“What custom’s sword has divided” is Schiller’s take on that which has separated people, what has disrupted, as he might word it, the “brotherhood of man.” If the German poet had lived into the twenty-first century, he could see how correct he was. The genetic connections among us, connections that are irrefutable, are broken by custom, by culture. We know the human genome; we know we are all related. Yet, we fight, family member against family member (the closest genetic tie) and neighboring tribes or nations against one another. We might hypothesize that those who divide by the sword of custom are ignorant of genetic ties, but going all the way back to stories of Cain and Abel and Romulus and Remus, we see symbolic examples of divisions between obvious relatives.
In celebration of the reunification of Germany with the fall of the Berlin Wall, Leonard Bernstein directed a performance by musicians once divided by custom. They played Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, a composition based on Schiller’s poem “Ode an die Freude.” Now, you might, if you are a reader of this blog, think I am a bit obsessed with Schiller’s poem and Beethoven’s composition since I have already written about both. I believe both are worth some attention.
In the context not of the end of the Cold War, but rather in the context of any contention in any time or place, the poem and the symphony offer an alternative: Joy in the knowledge that we are all related, that paupers and princes are genetically tied, and that even those who believe their differences are irreconcilable stand on common molecular ground.
Alle Menshen werden Brüder. But, like Schiller, Beethoven, and others before and after, no repeated declarations of universal brotherhood seem to overcome the pressures of custom. Yet, genetic research reveals an undeniable universal brotherhood among members of our species. As Lynn B. Jorde and Stephen P. Wooding explain in Nature Genetics, “Fortunately, modern human genetics can deliver the salutary message that … there is no scientific support for the concept that human populations are discrete, non-overlapping entities.”*
Our “brotherhood” is not just the wishful thinking of poets and composers. There really is a “brotherhood,” or, as Schiller expresses, “All men are brothers.” Now, what can we do about that sword of custom that divides us?
Is your scabbard empty?
* http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v36/n11s/full/ng1435.html
In celebration of the reunification of Germany with the fall of the Berlin Wall, Leonard Bernstein directed a performance by musicians once divided by custom. They played Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, a composition based on Schiller’s poem “Ode an die Freude.” Now, you might, if you are a reader of this blog, think I am a bit obsessed with Schiller’s poem and Beethoven’s composition since I have already written about both. I believe both are worth some attention.
In the context not of the end of the Cold War, but rather in the context of any contention in any time or place, the poem and the symphony offer an alternative: Joy in the knowledge that we are all related, that paupers and princes are genetically tied, and that even those who believe their differences are irreconcilable stand on common molecular ground.
Alle Menshen werden Brüder. But, like Schiller, Beethoven, and others before and after, no repeated declarations of universal brotherhood seem to overcome the pressures of custom. Yet, genetic research reveals an undeniable universal brotherhood among members of our species. As Lynn B. Jorde and Stephen P. Wooding explain in Nature Genetics, “Fortunately, modern human genetics can deliver the salutary message that … there is no scientific support for the concept that human populations are discrete, non-overlapping entities.”*
Our “brotherhood” is not just the wishful thinking of poets and composers. There really is a “brotherhood,” or, as Schiller expresses, “All men are brothers.” Now, what can we do about that sword of custom that divides us?
Is your scabbard empty?
* http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v36/n11s/full/ng1435.html
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