Wonderbringers Newsletter with Monica Parker
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Hello Wonderseekers!
I’ve been reading about the French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, an intellectual whose world-view transformed after living under Nazi occupied France. Through this harrowing experience, de Beauvior grew to believe she had a moral obligation to apply her intellect beyond abstract ideas, choosing instead to wield it, and her rapier-sharp pen, through engaged activism.
She was a female philosopher in a field dominated by men, and confronted that duality with her luminary friends like Albert Camus and lovers like Jean-Paul Sartre. In her masterwork, The Second Sex, de Beauvoir was one of the first to suggest that gender roles are constructed, not biologically determined, and this thinking laid the cornerstone of second-wave feminism, emblematic of the ‘women’s-lib’ movement of the mid-twentieth century. She was willing to risk her freedom for the freedom of others, penning and signing the Manifesto of the 343, a petition in 1971 where 343 French women publicly declared they had undergone illegal abortions. An act of bravery that led to birth control and abortion reforms in France.
Beyond feminism, de Beauvoir championed anti-racism, workers' rights and the abolition of the death penalty, and spent her life fighting for what she saw as interconnected liberation. Believing that, ‘Se vouloir libre, c’est aussi vouloir les autres libres’ (‘To want to be free is to also want others to be free’).
Despite this difficult and often dark work, de Beauvoir was a proponent of happiness, and felt that her notion of happiness —a type of wonder-filled flourishing —buoyed the spirit and fueled the fight. ‘In order for the idea of liberation to have a concrete meaning,’ she wrote, ‘the joy of existence must be asserted in each one, at every instant; the movement toward freedom assumes its real, flesh and blood figure in the world by thickening into pleasure, into happiness.’
She also understood and warned about the dangers of apathy in social justice work, calling it a kind of ‘tetanus of the imagination.’ Without a balance between the two, she felt we risked ignoring the need for collective liberation out of comfortable complacency or becoming paralysed by the tetanus of apathy due to overexposure of strife. Sound familiar?
What might Simone de Beauvoir suggest doing today to strike that balance?
Resist the illusion of neutrality: There is no truly neutral position. Even non-engagement is a form of participation that has a cause-and-effect. This does not mean you must ‘choose sides’ in a black & white, polarising manner. Nuance is still critical. But recognise that choosing inaction in the face of tyranny is still an action.
Choose one concrete, imperfect project: Begin with something tangible that connects you to others, like volunteering, learning a skill or supporting a cause. But accept imperfection, recognising that all human projects are ambiguous and fallible. And don’t expect purity and perfection in others, either. Imperfection doesn't diminish the value of action.
Embrace the ‘ambiguity of ethics’: Always seek the balance between happiness and apathy. Wonder sits in that space. Avoid happiness that requires ignorance of others' suffering. Avoid apathy that stifles engagement. Commit to ideals but be open to new ones. Dance within that delicate, nuanced tension, seeking curiosity in failure, finding wonder in imperfection and impermanence.
Some wonderbringers for me this week:
Indifference is a power: As warriors and prisoners can attest, Stoicism is not grim resolve nor apathy but a way to wrest happiness from adversity.
Listen to a podcast where each episode summarises a different Simone de Beauvoir book: Simone de Beauvoir Essens Book Summaries.
Expert advice: Coping strategies for navigating the 24-hour news cycle.
My conversation with Joshua Steinfeldt from The Courageous Life podcast is now live. Have a listen!
With wonder,
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