Resilience, the Sabbath, and the Planet

With so much suffering and so many tragedies in the world today—war, hurricanes, floods, fires, homelessness, homicides, suicides, overdoses— there is much talk of resilience and the need to be resilient. But what does resilience really mean?

The definitions of resilience are:

1. the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.
2. the ability of a substance or object to bounce back into shape; elasticity.

Certainly, resilience is a trait we desire and admire, but what resilience is exactly and how human beings become resilient is not completely elucidated within these definitions.

We have studied resilient people and know what they look like:

• They're open to new ideas.
• They're not afraid of the unknown.
• They are curious.
• They see difficult times as opportunities for personal growth.
• They know that nothing lasts forever and that change is inevitable.
• They embrace change as an opportunity for growth.
• They are grateful for what they already have.
• They know how to ask for help— without feeling weak or ashamed.
• Their self-esteem is high, no matter what life throws at them.
• And ultimately, they can bounce back from obstacles and setbacks.

But how did they get there?

Consideration has been given to resilience being an inherited genetic trait. If such were the case, resilience would be dependent on the genetic lottery. We would have resilience, or we wouldn’t, with little that could be done to improve our situation. Genetics and epigenetics likely play a role in resilience, but the phenomenon seems much more complex and dynamic than the coding we are given at birth.

Perhaps, in addition, to some genetic predisposition, people learn to be resilient. Logically, if we tell people, or teach people, to assume the listed attitudes and behaviors, then they will become resilient. However, implanting cognitive constructs and internal narratives of resilience does not result in a person becoming resilient.

Maybe resilience comes from personal desire, strong will, and/or great character? But we all want to have resilience, yet we all don’t have resilience, and resilience tends to come and go, or at least ebb and flow, throughout our lifetimes. It is not a constant trait that we acquire in a permanent form. Additionally, defining resilience through an even more arbitrary, ambiguous and amorphous concept such as character hardly seems helpful, and it just complicates our understanding of resilience.

So what is resilience?

There is a clue in definition number 1: “the capacity to recover quickly”.

Resilience is about recovery. Recovery is a physiologic phenomenon. The physiology of resilience is the physiology of recovery, which in turn is the physiology of safety. Human beings require time in a state of safety, in safety physiology, where we are regenerative and restorative so we can recover to fight another day. Lack of safety physiology, or better stated, being in chronic threat and chronic threat physiology, is incompatible with resilience.

The phenotype and physiology of safety are regenerative and restorative, and bring forth the feelings, thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors of resilience. The phenotype and physiology of threat not only are inflammatory and degenerative but block the feelings, thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors of resilience. Resilience is brought forth from the physiologic soup that bathes our cells when we are safe. This soup influences our feelings, thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors much more than the other way around.

Our total threat load is a determinant of the contents of our physiologic soup. The total threat load is complex, as it is the summation of generational, physical, emotional, financial, social, mental, spiritual, environmental, and existential threats. To be fully safe and resilient we need to address all the threats in all areas, not just the threats constructed within the mind.

To be safe all the time is desirable but utopian and unrealistic. Life is full of threats and stresses, and that is alright, so long as we also have times when we feel and are safe to recover, to bounce back, to be resilient. We do not need to be in a state of safety all the time to be resilient and healthy, but we need frequent times in safety to recover and thus build the resilience. We have to set our physiology, not just our mind, to become resilient.

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Sleep is a state of safety, regeneration, and recovery that builds resilience. Physical activity facilitates the physiology of safety and builds resilience. Being physically and emotionally free and safe builds resilience. Having adequate resources such as money, healthy food, and safe shelter builds resilience. Having safe, secure and supportive social connections builds resilience. Having proper cognitive constructs and internal narratives certainly helps with resilience. Having a strong connection to a safe natural world builds resilience. Feeling safe enough to hand control, or illusions of control, over to faith builds resilience.

Threat forces us to think of ourselves and our position in the world to survive. Safety allows us to lose ourselves and connect to the greater world around us. It is here where we heal, recover, become resilient and thrive.

Ancient tradition, now, unfortunately, largely forgotten in the modern world, may give us some strategies to become more resilient. The ideas of the Sabbath and sabbatical have validity to improve the human condition

The Sabbath, “a day of religious observance and abstinence from work”, is really much more than just that abstinence from work in devotion to a God. The Sabbath included time for rest, time for feasting, time for communing, time for spiritual connection, and time for faith. The concept of a Sabbath, an assurance that at least once a week we get to move into safety physiology to heal, be healthy and well, is one of recovery and therefore resilience.

A sabbatical allows for an extended time away from the burdens of life specifically for reflection, rejuvenation, restoration, and re-creation (the emphasis on creation, in this case). The physiology of threat leads to a reactive mind, whereas the physiology of safety brings forward the creative mind. Our modern concept of vacation is filled with ambitions, activities, needs, and desires that fail to fulfill the requirements for recovery and resilience.

A Sabbath or a sabbatical need not have a religious connotation. A secular Sabbath is as valid as a religious one. Spiritual connection and a sense of faith can be found within safety with or without the belief in the constructs of a religion.

As we move towards safety and recovery, so too we move into the other, the needs of the other person and the needs of the natural world around us. As we move the world towards safety and recovery, we build our resilience while we also build the resilience of the other—both people and the planet. As we give time to ourselves for a Sabbath and sabbatical to build our resilience, we can also give time to our planet for regeneration, rejuvenation, recovery, and resilience.

Humans are now in conflict, not concert, with the planet, a battle we will surely lose. As humans can tolerate some threat, the planet can also tolerate some threat if provided with periods of safety, but the planet cannot tolerate chronic sustained threat any more than we can. The planet is a biologic system that we are a part of and from which we derive our physiology and our very existence. It is human hubris, not reality, that makes a distinction between us and the planet.

Just as a cancer cell is unaware that its infidelity to the whole will destroy the resilience of the host and eventually lead to its own demise, we fail to see that our infidelity to the planet does the same. Our resilience, health, and wellness are dependent on both our internal and external environment. We should attend to all.

During the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic we saw the amazing resilience of our planet from just one month of near-total shutdown of human activity. The shutting down of nonessential activities had a remarkably restorative effect for the planet. What if we disconnected from our cars and technologies, devoted time to rest, nourishment, and connection to both each other and nature for one day each week?

This would take nonessential human activities offline 52 days per year. Adding an annual 7-10 day retreat from our usual ways would allow for a cumulative two months of reduced human activity to facilitate recovery and build resilience not only for us but for the planet.

These concepts of resilience, recovery, safety, and a Sabbath are not based in philosophy or religion but in physiology and biology—the physiology and biology of thriving. The provision of safety to the world leads to resilience and equanimity in the world. To focus on anything but the provision of safety becomes a distraction from the outcome we desire.

We may not, yet, be ready for these concepts, nor the adjustments to make a better reality. But at some point we will tire of our suffering and perhaps open up to them—or perish.

Can we create a cultural contagion, a meme, of a respected secular Sabbath?

Dare we save ourselves with this medicine of a day off?

Stay safe and stay tuned,