I love that my sharing of that quote prompted so much pondering from you, and this great post! I think caregiving to ourselves, to others, to the creatures we share this planet with, and to the planet itself, is a big part of humanness. And it’s something we have lost our way from. I am obsessed lately with the misinterpretation humans have made of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory and how that has led us down a path away from our natural human way of connection, community and love. This is the theme at the heart of the novel I am writing now. I do believe we can find our way back though. Many of us already are.
Oh my goodness, I can't believe we never thought to ask what your current work's theme is — I LOVE that and absolutely cannot wait to read 🙈 I want to hear so much more of your thoughts on this thread. It's a new one for me and you already have my mind spinning. I also completely agree that we can find our way back ❤️ Thank you for all of your words of inspiration, always 🥰
"So is it about tending to one another? Being in service?"
I think you'll love this interview from AHP if you haven't read it already—it discusses the very question you pose at the end of this piece, which is: what role does care play in humanness?
It seems philosophically intuitive to me that caregiving connects us to our humanity, rather than alienates us from it. So why, then, do we tend to lean *away* from caregiving, culturally speaking? Why is it so hard to ask for help in our culture? Are we just forgetting than humanity actually feels ... good, better than, say, productivity?
YES yes yes caregiving connecting us rather than alienating us feels so intuitive! And yet it is something we RUN from — desperate to apply our time and energy only to ourselves. So bizarre and confusing when we look it in the eye like this.
I had not come across that interview and cannot wait to read it — THANK YOU! Just saved it for Tuesday (lolol) ❤️
Ok this is such a thought provoking distinction. In my view, one beautiful aspect of being human is that we are human (in an absolute sense) whether we feel connected to our humanness or not. At our lowest low or highest high, we are equally human. Because being human is something bestowed on us from God, not something we generate ourselves. To me, that takes the pressure off a bit! Though we do have the ability (responsibility?) to act in a way that connects to and upholds our humanity/humanness though… interesting to think about.
YES totally agree on this — we are all equally worthy of our humanness, whether we feel that or not, whether we act in accordance with the truth of that (e.g. from our place of innate goodness) or not. I'm thinking a lot about when I personally feel most connected to my "humanness" — e.g. when I'm face to face with a friend (hehe :)) vs texting (for the most part), when I pick up a surprise gift for a friend rather than take that time to scroll on my social media feed, etc. But I also think humanness can be / (is?) present everywhere, anywhere, anytime if we nurture it. Not sure if that totally makes sense 😂
Just what you're doing, being vulnerable to others, instead of just the social media highlight reel, which is honestly more fun in the moment.
You're right about that (can be more fun in the moment 🙈)! Thank you, Karl 🙏🏼
I love that my sharing of that quote prompted so much pondering from you, and this great post! I think caregiving to ourselves, to others, to the creatures we share this planet with, and to the planet itself, is a big part of humanness. And it’s something we have lost our way from. I am obsessed lately with the misinterpretation humans have made of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory and how that has led us down a path away from our natural human way of connection, community and love. This is the theme at the heart of the novel I am writing now. I do believe we can find our way back though. Many of us already are.
Oh my goodness, I can't believe we never thought to ask what your current work's theme is — I LOVE that and absolutely cannot wait to read 🙈 I want to hear so much more of your thoughts on this thread. It's a new one for me and you already have my mind spinning. I also completely agree that we can find our way back ❤️ Thank you for all of your words of inspiration, always 🥰
"So is it about tending to one another? Being in service?"
I think you'll love this interview from AHP if you haven't read it already—it discusses the very question you pose at the end of this piece, which is: what role does care play in humanness?
https://annehelen.substack.com/p/i-went-into-motherhood-determined
It seems philosophically intuitive to me that caregiving connects us to our humanity, rather than alienates us from it. So why, then, do we tend to lean *away* from caregiving, culturally speaking? Why is it so hard to ask for help in our culture? Are we just forgetting than humanity actually feels ... good, better than, say, productivity?
Such interesting questions!!!
YES yes yes caregiving connecting us rather than alienating us feels so intuitive! And yet it is something we RUN from — desperate to apply our time and energy only to ourselves. So bizarre and confusing when we look it in the eye like this.
I had not come across that interview and cannot wait to read it — THANK YOU! Just saved it for Tuesday (lolol) ❤️
Just gotta make it to Tues!!!
Ok this is such a thought provoking distinction. In my view, one beautiful aspect of being human is that we are human (in an absolute sense) whether we feel connected to our humanness or not. At our lowest low or highest high, we are equally human. Because being human is something bestowed on us from God, not something we generate ourselves. To me, that takes the pressure off a bit! Though we do have the ability (responsibility?) to act in a way that connects to and upholds our humanity/humanness though… interesting to think about.
YES totally agree on this — we are all equally worthy of our humanness, whether we feel that or not, whether we act in accordance with the truth of that (e.g. from our place of innate goodness) or not. I'm thinking a lot about when I personally feel most connected to my "humanness" — e.g. when I'm face to face with a friend (hehe :)) vs texting (for the most part), when I pick up a surprise gift for a friend rather than take that time to scroll on my social media feed, etc. But I also think humanness can be / (is?) present everywhere, anywhere, anytime if we nurture it. Not sure if that totally makes sense 😂
https://open.spotify.com/episode/02hF0APCl4oFvKITlO8fda?si=e20tOtGDTj-M42lzT35rNA&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A79CkJF3UJTHFV8Dse3Oy0P
I enjoyed this podcast a lot, and it’s captured a few ideas I have when I think about what it means to be human and to live a good life.
Wow I'm so excited to listen to this — just downloaded it for my upcoming car rides. Thank you so much for sharing, Alice!! Can't wait 🙌🏼