Gather peace instead of war
Discover how stories of love, kindness and connection can reshape our perspective, inspire compassion and offer hope in times of conflict and division.
By Janet Marugg | FāVS News Columnist
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News.
I’m not going to lie: War is devastating to a humanist. It cannot square with the Humanist Creed or the Humanist Ten Commitments I’ve taken to heart. In wartime, a committed heart is a dangerous thing to have.
The Humanist Ten Commitments aren’t meant to be one-and-done. They are ongoing, developing, “becoming” commitments. Especially during times of trouble, when committing to altruism, critical thinking, empathy, environmentalism, ethical development, global awareness, humility, peace/social justice, responsibility and service/participation is an upstream swim. I am not a good upstream swimmer.
My most effective strategic retreat is reading, and because my attention span is short, I have to focus word by word, as if I’m reading it out loud in my head. And sometimes, because I’m weighing every word, my heart gets involved, and I am changed forever.
My latest change of heart came from an essay. In “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction,” Ursula K. Le Guin draws on the Carrier Bag Theory of Evolution by Elizabeth Fisher. These women theorize that the first tool of human innovation was not a spear or a club. It was a container — something to hold more than one thing at a time.
‘Dying for container stories’
These theorists tell us that holding the gatherings was so innovative that it freed up time for spearing. Soon, the spear stories took the place of gathering stories. The hunt out-thrilled the gathering of grain and berries. Root digging stories were too slow a burn for the sizzle of meat on the fire.
But my heart swelled in agreement with Le Guin’s theory that people are tired of spear stories. She says stories don’t have to center on conflict and that spear stories are not the whole story of human beings. People are (literally) dying for container stories.
In the absence of sabertooth tigers and woolly mammoths, the spear is the tool of cannibals. Verbal spears a tool of racism and bigotry. Spear stories over-feed the military hero industry. And truth be told, the spear carriers are the most boring and predictable characters in an opera. We are right to be tired of them.
Le Guin tells us that container and gathering stories are still innovative for humans. There is plenty of friction for character growth in containing a modern world on any given day, meeting strangers, doing hard things, adapting to change and arriving at an understanding. Mostly gathering some understanding of ourselves.
Seeing the world through a gathering lens
Human beings are natural gatherers. Here I am, gathering words to a page in the home where my family gathers, eating food we gathered, in a town of gathered people, on an Earth of gathered life. And so on.
Anna Howard of the Wild Geese podcast asked of Le Guin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction “How Life Changes When You Stop Believing in the Hero Story?” And more importantly, Howard also asks, “Can we (our lives) be a container for love?”
Howard cites an older Tumblr post by user Inked Skinned:
“Something about love makes you look at things differently. The really important part of this is that any love will work. If you love blue, you’ll see it everywhere. If you love soft things, you will note the cat, the thread count and the moss. You will find your best friend in ugly greeting cards, haunted dolls and terrible fan fics. And since they remind you of her, they will be beautiful.
So you will love the world differently for having loved someone else. You will love a certain cereal or Pokémon because of your brother. You’ll hear your favorite band song in a random store, and the love of it will make the whole world more golden. You will read a poem so many times that the words become their own creatures. You will find you cannot listen to certain music without thinking of your favorite show. A velveteen rabbit thing happens, a transformation occurs.”
Telling our own gathering stories
I began my own Carrier Bag Theory of Love and found that when I watch for love, I find it. Everywhere. For the price of my attention, I am crazy about lichen splatter art on weathered rail fences, quirky Charles Portis characters and snapdragons the color of sunrise. I am obsessed with the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, marginalia, diaries, personal letters and the terrible privilege of bearing witness.
Going spearless to gather love in my carrier bag changes things. Everything is different on Love Watch. I’m planning some semi-formal research into the Carrier Bag Theory of Kindness. And why not be a carrier bag for gathering awe, curiosity, humor, joy and beauty? Why not be a carrier bag for peace?
If people can tell spear stories of war, we can tell stories of gathering peace. Like love, If we look for peace, we’re likely to find it. Tell us about it. Tell us stories of gathering peace.
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