that of the web are more closely interlinked with our own of Western philosophical when we on our experiences as live within the web of life that we have a responsibility for sustaining all the relationships within our own as well as a responsibility to the of the web as a whole that the lives of our and and that This means that differing beings requires us to them to their of reciprocally with other live beings, with us within a shared This is the point from which we humans begin our moral and what that these other live beings would be for us to as we a moral that is the in or that people of good will bring to the process of collaborative thinking what are for us to the of our the that for all of us “How can we understand and within these In the first of their from the Native American Philosophy and and that we a they call that we to they is not cultural but cultural and have always within Native American cultures, and Indigenous thinkers have always been their own understanding of that matter they have always been to from other peoples their mystical experiences, collaborative and practical in living have and they have in their own by and that can as a for other thinkers who to think together across cultural are its as would to understand and to to others the of the larger the of collaborative that own people have and from others their those and how these connect in ways that those and that other questions to be and other to be on a common of that to the shared that this and to to advance the larger and with John with Jane call for and and with Alain to all who are in and important collaborative intercultural and also and for from which those of us who are to the originary meta-philosophical web must Their closely relate to other-than-human live beings must be treated as and the and is to Indigenous be and as in both processes and practical Their relate to cultural like those that Bunge and Dunsmore for over what “land” over claims to and all the living beings and over how be To these and representatives of Western cultures will have to our and to a change process if we are to deep of our own cultural inheritance as well as those of diverse Indigenous peoples, how to think well with Mother Earth, with those other kinds of with whom we share both her and her the and whose of Indigenous and the of this of of and to meta-philosophical and practical through the healing voice in which experiences and ways of living well will that this has their lives in ways that hold great for the all of the of are that for our present purposes are to “The and as well as the Peirce, James, Dewey, and Manulani Aluli a Native American and meta-philosophical recognizes that we humans are embedded within the dynamic which we think, that our to think its nature and processes with practical for our and that of the communities of life with which we are intertwined in of our and that we must have for the future in to live responsible, fully human In her to the of with contemporary science and In the our relationships with the of and on which all life which at the same time the systems in change processes, and the point of have a in which we humans the meaning, the and the future of the whole and of its as we are by together in ways that are both and thinking, thanking, community and daily living such a and of that are by and values, and of our human place and within this living time is not and as it is in in the common of most in and Philosophy in the and to Western and time is spiraling, that of in which people and actively together to fulfill their present needs and the conditions in which their future members will while at the same time to forward the and active of those in the who it for them to and to do what we and do in these and within which they will the of the these like those of other Indigenous and who are by have to the communities have the to and the of our contemporary and future in a present which is Indigenous concepts to community collective and the and of meta-philosophical are and of as well as their and are for human that allow individuals and communities to and for and have been the of and contemporary and among peoples, seeking to them and others seeking to their use in to their and their of while others to them on these In recent with their and peoples, the people have great in the US over to the of and its which their as the of their of years and were to people their cultural and to do this because they never of for with one as people with who have as well as the to together a to empower each other and their whole and to and generations to the processes of that how they into with other with other life and and with the processes can be and in many ways, and such can be in many because they are they with those who individuals as while the people in their with the in which they and act in caring, healing and with webs of ideas that guide, and empower a people's life processes and to of of ideas that of individual and that have shown to well within diverse of are that to a to the Dewey, the that or “the to of nature of human perspectives, values, and instead processes of as responsive to our “the is a future of that we can into as we its to us find our way into and within of is among contemporary to how and of all kinds and with from a point of to a while differing of such a beauty, cultural and practical in and This contemporary use of the term the of Native American and who to and then others to the they and those they in all of living, explains, as from to larger because we and within “the as we actively into it through processes that our present to the and of those in who the of these within these as well as the of those who now these We to that one now living is the first to that human and others in the that has to this present have or that we to to and to if we would find our way and with to a that they to and to before our because in time and that change the one through to an is a for the of and those who their and their do in an when they to to others how to this Because time to the and forward to the future in its and and because the and of people's to to and to systems, and in ways that will these more caring, and sustainable are the for both the and the social, and we are passing through is continuous. the and on which we in our and relationships among and future in this how works within by the complex of of In her each Indigenous can to use their to strong and in the use of their to and to act and with for other members of their for the other live beings with whom they share a for Mother Earth, and for the whole that like and William James, with and individuals their living thinking, and creative and use these to and them in their them to use their time and to this the one they to live which is the one that their for them and the one they for those who will after a community together and a shared for their collaborative each of its members a to its of among as well as with others with whom they will to in ways that their differing active and practical Indigenous to their and into ways of thinking, and acting that are more and as to those others and their whose they in to that meta-philosophical understanding of how the processes of guide, and both and the originary has to imagine how such processes of can to diverse Indigenous others whose of share a and awareness of time, an and a of gratitude, and responsibility to for other community other live beings, and the larger living systems of Mother of us from other cultures who dreams of “a must like in and in our communities if we are to good partners in this of us must up our and to see our Aluli offers an more by at the of an understanding of Mother Earth's and reciprocal philosophical with is both and a reflection of her a on which through the cultural that the at Native Manulani claims as her philosophical in because closely to ways of and in because this her to her ideas as in the time and place her like the other Indigenous philosophers and whose have as well as the originary and contemporary thinkers, Manulani her as a point of entry into a complex of experience that up on time and origins of interlinked of and processes of fully as well as meta-ethical on and how to for our communities, our elders, our students, and our living Manulani's is like of live and of and and continuous in time and that with the processes through which experiences and us in these present while a continuous future through our and Bunge and other Indigenous thinkers, Manulani that none of us can own the the or the the who Dunsmore, that and that is the point of as well as the larger of our beautiful and Dewey, humans as diverse cultural beings who must from systems, and ways of while from those who understand and like Manulani recognizes a of requires the of is one reflection is the most important of and is is the process of the mutual of Manulani is a acting this has and in its as have to through experiences that them with This of active continuity is expressed in the of relationships in to and we to with these and other Indigenous philosophical from to the We have what we we are who we is is the of of the and to people as understanding in the that draws on and this and Manulani all of us: What philosophical principles do to live in from of these within her own to to and to live as a Manulani is to be of to is the of my find purpose, the of the is of is of the We are is the and is the these and other Manulani Aluli is a and healing and has more to us in the years how to live well together in a sustainable and continuous solidarity within the community of life. to and to all these other Indigenous whose philosophical can us to the that will our process of living together as fully human persons within a living world.