This is the last issue of Elk Creek Notes on this platform and in this form.
When I started this newsletter, I wrestled with the choice of publishing tools, and the current platform isn’t working.
Beehiiv is a clunky environment to work in, and I’ve worked in almost all of them.
More importantly, I want to tell a larger story than Elk Creek Notes has been able to deliver, mixing words, images, video, and discussion about living in riven times, living across the rising borders even within our households, and the potential for a new approach that blends sustainable, circular choices with a philosphy of universal dignity that goes beyond the left- and right-wing politics of identity. I want to talk about getting along, not lining up behind a single banner, a strongman, or an ideology; I want to write about living with the perspective developed over decades and centuries.
I’ve been reading Omri Boehm’s Radical Universalism, which attempts to recenter politics and tolerance based on the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that “all men are created equal,” the work of Emmanuel Kant, Lincoln’s assassin-abbreviated effort to restore a shared American identity, and Dr. King’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail, which concludes with an analysis of the binding of Isaac. It’s a worthwhile though complex read, and it’s got me thinking about our willingness to accept difference while cooperating on larger goals, like preventing a climate disaster.
Boehm’s book is not kind to the political middle, but it is there a new consensus must emerge to create the shared space—political, intellectual, and spiritual—where we can stand in common while leaving room for different lifeways and perspectives that intermix through healthy, restorative give-and-take. Kant’s categorical imperative not to kill, not to lie, not to disregard the dignity of our neighbors on the planet, like Plato’s Republic, represents a higher order calling to behave justly, a standard we will never reach but merely approach asymptotically, like Xeno, always only halfway there. The challenge is to be patient with ourselves and one another, because we are imperfect beasts still wrestling to esacape our immaturity, as Kant referred to the impact of the Enlightenment.
We have a rough road ahead, as does every cadre of generations cohabiting our planet, but it’s a stretch in the human journey that can lead to extraordinarily improved days for our children, grandchildren, and future generations. However, in order to acheive that goal, we must see others as sharing our times based on a shared vision we are working to define; that often bitter dialogue is the work of the next decade.
I’ll be looking at new publishing options and welcome the opportunity to continue our discussion. Please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]
A February morning with Lizzie along Elk Creek