The one thing that stops me today from doing community work is the fear of violence. I live in a country where lethal violence from state and non-state actors alike is normal and expected, and community organizers are especially targeted. I don't know what my strategy should be in an environment like this.
thank you for wording this wisdom. this piece reminds me of the words shared by some indigenous elders like Pat McCabe. the belief of individualism as the true way of living comes from centering the human consciousness (mind-thinking as an individual practice). we've inherited this notion that human consciousness is the commander of the world, as least in europe, from the war-centered empire-building world vision of the greeks and romans, just to name one of many ancient examples.
i believe this period was a deep economic-political-cultural shift happening in europe, and probably happening in other parts of the world due to the development of commerce, right after the agricultural revolution(s.) this shift, which i will name here with modern terms like a gender-imposing coup d'etat (also can be named as a patriarchal social structure), probably preludes what we now call private property, which led us to superimpose the mind and the individual over the body and the many.
another profound thing your piece ignites me to think is that unlearning individualism also means remembering our relationship with other living beings-consciousnesses (the earth, the creatures who live on the realm of air, land and water, the rivers, etc). to be in relationship with them is to recognize we are not above them and need their support to survive, to care for the land that nourishes us to live and grow.
Excellent piece. This last term I designed and taught a new module on personhood, for exactly this reason: that individualism is at the heart of the crisis we are in. I shall add this to the readings for the last week, on personhood and the Anthropocene,
Luckily, there are plenty of good traditions of thought to draw on from other parts of the world that have long recognisaed our interdependence, from Ubuntu in Africa over Andean idea to feminist and working class ideas of personhood in Europe - individualism really mostly by, about and for white elite men - albeit with devastating consequences for everyone else.
Love this, it echoes many of the thoughts I've been having after recently reading From What Is to What If by Rob Hopkins, and currently reading Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit. Both books heavily emphasize hope and the idea that we can't change things without acting. It took me too long to realize that often among people I talk to, cynicism about human nature being inherently selfish is actually just a rhetorical tool that shuts down disagreement, or a justification that allows them to continue living with a knowledge of the suffering in the world because it allows them to absolve themselves of responsibility. One point that I think deserves more nuance is to mention that humans have both an inherent selfish capacity and an inherent social and even altruistic capacity. Like you mentioned, the systems we put in place can reinforce our behavior, but so many times we get stuck in this false binary that kills imaginative solutions.
Superbly written essay. There is no war for the working class except the class war.
Identity politics is based on postmodernist idealist nonsense, and was designed to divide the working class for the benefit of the PMC academics who created this nonsense for exactly that purpose.
I remember when they did it. At the time, it was to drive Marxist professors out of the universities. Another fun tale from the Age of Reagan.
As a healthcare worker (caregiver/medtech) and an advocate in my community, this piece resonated with me so much. I spend so much of my time either trying to connect with others to help them see how capitalism is destroying us or trying to help lift folks up and encourage them to see how we can join forces and help each other thrive in various ways. Thank you👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
this is a practical essay on the power of relationality. thank you for making it simpler to get to it. the moment, we put our interdependence before us; our communities will be strong/resilient.
Thank you. This was beautiful and inspiring.
The one thing that stops me today from doing community work is the fear of violence. I live in a country where lethal violence from state and non-state actors alike is normal and expected, and community organizers are especially targeted. I don't know what my strategy should be in an environment like this.
thank you for wording this wisdom. this piece reminds me of the words shared by some indigenous elders like Pat McCabe. the belief of individualism as the true way of living comes from centering the human consciousness (mind-thinking as an individual practice). we've inherited this notion that human consciousness is the commander of the world, as least in europe, from the war-centered empire-building world vision of the greeks and romans, just to name one of many ancient examples.
i believe this period was a deep economic-political-cultural shift happening in europe, and probably happening in other parts of the world due to the development of commerce, right after the agricultural revolution(s.) this shift, which i will name here with modern terms like a gender-imposing coup d'etat (also can be named as a patriarchal social structure), probably preludes what we now call private property, which led us to superimpose the mind and the individual over the body and the many.
another profound thing your piece ignites me to think is that unlearning individualism also means remembering our relationship with other living beings-consciousnesses (the earth, the creatures who live on the realm of air, land and water, the rivers, etc). to be in relationship with them is to recognize we are not above them and need their support to survive, to care for the land that nourishes us to live and grow.
Excellent piece. This last term I designed and taught a new module on personhood, for exactly this reason: that individualism is at the heart of the crisis we are in. I shall add this to the readings for the last week, on personhood and the Anthropocene,
Luckily, there are plenty of good traditions of thought to draw on from other parts of the world that have long recognisaed our interdependence, from Ubuntu in Africa over Andean idea to feminist and working class ideas of personhood in Europe - individualism really mostly by, about and for white elite men - albeit with devastating consequences for everyone else.
Love this, it echoes many of the thoughts I've been having after recently reading From What Is to What If by Rob Hopkins, and currently reading Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit. Both books heavily emphasize hope and the idea that we can't change things without acting. It took me too long to realize that often among people I talk to, cynicism about human nature being inherently selfish is actually just a rhetorical tool that shuts down disagreement, or a justification that allows them to continue living with a knowledge of the suffering in the world because it allows them to absolve themselves of responsibility. One point that I think deserves more nuance is to mention that humans have both an inherent selfish capacity and an inherent social and even altruistic capacity. Like you mentioned, the systems we put in place can reinforce our behavior, but so many times we get stuck in this false binary that kills imaginative solutions.
Superbly written essay. There is no war for the working class except the class war.
Identity politics is based on postmodernist idealist nonsense, and was designed to divide the working class for the benefit of the PMC academics who created this nonsense for exactly that purpose.
I remember when they did it. At the time, it was to drive Marxist professors out of the universities. Another fun tale from the Age of Reagan.
The "Invisible Hand" turns out to be oil; the deeply inhuman and incomprehensible Force that arises from the tellurian depths
As a healthcare worker (caregiver/medtech) and an advocate in my community, this piece resonated with me so much. I spend so much of my time either trying to connect with others to help them see how capitalism is destroying us or trying to help lift folks up and encourage them to see how we can join forces and help each other thrive in various ways. Thank you👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Joshua,
this is a practical essay on the power of relationality. thank you for making it simpler to get to it. the moment, we put our interdependence before us; our communities will be strong/resilient.
Best wishes and regards.
Lovely. Thank you.