Brash rhetoric and dividing discourse so common today are often premised on the assumption that a single perspective can fully explain reality. As reckless, insatiable forces trample (under-realized) democratic ideals and snuff out (already faint) hopes of a serious response to planetary and relational crisis, those of us who have long resisted the forces presently in power (as well as those of us who may be newer to the struggle) run the risk of mirroring their mannerisms. When we are feeling especially embattled, we have a tough time staying grounded. Our patterns of thinking are conditioned, of course, by historical forces, inherited and socialized identities, and our lived experiences. And there are super-speedy pre-cognitive cascades of perception and feeling that influence our reactions.
Many folks who find their way to EcoGather do so after years of fighting for justice and community inside a world-system premised on their opposites, after decades of clamoring for recognition in an over-culture that punishes non-conformity, and after so many seasons of trying to protect that which we love and cannot live without. (Or after substantial stretches of being alone with the troubles of our time.) We are not surprised by the brutality or avarice of those defending their fragile claims on supremacy. But it is still sickening to witness their untempered assaults and painful to admit that no one of us can focus our attention on all that is worthy of our care.
We may not be positioned to stop the horrors in the headlines, but we are not powerless. We can protect the territories to which we belong by virtue of our caring accountability. We can revere the relationships we weave. We can take solidarity seriously.
“…Solidarity [i]s closest to something like wholeness. It’s not unity. It’s not sameness. It’s something that holds different pieces together as a collective.” – Leah Hunt-Hendrix
By holding together our different perspectives as a collective, we can deepen, widen, and fortify a very different kind of power than the one we must diffuse. Sensing into true solidarity isn’t easy. It isn’t familiar. And it probably isn’t approachable through the tactics and strategies commonly used to fight the system. Those aren’t achieving the desired aims, but they sure have made us adept at fighting each other.
“We need a political practice of healing and well-being where the call for maturity, sobriety, discernment, and accountability is for everyone; where no one is ever off the hook.” – Vanessa Andreotti
Because we are all implicated and imbricated, we must honor vulnerability and genuine efforts at accountability by checking our own urges to argue, arbitrate, or impose coherence. We can keep watch over each other and make sure that we are not unconsciously imposing the same kinds of totalizing, separating, thought-terminating, and relationship-stunting simplifications on spaces that seek to embrace humility, uncertainty, and multiplicity (even and especially of truth).
“When we recognize that no viewpoint is complete, we open the door to a more expansive view. By learning to witness our thoughts as a kind observer, we can move beyond conditioned thinking.” – Kosmos
EcoGatherings are free to join. In return, we ask that you show up with the recognition that your viewpoint, like everyone else’s, is necessarily incomplete and with a genuine desire to take in a more expansive view. This kind of presence supports those who aim to stay tuned and alive in a time of endings and who seek to protect the possibility of wildly new beginnings. Engage with the materials we curate, the words that we write, the art that we offer, and the being-ness of other participants. (And if you haven’t had time in advance but still crave community, carry curiosity instead weilding projections. Offer questions instead of assumptions.) Our collective engagement in this manner is essential for integrating collapse-responsiveness with the pursuit of entangled, care-centered solidaristic, multi-species liberation and vivification.
We are so grateful to this courageous community and the way you commit to co-creating with us.
Artwork below by Reneé Barry
