Rachel’s Musings

This must be the year of change… The US President rode into office on a platform promising change (although he seems to be forgetting that). So, in keeping with this change theme, I’ve decided to change my life, or at least my career. To that end, I am going back to school – a rather scary thing to do amongst the California budget crisis since the class schedule, for example, is being revised. Hopefully, the classes I want to take are still being offered when they’re done slashing…

What am I going to study, you ask? I have been accepted into the master’s program of the philosophy department at SF State. The areas of philosophy that I am particularly interested in are feminist and moral philosophy, especially applied ethics. I would like to center my investigation of these areas around the development of an ethical framework that helps us humans create life-affirming and sustainable societies that are just to all individuals no matter what our relationship status.

Musings over our current economic and environmental situation have deepened my interest in addressing these problems more rigorously by switching careers. As the financial crisis deepens, most economists and policy makers suggest that the way out of the crisis is to spend. They call on the government and individuals to increase our spending, ignoring that one of the root causes of the crisis is a mountain of debt. This debt was largely created by a desire for growth – economic growth as well as the idea of “more” on the individual level. We were accumulating stuff in an attempt to attain happiness in life. If only we could get this one more thing, we’d be happy and our life would have meaning. Overconsumption – and the associated debt – is a symptom of an ethical crisis that might lead to the destruction of our life support system. Back in the 1950s, Victor Frankl talked about an existential vacuum. The existential vacuum emerged from a meaning crisis in most of the Western world: As religions were replaced by humanist ideas, no ready-made life meaning was available and humans no longer felt connected to something larger.

Additionally, our connections to other human beings have narrowed with the increasing emphasis on the nuclear family. The community of friends and acquaintances merged into the idea of “The One” – one person who can meet all of our needs. Underneath the façade, though, the needs for connection and meaning remain unfulfilled. Combine this need deficit with an economic system that pushes growth as the only factor that matters and the consumption and debt patterns we are witnessing now result.

In order to create a life-affirming and sustainable society, we need to find an ethical framework that reconnects us with genuine sources of meaning. My task as philosopher is to help develop this kind of framework that provides potential answers – or guidelines on how to find them – to the quest for meaning in life and the desire to be part of something larger. I suggest that there are better ways to fill the existential vacuum: By strengthening our connections to ourselves and to other people, as well as nature. These connections have to be founded on a profound understanding of justice – an affirmation of the individual as connected to a larger world, no matter who that individual is or how these connections are established (i.e., through marriage or friendship or anything in between). In order for us to increase our chances of survival as a species we need to change our priorities. This redefinition, though, requires a vision of a new way that is grounded in a deep understanding of our interconnections but does not need religious concepts.

Today was my last official walk for this uphill battle fundraiser! And what a day to do this on: It was gorgeous weather here in San Francisco, an unusual occurrence in July when it usually is foggy. We’ve raised $768 so far! This is $232 short of my goal but still a very nice sum! Thank you to all of you who supported me financially and otherwise (you know that I would’ve snug out and taken the bus home a few times )! I very much appreciate it! And it’s not too late to donate either – I will appreciate the reward for a walking goal met!

Two things were different today: I carried a heavier load home (shoes and laptop) and I walked with a friend. We had some great conversations from religion to spirituality to relationships and alternatives to marriage. It was a very nice change of pace to be able to talk to a live person rather than listening to podcasts! I don’t have a podcast to review, so this’ll be a short note.

To go back to my weekly updates please click here where you also can find out what all this walking is about…

I guess prisons are on my mind after having listened to Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s excellent talk. On my way to work this morning, I realized that for those of us who don’t like our jobs, they have turned into a prison as well. Doing time until lunch. Doing time until the end of the day. Doing time until the weekend. Doing time until the next vacation. Doing time until retirement. The imprisonment is perfected by the lack of a safety net, which is being dismantled further during this recession. If I quit my job, I’ll loose health care (or I have to pay a lot of money for good health care or settle for care that kicks in when something traumatic happens). Doing time until universal health care. Unless you’ve built up a nest egg you can tap into, you can’t afford to quit and look around. Even going back to school is becoming perilous since many schools are cutting classes and other services. Doing time until we support each other.

I wonder how many of us are out there. What would happen if we all started speaking out and demanded life-affirming jobs? What would those life-affirming jobs look like? Certainly more than shuffling papers and certainly less than 40 hours per week. These jobs would support an economy that is sustainable, not growth-oriented. And these jobs would take into account all stakeholders, not just shareholders. I’ve heard rumors that those jobs are out there, though rare gems. Doing time until finding a life-affirming alternative.

As if I had planned it that way, I did my 7th uphill walk on the 7th day of the 7th month…. We’ve raised almost $600 (we’re – appropriately – $7 short)! We got $400 more to go to reach my goal of raising $1,000 to support the work of the Alternatives to Marriage Project. If you haven’t done so already, you can donate online or give me a check or cash. If you’ve done so already thank you!

I learned today that I don’t find all Against the Grain podcasts interesting. I started out with one that sounded interesting – talking about how US consumers have supported the US empire – but when I realized that I was more interested in beating up Muni because buses were passing me every minute or so, I decided it was time to switch.      Continue reading this post » » »

Freedom: the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.
Independence: free from outside control; not depending on anothers’ authority. Not depending on another for livelihood or subsistence.
(Source: Oxford American Dictionary)

On this day designated to celebrate the declaration of independence of the United States from Britain, I’ve been thinking about what independence and freedom mean both on a personal and a political level. The word “freedom” has been so misused – from the freedom to drive as fast as we want to via freedom fighters to the freedom to marry (which is ridiculed nicely here). To me freedom does not mean to be allowed to go down the well-trodden road, to live the status quo. That’s easy. To me freedom means to be supported in going down the new and narrow path, to create new ways of living without being told that this is wrong or undoable but rather by being supported with the basics, like a livable wage and health care. This means that I have the freedom to be single without the negative consequences of not getting the 1,100+ rights married folks enjoy. It includes the freedom to leave my job if it isn’t satisfying without the negative consequence of loosing my health insurance. Without a fair and equitable social safety net, freedom is impossible because we cannot freely choose to avoid the status quo. Many will argue that we can choose, we just have to accept the consequences. True. I am free to cut off my arm, too. The consequences of exercising our freedom by choosing to be single or to leave our jobs make the choice almost as foolish (especially in this economic environment). The safety net, if we can even call it that, which exists in the US does not support individual freedom and certainly prevents our independence since we’re dependent on employers for our health insurance rather than interdependent as a society that provides a safety net to all of us. It supports the status quo and punishes those who dare to step outside by pulling the safety net out from under us.

On a personal level, I would like to free myself from societal expectations of living my life a certain way. I want independence from the notion that I have to make a certain amount of money, live a certain way, and participate in the insane idea of growth, in order to be considered successful. I’ve tried that and I don’t feel successful. I define success as living an authentic life, of pursuing what is important to us. Yet, I’ve spent the first 40 years of my life pursuing the success definitions of others. I am working on gaining independence from my need to do that. I do that by choosing to be single (aware of the negative consequences), for example.

So, freedom and independence contain both internal and external elements. Society can enable us to obtain freedom by offering a safety net – something that all of us create to support each other. We can gain independence for ourselves by letting go of normative ideas that force us into certain molds that do not fit us well. Let’s fight for our right to be free!