Ed. note: This piece is an excerpt from the new book Coming Together in the Great Turning, written and edited by Aravinda Ananda, Molly Brown, and Kurt A. Kuhlwald, and published by New Society Publishers.
Shared Beliefs, Values, and Commitments
While the author/editors of this book have varied perspectives and approaches, we share some beliefs, values, and commitments. While we may use different terms to describe our work, at its heart ours is the work of confronting and transforming mindsets, worldviews, and orientations and actions that disrespect and degrade life, with particular attention to the oppression of humans. Our pursuit is liberation from the many systems of domination, exploitation, extraction, and denigration that disrespect and harm life, that subjugate human bodies and the body of the wider living land to the engines of profit and power for the few.
We author/editors believe that everyone in the web of life belongs, everyone matters, and we want everyone to have basic safety and well-being and the opportunity to flourish, thrive, and realize much, if not all, of their full potential. Because we know that some people have been systematically denied safety, dignity, and belonging, we are committed to working to confront, dismantle, and transform human supremacy systems on all levels—internal, interpersonal, and systemic (institutional and cultural).
Therefore, we are all accountable for reducing and eliminating harm whenever and wherever we can. When people (ourselves included) stray from that ethic, we can call them up to a higher place of care and respect for all life, and we are committed to learning non-punitive ways of doing that. We may not be able to ensure safe spaces, but we can commit to creating brave spaces, where ruptures in safety, dignity, and belonging are not ignored, but are explored and, as far as is possible, transformed. It can take courage to confront these massive systems of violence that show up in both subtle and not so subtle ways in group spaces.
At its heart, a commitment to collective liberation “isn’t about being “right,” “woke,” or “one of the good ones,” and it certainly isn’t about perfection. This work requires humility because each of us will likely make many missteps on this journey. As we all often miss the mark, we can continually commit to certain values and work day by day to embody those values. Our values can be our compass.
This work also requires humility because it takes a lifetime, if not lifetimes, to undo toxic conditioning and get free of oppressive systems, so we can start where we are and take one step after another. All of us are collectively called to be in it for the long haul.
Ultimately, a commitment to collective liberation is not about policing people’s behavior, but rather holding healthy boundaries and calling people towards a deeper manifestation of Beloved Community. We can choose to have care for ourselves and care for one another at the core of our relationships. A commitment to collective liberation means that attending to how we are together is an important part of what we do together, as we work to shift, dismantle, and transform recurring patterns of oppression.
A commitment to ongoing learning, accountability, and embodied solidarity is asked of us, and we don’t have to do this alone. In truth, this work is aided by doing it together. Long-term learning communities that meet over time can be particularly supportive. We are each asked to commit to inner psychological and spiritual work so that our actions can go beyond performative to embodied and integrated understanding.
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We would like to bring in a caution from the fourth core assumption of the Work That Reconnects which states that: “Cognitive information about the social and ecological crises we face is generally insufficient to mobilize us. Only when we allow ourselves to experience our feelings of pain for our world, can these feelings reveal on a visceral level our mutual belonging in the web of life and free us to act on our moral authority.”* This is some of the magic unleashed in the experiential practices of the Work That Reconnects. Systems of oppression shut down feeling—as a survival mechanism for those targeted by these systems and, substantially, as a means for people in positions of power to avoid both accountability as well as feeling the enormity of the pain inflicted upon the larger body of society. While we author/editors present a lot of cognitive information about systems of oppression in this“book, some of the deeper work lies with allowing ourselves to feel the pain they cause.
Realizing a vision of the Beloved Community requires that we practice beloved community daily, contributing to greater safety, dignity, and belonging for everyone. It is imperative that we be compassionate with ourselves and each other, as well as rigorous in interrupting and transforming oppression whenever it rears its ugly head. We will not be perfect. We will make many mistakes along the way, and we can choose to keep going, keep growing, and keep learning. Our current capacity limitations may not match our ideals; the important thing is to keep building over the long term ways of being that liberate us all from systems of domination.
*“Core Assumptions of the Work That Reconnects,” n.d., https://workthatreconnects.org/resources/core-assumptions-of-the-work-that-reconnects/.”
