7/18/2020 Understanding, connection, and meaning
Summer is kicking into high gear in our little valley, and I hope this message finds you well as I take a break from the heat and catch up on some reading. As usual, the headlines are full of distress, and the stories being told can be overwhelming.
One of the most limiting stories we are contending with is the one that tells us we have to be in control, in charge, achieve mastery. This is the story, often, behind calls for "law and order." It paints a world divided into two potential trajectories: chaos or order, peace or mayhem. Of course, we all want to avoid chaos and mayhem, right? So the story tells us we must "regain control." A critical corollary of this story of control and mastery is the assertion that property ownership is sacred, and that property rights outweigh human rights.
Right now this story is playing out from Portland, Oregon to the White House. It is invoked to trigger responses to protests and to the pandemic. We are invited to divide ourselves into those who support order and those who would allow chaos; to divide ourselves into those who defend freedom and those who embrace responsibility. The contradictions of these false divides are papered over with messages of fear and promises of equally false solutions.
But there is a bigger, deeper story, one that does not require false dichotomies. It is a story of humanity that is complex and ambiguous. In this story, we work hard to solve problems while at the same time recognizing the ways in which we are powerless. We nurture the land as well as take from it.
Instead of order, we strive for understanding. Instead of compliance, we strive for connection. Instead of mastery, we strive for meaning.
Compassionate understanding and meaningful connection create space for holding seemingly contradictory ideas. We can work hard to recognize unconscious biases, and at the same time find ourselves caught in upholding institutionalized racism. We can let grief wash over us and at the same time work from a place of hope. We can work for safe communities and at the same time respect the anger of those who take to our streets in protest. We can understand fear and at the same time choose to act out of love.
Our most important commitment is to the idea that every human being is full, complete, and complex, and therefore deserving of respect and compassion. Our most radical commitment might just be to prioritize human rights over property rights, rejecting the limiting story that tries to convince us we can have only one or the other - or, perhaps worse, that they are the same thing.
As you consider your vote in the upcoming primary election, and of course as we look to November, observe the stories being told by candidates at all levels. Are these stories pushing us into false dichotomies? Are they focused on fear? Or do they help us find that space in which we see our connections, experience compassion, and find meaning?
Sent, as always, with deep appreciation for your companionship through these very challenging times -
Liz