Big Feelings - Jul 28 2022

 

Big Feelings

July 28 2022

You wouldn’t think

a simple act of kindness

could be so deeply touching.

I feel it physically,

even when merely witnessing good.

My chest seems to fill,

a kind of warmth suffuses my body,

and I somehow open up;

my defences fall

and I feel overtaken

by a powerful sense of oneness.

Verklempt, the Yiddish would say,

and English, that most voracious tongue

has eagerly taken it up.

The religious would see this

as God's spirit in us;

that we are essentially moral creatures

divinely inspired

and possessed of a soul.

A sociologist

as lessons learned.

And me, a fundamentalist in biology

would see evolution at work.

Reciprocal altruism

building bonds

the need to belong.

Hence the surge of fellow feeling

when we see self-sacrifice,

an endorphin reward

for pro-social acts.

Because we are social animals,

and those who give to the greater good, survive,

while those who keep for themselves

are ostracized

and die alone.

To call this morality

implies an act of will.

But there is no choice;

we are hard-wired

for kindness,

it's in our nature

to do good.

So to judge

either up or down

is like saying the jaguar shouldn't hunt

the monkey be promiscuous.

We may not be better animals

   —   more moral, more discerning  —   

but we are good.

Not created in the image of God

and not gods ourselves,

but well-suited

to do for each other,

to feel big feelings

and be deeply touched.

As is usual with these more philosophical poems that involve more complicated ideas, they are not easy to write without sliding into prose. And what sensible poet writes about evolutionary biology, of all things?!!

I think I wanted to try because that feeling we call verklempt is indeed so powerful. It can be inspired by even the most minimal act, and is such an affecting rush.

In our origins as small and closely related nomadic tribes of around 150 individuals, anti-social behaviour was quickly weeded out. But in modern civilization — densely populated, specialized, atomized — it's easy for the free-riders, scofflaws, narcissists and psychopaths to hide out. Why, they can even become President!