What Are We Celebrating?

Before the fireworks light up the sky, before the flags wave and the anthems echo, I invite you to take a breath with me. Not a performative one, not a patriotic puff of the chest—but a quiet, thoughtful breath. One that asks: What are we actually celebrating today? And perhaps more importantly: What do we want future generations to celebrate on this day a hundred years from now?

A Meditation with the Mighty Muse

I sat this morning in meditation—seeking clarity, grounding, perspective. I imagined I was in conversation with the Mighty Muse, that deep current of Cosmic Consciousness that has long whispered through the trees, flowed through rivers, and stirred the hearts of those willing to listen.

And I asked:

What might a truly liberated nation look like—one that honors all life, not just human life? What kind of freedom are we shaping with our daily choices, our politics, our parenting, our presence?

What came was not a scolding, but an invitation. A gentle yet firm invitation to reflect, to reconnect, and to re-found what this country—and this world—might become.

The Founding Fathers and the Seeds of Truth (and Untruth)

Let’s give credit where it’s due. Many of the Founders, flawed and limited as they were, did tap into powerful ideas that mirrored what I now call the Four Great Truths (GTs):

• Interconnectedness: Many early communities understood their lives depended on neighbors, land, and local systems.

• Sufficiency: The American Revolution arose partly from frustration with royal excess. Simplicity and sufficiency had value.

• Reciprocity: Self-governance emerged from the belief that rights come with responsibilities.

• Stewardship: In agrarian life, land wasn’t just property—it was partnership.

And yet, these Truths were quickly overshadowed by the Four Great Untruths (GUTs):

• We Are Separate from Nature: Enslavement and land theft were justified by a belief in human superiority.

• More Is Always Better: From manifest destiny to consumer culture, the drive for more became law.

• The Earth’s Resources Are Infinite: Expansion never paused to ask what the land could bear.

• Technology Will Save Us: Even then, there was a seduction in mechanization over mutuality.

So here we are today—our cultural DNA a tangle of contradiction, potential, and peril.

Fossil Fuels: The Hidden Architect of American Power

Let’s fast-forward to 1859. The first commercial oil well in Pennsylvania.

That black liquid energy—so dense, so cheap, so powerful—poured fuel not only into engines but into entire worldviews. We stopped living off Earth’s "daily solar income" and began burning through her stored capital. Fossil fuels gave us highways, high-rises, global trade, industrial food… and the illusion that we were gods of endless growth.

This changed everything. Including our politics.

Cheap energy allowed us to externalize costs—ecological, emotional, and economic. It let us believe that distance erased consequence. And it built a political and economic system where those with access to the most energy (and money) could control the narrative.

Even now, on this holiday, fossil fuels will power most of the fireworks shows, the traffic, the grills, the flights, the mass-produced flags…

So again I ask: What are we really celebrating?

A New Declaration: Interdependence, Not Just Independence

Maybe what we need isn’t a revolution, but a re-rooting. A return to the Great Truths:

1. Interconnectedness: We’re not above the web of life—we are the web of life. What harms one, harms all.

2. Sufficiency: There is enough—if we share wisely, live simply, and create systems rooted in equity.

3. Reciprocity: Rights and responsibilities go hand-in-hand. Democracy is not a spectator sport.

4. Stewardship: We are caretakers, not kings. Let us govern for the seventh generation.

What might a political system rooted in these truths look like? Perhaps it would:

• Prioritize the well-being of all species, not just human GDP.

• Weigh policy based on long-term ecological health, not quarterly profits.

• Replace extraction with regeneration.

• Treat clean air, water, and soil as rights, not commodities.

Call it Purposeful Politics. Call it Re-Founding America. Call it a dream.

But if we don’t dream differently, we’re destined to keep repeating the same nightmares.

So Where Do We Begin?

We begin by not turning away. By refusing to let cynicism close our hearts. By reclaiming the power of civic imagination.

Let’s talk with our kids—not just about fireworks but about why this land deserves our care. Let’s host intergenerational conversations about real freedom—the kind that includes Earth, the unseen, and the unborn. Let’s redefine patriotism as a love so deep, we’re willing to tell the truth about where we’ve been—and where we must go.

Mini-Mission: Redefine Your Freedom

This July 4th, I invite you to:

• Light a candle in gratitude for Earth

• Host a family “What is real freedom?” circle

• Plant something. Literally. In soil.

• Post a photo with the hashtag #EcoGuardian with your vision of freedom for all life

Let’s make this Independence Day about interdependence. Let’s raise a new flag—one that doesn’t divide us by borders, but binds us through belonging.

Final Reflection

What if our greatest patriotic act right now… is to grieve? To grieve the promises we’ve broken, the paths we’ve strayed from, the planet we’ve wounded.

And then, to rise—not in anger, but in awe. In purpose. In One Cause—to become the ancestors future generations will thank.

Let’s become citizens not just of nations—but of Life itself.

P.S. I will be returning to our regular One Cause exploration next week with an in depth look at the role education and community plays in our regenerative future based on the 4 Great Truths.