Let me elaborate from the previous post and its injunction to "do what feels good," which may seem daunting, too abstract or straight-up confusing. Especially in these moments when our country has just voted for a President who manifestly defies and taunts ethical and moral frameworks. Our elected leader who purportedly represents our country, explicitly supports policies that promote division, racism, extractive capitalism, unfettered economic growth, and the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few, AND is a convicted felon. Does this recent event signify that we as a country don't know the difference between right and wrong? That our shared values have gone significantly awry? What has happened to our systems of accountability?
Additionally, with social media and AI, we are constantly inundated with all kinds of competing information, making it all the more difficult to discern between right and wrong. Between memes, algorithms and savvy political discourse, we no longer know how to think for ourselves in life-giving ways. We've normalized and promote precarious conditions such as work without balance, individual pursuit without collective accountability, the regularization of violence, mindless consumption, and the exploitation of non-normative bodies. So what are we to do? How do we stop this unrelenting social vertigo and ruthless movement towards self-destruction?
We need to come back to our bodies. It's our most reliable system of accountability. We need to learn to listen to and heed our gut feelings again. Machine generated information, manipulative charismatic leaders, advertising, and standardized models of learning have disconnected us from our true wisdom and power. We've been taught to rely too heavily on our minds, with which we can certainly define, order and categorize. But once in neat little boxes, there is nowhere to go or grow. We have literally killed all possibilities. The mind is one of the most violent tools.
Yet, the body is our most liberatory tool, for it is the gateway to the spirit; that undefinable space/experience of unlimited power and potential. Our spirit remains inaccessible to greedy capitalists and political fearmongers. And it is always communicating to us, telling us what is right and wrong. We just need to learn to listen again. We need to relearn the language of our bodies. Once we learn how to dialogue with our bodies again, then we are poised for generative dialogue with others; for true connection and collaboration. This is how change happens - from the inside out.
These words may still seem esoteric. But how we know what is right or good is not meant to be an intellectual exercise. It is an experience that must be practiced and lived. NOW. We must learn to live NOW in right relation with ourselves, one another, and this planet, of which we only have one.
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