Radical Contentment

Each quarter, a group of students, faculty, and staff at WWU convene an environmental justice reading group to read and discuss recent texts. This quarter (Fall 2019) the group is reading Robin Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. The following entry reflects the group’s discussion last week.

 

Radical Contentment

By Yeshaia Van Leeuwen, Maddie Smith, and Jamie Sayegh

 

Do you know why you want the things that you want? Are the things we want internally generated or artificially implanted via culture, media, and socialization? Does this matter? Contentment is a fleeting emotion that seems difficult to grasp and hold on to. When asked what makes us feel content, the answer is rarely easy to find, or easily fulfilled. If it were, we probably wouldn’t do much besides those things which make us feel content, which are rarely the things which make us money, or are generally “productive” to other members of society. I feel content in high places near bodies of water, when the temperature is just right and there is just a slight warm breeze that lifts the hairs on the back of my neck and forearms. I feel content lying on a beach for hours with absolutely no plans or responsibilities, alone with my thoughts and the sound of waves. I feel content when I am surrounded by people I care for and that care for me.

These are not conditions that are easily achieved, or common. We rarely feel content because it may be hard, impossible, or simply not in our control to produce the conditions of our contentment. When I try to describe contentment, the definition I come to is: freedom from want. The conditions for contentment simply facilitate this feeling of freedom. I am not content when I get the things I want; my mind will just move on to the next thing. I am only content when I recognize and appreciate what I have, and it is enough, there is nothing more that I could have that would make me feel any better. I am free from the affliction of wanting. This is not easy in a society that thrives on creating unmet needs which can be monetized.

Kimmerer shares a beautiful vision of contentment in her Braiding Sweetgrass stories.  Indigenous agricultural ecology offers insights for closed-loop systems in which individuals share resources to benefit the garden as a whole. A commitment to contentment is demonstrated by the reciprocity of the three sisters: corn, beans and squash. Using their own individual strengths to share resources: underground nitrogen, shade and structure, they thrive collectively. Their fruits are a gift to the people who give their labor to watch them grow.  Kimmerer talks a lot about contentment and reciprocal relationships between plants. Humans can also demonstrate contentment.

Sharing is a strong tool for this contentment. Realizing that you have enough, and sharing any extra with others is a way of participating in community. Occupying a position in a community means you are open to giving and receiving from other community members. Listening to the needs of your community can sometimes be the most important part. An effective community member is humble enough to receive gifts with gratitude and mindful enough about your community to give in places that need attention. Sharing in this way will inspire contentment across community and instill worth in community members.

Contentment is infinitely compatible with community. Rugged individualism is not. Systems that depend on your purchases born from discontent have a vested interest in dissuading community. Ever feel lonely? Like you don’t fit in? You are not alone and you don’t feel this way by happenstance. The late-stage capitalism of 21st century America has left us more isolated than ever because it serves the system for us to feel want. Ideally, to be enslaved to want.

This is not to say that community is easy either. It takes intention, persistence, patience, practice, and trust. But we are already more connected than we may feel. We live, we eat, we play, we learn, we work. And around us everyone else is doing the same, or trying to. In a system working so hard to drive us apart and exploit our isolation, building community is one of the most radical acts we can take.

The path towards contentment is one best traveled en masse. Any attempt to reach it alone will ultimately fall short. Beautiful, isn’t it, that the direction of a better life is the same direction as a better world? I think so. And I will see you on the road, friend.