The Thanksgiving Day Sermon

Thanksgiving is a national holiday to celebrate a dinner party that white colonialists held in collaboration with their native hosts, shortly before they turned around and murdered their hosts so they could take over their property. We know this, sisters, because we are synapsing. We can look at what we are told is our history, and we can look at who wrote it and why they wrote it, and we can go looking for who didn’t get to write that history and why and we can find out what their truth is, and we can make connections around all of this and figure out for ourselves what’s a truth and what’s a lie. And we can connect with our deep selves and so, even if the truth looks like it could hurt us, we can know that we are the Sisterhood of the Sacred Synapse and that we have a spiritual obligation to the planet to know what we know and to challenge the lies, make the amends, and keep telling the truth, convenient or not.

And when Sister Carolyn thinks about Thanksgiving and about what she is grateful for, she is grateful… yes, grateful… for the fact that she cannot participate in or enjoy a ton of things in this culture. She is grateful that she cannot laugh at the stereotypes, that she cannot wave the flag of patriotism when it means supporting an immoral invasion and a war of coroporate, imperial aggression and greed. She is grateful that she cannot participate in the ongoing carnival and parade of women’s fashions. She is grateful that she does not enjoy the thousands of DVD’s that celebrate the violence and dominance of men on this planet, that she does not enjoy any story where the terror of women or children is a plot point. She is grateful that she notices the gender roles and that what she knows about their toxicity undermines mainstream romance narratives. She is grateful that she notices the absence of the disabled, the old, the lesbian, the women of color.

Sister Carolyn is grateful, sisters, grateful for what the dominant culture sneeringly calls “political correctness.” This is a nasty phrase, sisters. It is a nasty phrase for what is actually “Optimal Synaptic Functioning.” “Optimal Synaptic Functioning” means you are fully alive, not repressing, not denying, using your magnificent brain as it was intended to be used—and that you are connecting with other forms of life in a way that is conscientious and symbiotic! Let’s all say that: Optimal Synaptic Functioning. It means being at the very top of one’s game.

Let’s look at this “political correctness” thing. Correct means “free from error; in accordance with fact or truth.” That sounds good, doesn’t it. But what happens when we pair it with “political?” Well, political has a lot of different meanings, and most of them are suspicious. In the nastiest sense, it means doing something you don’t really mean, but doing it to manipulate yourself into a position of power. Like doing right thinking for wrong reasons. I just want to ask you this: What the hell does that mean? How can you think right for wrong reasons? I mean, really, deeply think right… but for wrong reasons. Sisters, I just can’t make that synaptic connection.

But the people who are doing the naming are not synapsing optimally. They are only concerned about their own positions. They know that the people who point out the obvious discrimination and racism and ageism and ableism and sexism and homophobia and anti-Semitism and classism of the dominant culture make them feel defensive. And because they are feeling defensive, they experience the optimal synapser as pulling a power play, being a political manipulator. And so they label us “politically correct,” and sneer when they do it.

Well, it seems clear enough that Optimal Synaptic Functioning is the way to go… so why doesn’t everyone practice it? Why is the world divided into those who do, and those who sneer at it? Well, sisters, there are two reasons, as with most things in patriarchy. And those two reasons come down to the carrot and the stick. That’s right… that nasty old carrot and that nasty old stick. And they’re really not a carrot and a stick at all. They’re really just a nasty old you-know-what. Because that is what patriarchy is all about.

Okay. Let’s look at the stick first. The punishment for Optimal Synaptic Functioning. What is it? It is shame, my sisters. Shame. They try to make us ashamed, or embarrassed about our magnificent synaptic abilities. How can they do this? How can it be better to be numb, selfish, and disconnected? Well, the answer to that is simple: It’s not. But shame is not about logic. Shame is about the herd, sisters. And never forget that we are animals. We are primates. We are social animals, like horses or dogs. We are not cats. We like to travel in packs. We feel tremendous anxiety when we are separated from the herd. And when the herd is separating itself from us, we will do almost anything to belong again.

So this social shame is a huge stick. It can be used to make us buy things we don’t want, go along with idiotic situations, be silent about things that are immoral, and make us ashamed of things we have worked very hard for… like our ability to know the truth and to articulate it. Never underestimate the power of social shunning. We need to remember that, historically, the people who protested the most obviously unfair, outrageous, murderous, and barbaric practices have been called “N-word” lovers, Jewish sympathizers, and men-haters. Sisters, it is and always has been a fine thing to stand up to racial discrimination, to feel outrage and horror at anti-Semitism, and, sisters, there is nothing wrong with telling the truth about the fact that men are the agents of women’s oppression. Not all men, not all the time, but men globally and historically have been the agents of our economic, social, spiritual, sexual oppression. Nothing wrong with naming it. It seems crazy that so many good people have been coerced into silence by the use of three words. But they have. Never underestimate your biology… the herd instinct, and never underestimate the power of the shame stick.

The big shame stick is a powerful enforcer of social norms. And the name of this particular shame stick is “political correctness.” Well, let’s get a little shame stick of our own. Let’s start finding a name for those folks who sneer at “political correctness.” Let’s call them “empathy impaired” or folks suffering from "Delusional Dominance Disorder." Own the language, sisters. Own the language. And if it is not a language that puts you at the center of your experience, then you are not owning it. And if you are not owning it, it may very well be owning you.

All right… So let’s move on to the nasty old carrot: The reward. The reward for not synapsing. You get to belong. You get to partake. And that means you are welcome in clubs and organizations, that you get to sit at the table, that you get a piece of the pie. In fact, the more you can unplug your synapses, the bigger the piece of pie.

Why is that? Well, it’s about streamlining. Just like a race car. You get rid of anything and everything that would slow you down. Everything in the race car is designed with one goal in mind: Get there first.

And so it is in life. If you want to get the promotion first, get the most money first, get a name for yourelf first… well, then you might consider designing a life that gets rid of anything that would slow you down. And you can go very fast, if you don’t care about the environment, if you don’t care about whose backyard you are dumping your waste in, if you don’t care about the lives of the folks overseas who are working in substandard conditions in your factory. You can move faster if you don’t have to consider the impact of your choices on future generations, or other species. And, like a race car, if you get rid of the passenger seat, you can pick up a lot of speed. Partners and family and community will really put a drag on your momentum.

Now, what happens if you are trying to maintain all your biophilic, right-sized connections as you move through life? Well, you have to stop and solicit a lot of feedback before you implement a major decision. That takes time and communication skills. It requires compromise and coalition. You have to negotiate. Everything is more complicated, because what makes money today, might deplete resources for tomorrow. Some species you never heard of might become endangered. There are conflicting agendas, conflicts of interest. Turbulence, sisters. Turbulence. Resistance. All of these things will slow you down. The woman who practices Optimal Synapstic Functioning will never travel as far or as fast as the racer who is single-mindedly focused on one thing and one thing only: getting there first.

That carrot of moving fast and far… it can be tempting, especially when we are in a hurry to pay off a student loan, or a mortgage… It can be. I know it. But, sisters, that race is not worth winning. It’s a boondoggle. And the definition of “boondoggle” is work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value.

The Optimal Synapser has another definition of winning. It’s about retaining her biophilic (that’s life-loving) integrity. When we retain our biophilic integrity, we are advocating for the integrity of the planet. When we retain our biophilic integrity… and how do we do that? SYNAPSING! … When we retain this biophilic integrity we may spend our lives moving forward by millimeters, but we are bringing along everyone and every part of ourselves when we do, for every single millimeter that we travel. When we get somewhere with our biophilic integrity intact, ALL of us get there. The speed racer, when she gets somewhere, only part of her arrives. The racetrack is littered with chunks of herself. she had to jettison for the sake of speed.

We are in a nation here that has been a speed racer. And this national has lost its soul, lost its respect in the international community, lost its credit rating. This nation has left so many things behind in the rush to be first, well… Sisters, it feels pretty soulless.

Now, we know some words. We know “politically correct.” And we know that for the manipulation that it is. And we know “empathy challenged” or “Delusional Dominance Disorder,” which are the real problem. And we know "boondoggle," which is believing that it makes sense to cut the ties in order to advance ourselves individually. So now, I want us all to try to think of a new word, a brand new word that has never been spoken before, to describe that physical and emotional state of well-being we have when we are retaining our biophilic integrity. Let’s just take a minute, and when you’ve got one just shout it out…

Now, we’ve got some great new words. You pick one that works for you, and you memorize that. And then think about it at least three times a day. What does it feel like? When was the last time you felt it? What might you do right now, in this instant, that might promote your biophilic integrity?

Sisters, NEVER be ashamed of synapsing fully. NEVER. EVER. The planet is too near destruction for that luxury. The synapse is a sacrament. We have an obligation to practice it, and practice it like our lives depended on it. You can never synapse too much, and this is especially true when we are talking about oppression.

Be grateful you understand the huge lie of Thanksgiving Day. It is really Ingratitude Day on a scale that boggles the mind. What we need is a Day of Amends, where the Native Americans are honored and the ongoing privilege of the invaders and their descendants are interrogated… where the trauma in our very own lifetimes of the Indian boarding schools is still not being addressed.

Be grateful for all the holidays we cannot take at face value, because of our Optimal Synapsing. Be grateful that we know, when we look at Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day that we are never allowed to include the women who are veterans and survivors of the war of men against women. Be grateful that we bring all our synapses to the table when we consider war, because it is a complicated issue. Be grateful that we can remember how the the founder of Mother’s Day, which was intended to be political and feminist, began to boycott her own holiday when she saw how it was being sentimentalized for commercial purposes. We can boycott or radicalize it ourselves. Be grateful that we understand how the national celebrations and mainstream commercializing of christian holidays marginalizes other religious traditions. And we can be grateful that we notice why there is no national holiday about women, except the one sentimentalizing us as mothers.

Be grateful that we can have our own holidays. That we can celebrate the seasons of nature, that we can gift ourselves with our own understanding of what deserves commemoration. And right now, let’s see if we can think of three national holidays that have to with women… Birthdays of famous women, or historic moments in our liberation movement. Really think about this..

All right now… Let’s see if we can add these to our calendars and start celebrating them for ourselves. Because these are our days of commemoration and celebration. And sisters, this second week in August is my season of high holy days!

Now… there is a high price to pay for Optimal Synaptic Functioning. In terms of the dominant culture, the Optimal Synapser is seen as one great big, huge, all-encompassing wet blanket. That’s right sisters. We are all seen as wet blankets, sometimes even by those who love us. Let us not be ashamed or afraid of that. Let us embrace our wet blankethood. Wet blankets can send smoke signals. Wet blankets can be used to communicate across great distances without the use of technology.

Optimal Synaptic Functioning prevents us from participating in the values and distractions of the dominant culture, but what it does, is connect us with our deep truth, with all life on the planet, and especially the forms of life who need our advocacy the most. There is joy and purpose in this, sisters. Can you say that? “Joy” and “purpose.” There is no joy or purpose in the dominant culture. The dominant culture can only offer superficial stimulation that folks are conditioned to find pleasurable in a cut-off way, and distraction. Why distraction? So we will not notice the devastation that is going on all around us. But we, my Sisters of the Sacred Synapse, we have joy and purpose.

They do everything they can to try to keep us from expressing this joy or enacting this purpose, and that is a torment, sisters… yes, it is. Sister Carolyn knows it is. And sometimes, with all the obstacles, there is a temptation to fall into S.I.N., those synaptically inadequate networks that the dominant culture tries to seduce us with. Yes, there is a mighty temptation, when we are tired, or when we want so keenly to socialize with folks who are not synapsing. And sometimes we do fall into S.I.N. And sometimes it feels good. It feels like a break, or a timeout.

But watch out, sisters! Watch out! When we turn off our brain enough to overlook the racism, the classism, the gender roles, etc. etc., we are training our brain. Yes, we are. We are training our brains to unplug for the sake of what? For the sake of the laugh track. For that sociability. But what happens when the herd decides that our oppression is the joke, the thing to be made invisible? Synapsing is like a muscle, sisters. Use it or lose it. If you unplug your brain every night to enjoy dominant culture television or to lose yourself in male dominant romantic fiction… well… how does that affect you when you try to plug yourself back in?

Sisters, I am not telling you what to do, because I don’t want that responsibility. But patriarchy is a force, sisters… yes, it is. It is a force like a moving train. Just because you’re on it, you’re traveling, whether your feet are moving or not. Get off the train, plug in the brain, get that new vocabulary working to describe what’s real and what’s healthy and what’s sacred. Sisters, our lives are sacred. All the time. All the time sacred. Not when you stop working. Not when you have time for it. Our lives are sacred. Our synapses are sacred. Know what you know, sisters. Communicate with respect, but with truth. And do not be afraid of political correctness. Embrace your Optimal Synaptic Functioning. Give thanks for it!

Blessed be!