The doctrine and philosophy of extreme individualism is, like an excess of a nutrient like vitamin A, harmful and potentially lethal to actual human individuals, both those who espouse it, and those who must live around and with them.
The ideological structure of the USA, its politics and society, privileges individualism above all else. The watchwords of the American revoltuion were “life, liberty, and property” (modified, in the Declaration of Independence, to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, which must have sounded less crass). Still, these are attributes pertaining to individuals only. It’s a striking fact, especially since the society of that time was far less obsessive in its individualism then, by economic necessity, in an historical epoch when most people were farmers and rural folk who depended on their neighbors for a multitude of forms of assistance, like barnraisings, than it is today, in a mostly urban population largely estranged from the activities of real production and subsistence. Being “lonely amidst a crowd” in the city is a commonplace observation.
When the individual comes to really believe that he or she is alone in the world, and reliant solely on his or her own efforts, the possibility or even the thought of any collective activity towards the common good becomes remote. The very notion of a “democracy” depends on some thought towards such a common good and working towards it, and it likewise becomes remote and unattainable.
No doubt such thoughts influenced the philosopher Victor Frankl, when he urgently proposed that postwar America seriously consider building a “Statue of Responsibility,” to offer some counterbalance to its existing Statue of Liberty. For what can “responsibility” possibly mean, if not responsibility to others?
The false opposition between the individual and the common good can be considered the cornerstone of the “American ideology” (aka “American Dream”), par excellence. Instead of comparing it to Socialism, or Communism, or other ideologies, we can most readily contrast it with another, much older ideal for the goals of human existence that was clearly already native to these shores, once called “Turtle Island” by some of its original inhabitants, and which predated what is now known as the “American Dream”. The botanist and Native American (Potawatomi) writer, Robin Wall Kimmerer, beautifully evokes this other worldview in her 2013 book, “Braiding Sweetgrass”
In “Braiding Sweetgrass”, the author relates the relationship and worldview of native peoples of the Americas, one which survives to this day for some, in which the Earth and its other creatures are co-equals in meaning and significance to human beings, and to which the latter owe a debt of gratitude and reciprocity. Indeed, the principles of gratitude and reciprocity form the cornerstone of their relations to both the world and each other. The author describes a guiding and overarching code of conduct that she says forms the most fundamental of moral teachings for native peoples, at the heart of which is what she calls “the Honorable Harvest”. The Honorable Harvest is entirely incompatible with individualism as an ideology privileging the individual for its own sake. In the indigenous understanding of the world, the individual is entirely dependent on a web of relationships for his or her own survival. An imbalance in these relationships can quickly lead to disaster. Our own actions, whether through greed, or laziness, or inattention, can always threaten such a disaster. Responsibility to the whole becomes paramount.
There are four precepts required for observing the Honorable Harvest:
- Take only what is given;
- Use it well;
- Be grateful for the gift;
- Reciprocate the gift.
For the native peoples of this land, it was evident that all of life abounded with gifts that they could not possibly have produced by themselves alone. Gratitude came easily and naturally under such circumstances. But for the mostly European settlers who supplanted them, the good things in life were literally “goods”, often commodities to be bought and sold, but only after being wrested by force from the Earth.
It is easy to see how the doctrine of individualism as a paramount end unto itself arises naturally from the latter worldview. The growth of consumer capitalism carries it to its apogee.
Recently, I read that the rate of suicide is reaching epidemic proportions. In some places and age groups, it is now the leading cause of death, rivaling or surpassing car crashes. The Brave New World of the “rugged individual” appears not so rosy anymore.
Can the Honorable Harvest Kimmerer describes become an antidote to modern anomie and despair? Can we recover a different outlook on life, and intentionally cultivate the kind of gratitude that once came naturally to many people?
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