Creating a formula for an efficacious life: A view from a cultural anthropologist

By Jill Florence Lackey

Discussions of life nearly always include discussions of death or next stage journeys. Cultural anthropologists, like me, learn the variety of ways that individuals and groups have viewed life and the ways they expect to move into a next stage. Their beliefs reflect attitudes about the world they currently live in, and life generally.

Most beliefs of cultural groups and individuals fall into two categories.
In some belief systems, the next stage necessitates leaving this world behind. For some, to enter a new stage, believers must (a) reach a state of enlightenment where the individual merges into an indescribable unity where differentiation is “overcome,” or (b) live a life worthy of a reward of eternal bliss and be transported to another place where sadness and pain are “overcome.”

These views are not terribly popular with cultural anthropologists, simply because difference and this world are what people in our field celebrate.

Then there is another category of beliefs that keeps life and potential succeeding stages tied to this world. People who have led lives worthy enough to enter the next stage can (a) return to the Earth reincarnated or resurrected, or (b) join a community of ancestors where they will continue to commune with their earthly descendants. Most cultural anthropologists would probably be more sympathetic to views that place value on life on this Earth. A solid commitment to this world should also motivate humans to care for it today, recall its past, and plan for its care tomorrow.

With that in mind, the next question would be just how one ought to live on this Earth.

Because I could only speculate on another stage, this essay focuses on the life we know. The formula I am proposing simply puts together a few common sense approaches into one package. It is a formula for living in a way so that personal actions both serve our own needs and desires but also serve the Earth. The four steps proposed below suggest ways to free up some of our resources and time to nurture the outside world—and to do this joyfully.

(1) Decide the ways we would really like to improve the world. Here we are developing a vision. This should be extremely personal, because if a proposed vision does not excite us, there is a low likelihood we will carry out any plans. Making this decision can be a bit tricky, because to some an “improved world” might be genocide. Even our best motives might end up with unintended negative effects. Our choices should be researched carefully and always involve stakeholders in the decision-making process who might be affected by our later actions. To make sure that our vision is not in conflict with those we intend to serve, it helps to begin with values most cultural groups share in common, such as providing for those with material needs and honoring those who have done this for us.

I will give an example from my own life, and show how a team of people found a path of actions to follow. About 25 years ago, I was a founding member of a group trying to seek solutions for the growing social crisis of homelessness. We were searching for a vision to express what we were trying to do, which involved closing the gap between the haves and have-nots. We found a wonderful passage in the 58th chapter of the book of Isaiah, although we represented a variety of religions and philosophies. This excerpted passage reads as follows (translations will vary):

If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul…
Then they that shall be of you shall build the old waste places.
Thou shall raise up the foundations of many generations
And thou shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,
The restorer of paths to live in.

We named the movement the Repairers of the Breach, which is still actively engaged in empowering and helping the homeless today. This passage reflects a very solid commitment to the Earth yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It advocates (a) fighting poverty and affliction, (b) restoring “waste” places, and (c) honoring the foundations of generations. These visions can expand into activities such as nurturing neighborhoods, historical preservation, improving the environment, honoring those who helped us survive, caring for the material needs of people, giving relief to those who grieve or are otherwise afflicted, and creating future “Earth-tenders” who will continue the work. While one person can accomplish only a limited amount, many people can emphatically improve our world.

But if we hope to work toward improving the world, adjustments usually need to be made in our daily lives. Which brings us to step two.

(2) Set limits on time and resources that focus on ourselves. Free up some actions. This is not a martyrdom goal. Everyone has needs and desires that can be ranked. We should focus on these and not get seduced by commercialism and others who might judge us by the standards of commercialism. We can begin by making a list of all those things that cost us resources and time that are (a) not necessities and (b) give us no actual joy. For example, are we working hard at landscaping our yard because of a love of beauty or is it really to impress our neighbors? If the answer is the latter, this action is something that may be given up, because once we begin to live an efficacious life, our “neighbors” (our reference community) will change anyway. Our career might change as well. We need to begin setting limits to free up our time and resources for the work of leaving the world a better place.

(3) Decide what we will actually do to improve the outside world. Again, the goal should not be martyrdom. Someone might convince us that volunteering with children is the best possible goal to accomplishing the vision we developed, but if we really do not feel comfortable with kids, we will soon become miserable martyrs. We do not improve the world with feelings of resentment. Once again, look at what gives joy and then figure out how this activity can improve a corner of the world we have envisioned. Are we people who really did do landscaping because of the love of beauty? Do we like gardening? Then find a neighborhood, involve the stakeholders, and beautify it. Are we artists but cannot make a living at it? Do volunteer public art. Are we computer geeks? Do web pages for charitable causes. Is our hobby genealogy? Help families find their roots. Do we love writing? Organize an oral history of a village and publish installments in community newspapers.

It is very important that the activities we select to build a piece of our vision are those we really want to do. A good friend of mine, Del Porter, recently died. He was an Ojibwe elder who founded a boxing club in 1960. Until 2008, he ran this boxing club for central city youth and never collected a nickel in salary or stipends. Boxing was a skill he had and preparing kids for competition excited him as much as it did the kids. He actually managed to work two jobs and raise 14 kids while he accomplished this. Boxing and helping youth was his joy!

The last step is not as easy as it might appear.

(4) Find an avenue for the actions. Once we’ve selected our helping actions, we need some way to implement them. We need not always assume that a nonprofit organization is our pathway to improving the world. While many are very good, others are not. We might be able to help people as individuals or find our helping avenue on our own. I knew a woman who loved gardening. A local park had no gardens. She made a few calls to park officials and within a week she was developing flowerbeds and rock gardens all over the park.

In an ideal situation approximately half of our actions will be those that focus on our physical selves and the other half on the outside world. However, in some cases, it is simply impossible to do much other than help ourselves. Family obligations and debt might severely limit our time and resources. If this is the case, we can stay with the ideal and plan out the future so as to be in a situation to give later. In my case, I went through years when I was too overwhelmed being a single mother, working full time, and living at the poverty level to be able to do anything other than caring for my own family. But slowly I planned my course of action and today am able to spend most of my time working on the vision.

Of course, everything we do for others and the physical Earth ultimately helps us, as we are a part of the whole. Yet it is a much better life choice, and much more efficacious for the world’s future, to live to improve the world rather than simply live for our personal gain. Will some follow this path in hopes of earning some later-stage reward? Some may, but ideally our motives should be focused on a full commitment to our world. We cannot know what happens to us after death, and frankly, spending time contemplating this is contrary to the motive of nurturing the Earth. Perhaps the way of looking at “everlasting life” is the knowledge that the improvements we made to the world will probably outlive us.

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Jill Florence Lackey, PhD, is the volunteer director of Urban Anthropology Inc. in Milwaukee, Wis. She is the author of Accountability in Social Services: The Culture of the Paper Program and many other peer-reviewed publications.