Gidammit and Gaia Bless You?

Earlier in the spring I read a Washington Post article about how swearing improves pain tolerance. Whether saying shit, fuck, or goddammit, it turns out that swearing is “a drug-free, calorie-neutral, cost-free means of self-help,” as one psychology professor notes in the article.

I can get behind that and regularly use this tool to cope with pain and frustration (not studied but probably also effective). And yet funnily, still in my arsenal of coping-swears I use is goddammit, which feels nonsensical for a Gaian like me, who believes Gaia is real but God is a construct (or perhaps a misattribution of Gaia’s beauty, power, and incomprehensibility). So I’ve wondered: is a slight modification useful? Gaiadammit? Or Gidammit (using the shortened form of Gaia)? Gidammit follows the same syllabic rhythm, but doesn’t feel as satisfying as the four syllable Guy-uh-dam-it.

But the bigger question: do we want to invoke Gaia to curse anything? That moment, where Gaia’s wrath becomes manifest, is almost here without actively calling for it. So I’m gonna say no on that one. And stick to dammit (subject unspecified) or other non-spiritual curses. (The value and power of the F-bomb has inspired entire books, like this one and this one.)

Ah, ahh, ahhh choooo!

But what about benedictions? I’m thinking of course about the routine “God Bless You,” that almost instinctively comes out of one’s mouth when tens of thousands of aerosol droplets, potentially carrying infectious agents, shoot out of someone else’s mouth nearby at some four meters per second. Growing up saying “God Bless You,” I still find myself automatically saying ‘Bless you’ to someone who sneezes. Could that become Gaia Bless You or Gi Bless You?

It’d probably go over as well as saying “You are so good looking,” when someone sneezes, as was joked about in an episode of Seinfeld. (Fun fact: the writers had hoped the episode would lead people to shift from saying “God Bless You” to this new phrase. Of course it didn’t work, but A for effort!)  

Of course, if culture touchstone Seinfeld couldn’t shift this trend, I sure can’t, especially considering how few people even know what Gi or Gaia is. (And truthfully most would probably just respond as automatically as they do now, regardless of what replaced God, issuing an unreflective ‘thanks’ and moving on.)

But really, just like I don’t want Gaia damning things, nor do I want Gaia blessing things. It just feels wrong. Gaia is not a superhuman being that responds to our prayers, our curses, our pleas. Gaia is alive, and certainly in conversation with us (if we bother to connect with—and listen to—all the living beings around us). But Gaia is not conscious in the way we understand and if Gi’s focus is anywhere it is on sustaining the conditions of life for the life thriving as part of Gaia’s whole.¹

So what options exist for responding to the quotidian sneeze? It turns out many cultures—Chinese and Japanese included—typically ignore sneezes, saying nothing (as the nearby non-sneezer). But after a lifetime spent in a responding culture, I don’t think I can do that. (As joked about in that same Seinfeld episode, it actually comes across as quite rude.)

In truth, I like the simple calls for health in many cultures, but it seems to only work if one says it in a different language: “Gesundheit” (German), “Salud” (Spanish), which both mean health, or будьте здоровы (bood’te zdorovy), which means be healthy. When I’ve tried to say health or good health in English it just feels dumb.

But at the Harvard conference recently, someone gave a benediction in another language at the beginning of their speech, which translated to “Be in good health and at peace with your neighbors.”

That’s a beautiful sentiment, but admittedly a bit long to say every time a person sneezes. But I wondered, what does that boil down to in one word? And it hit me, gently of course. The answer is “harmony.”

Harmony

First of all it’s a nice word—in its very sound it is harmonious—notes trilling down, a gentle staccato sound. Not too long—just three syllables like God Bless You and Gesundheit. But it also captures a whole nested set of Gaian sentiments:

Harmony with one’s own bodily community: with one’s own immune cells, one’s microbiome, the bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi who are visiting (perhaps seeking a new home, perhaps just caught on the winds of an errant sneeze). Can these vastly different and sometimes conflicting species be in harmony within your body, avoiding disease and discomfort? That is the wish you offer to the sneezer.

Harmony between you and your community: This is a sentiment revealed in this wish, as well as revealed in how the sneezer covers their mouth as they sneeze, as they choose not to go into an enclosed space when feeling ill and are actively infectious, making a sacrifice, perhaps, for the wellbeing—for the sustained harmony—of the community they’re part of.

Harmony between you and the larger Gaian community: This is the crux of the matter, as we are all part of the Gaian whole. Can we sustain (or first rediscover) harmony between humans and the broader planetary system we’re part of? Whether individually: resting instead of spreading infection, effectively using (rather than overusing) the medicines and preventive tools available to minimize illness and the resulting increases in ecological costs as we treat illnesses; or collectively: preventing the destruction of wild lands and the encroachment of humans that have led to new diseases, and suffering for humans and non-humans alike.

I’ll admit this word resonates deeply with me, particularly as the name of the karate style I practice is Wa-shin Ryu, or the Harmony with Truth style. Just as this reminds us that martial arts is about deterring and deflecting conflict, a wish for harmony reminds us of the many levels of health that need to be maintained—not through aggressive responses like antibiotics,² but by recognizing a healthy world and healthy communities of the human and the multi-species kind are essential for wellbeing, for harmony.³

Harmony, ultimately, is a core principle of the Gaian Way—perhaps the core principle. Yet we are so far out of harmony that it’s hard to even understand what harmony would look like (or accept that reality if comprehensible—as it would be vastly different than the industrial consumer capitalist system most of us live under). But a simple definition could be: Harmony is when a species (and other sub-species it maintains⁴) is not undermining the systems it depends on in its efforts to survive and thrive. That means living within a species’ carrying capacity, but also not destroying ecological systems in unknowable ways, through the creation and dispersion of persistent chemicals and materials like plastics, for example.

But all that is deeper than I meant to go in this reflection. The main points being: Don’t use Gaia to curse or bless. Instead remind folks of what is required to live with Gaia’s blessings: in a system not being rapidly undermined in ways that will prevent the sustaining of complex life. And try saying “Harmony” next time you hear someone sneeze. It might fall flat—it certainly did when I said it to my son, and yes, my wife too, but at least it feels more authentic to me than ‘Bless You.’ And it might get folks thinking about what true harmony really entails, and requires from us.

Endnotes

1) Yes, that may sound a bit circular in reasoning, but then again, you’re not a planetary being, so perhaps your mind is not large enough to understand it (mine sure isn’t). A second thought, while I’m in the cellar: does this mean we should not give gratitude to Gaia either? No. We can give thanks for the gifts this living system offers us, regardless of consciousness. Just as one thanks the food one eats for nourishing one’s body, or one’s body for staying healthy, or the bees for pollinating and sustaining our world, gratitude does not need to be understood to be valuable. And giving thanks doesn’t automatically trigger the notion that there is a divine agent acting on one’s behalf.

2) To be clear, antibiotics, when used properly are wonderful (one of the top ten things I’ll miss as we navigate collapse). But their misuse (i.e. to treat a virus) or using them because one’s sickness progressed because one refused to slow down and rest, is undermining the broader health of society and Earth’s systems.

3) I also still remember fondly the harmoniums from Kurt Vonnegut’s Sirens of Titan—a formative book during my teen years, one that reminded me then (and now) that ultimately the meaning of life is to simply love those around you. I didn’t realize it then, but that certainly includes the entire Gaian community and not just humans. The harmoniums, themselves, were beautiful in that they could do no harm (and had “no motive” to do so), living off the musical energy of Mercury, and, as Vonnegut described, only communicated two messages: “Here I am,” and to others, “So glad you are.”

4) I’m referring to humans and their pets and livestock, but it could apply to ants and aphids as well. If ants farm aphids to an extent that they destroy the lands they inhabit, then that would be an example of disharmony. This gets cloudy quickly, what if they make a different (and perhaps more ecologically rich system) like beavers? Maybe they get a pass, but we, with our microplastics, PFAS, and carbon bomb, are certainly not in that category.