vision statement (2020 update)
22 Feb 2020made some more tweaks to the vision statement i developed at infinite growth…
Short Vision
In the future (2041):
I will be known in my community as loving, supportive, strategic, and visionary. My community will be diverse, interdependent, and creative. The planet will be resilient, free, and successfully balance chaos and order.
Extended Vision
In the future (2041):
I will be known in my community as loving, supportive, strategic, and visionary. In my work towards justice for the planet and people, the legacy of my work in my community will show that I am loving* and care deeply about supporting others. That support will be visible from the micro (1on1) to the macro (facilitation of large groups). I will be trusted as someone who thinks critically and moves effectively towards systemic goals in systems of all sizes. I will be known as someone who creates space for vision (the visions of others as well as my own) by being aligned with myself and inspiring others to be aligned with their truest selves.
My community will be diverse, interdependent, and creative. My community will have many different types of people (ability, race, gender, class, culture, age, location, etc.) who understand that our unique differences and wholenesses combine our inextricable connectedness into a joyful magic. Our interdependence on each other and the broader more-than-human world will be a source of our creativity. We will harness this creativity (as well as love) to move towards a world in which we understand what it means to be human and how our gift as a species creates a responsibility which we are bound to fulfill. Our presence on the planet will improve life for all beings.
The planet and places humans live will be resilient, free, and hold both chaos and order. Life will be understood as change and our species will know when to hold on and when to let go. Ecosystems at all scales (including the ones humans create and modify) will have the complexity and biodiversity to handle shocks while continuing their capacities to carry life. But not just any life; non-self-terminating life, life that is increasingly able to experience liberation‡ and freedom.†Humans will recognize, accept, and align with the reality that all successful life is a perpetual dance of chaos and order.§
* My definition of love: “The will and action to nurture the growth of yourself or someone else.” It’s a modified version of the one bell hooks borrows from M. Scott Peck. I also think the following statement by hooks is a great expansion of love into its elements: “Love is a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust.” Communion: The Female Search for Love
‡ My definition of liberation: joy untouched by fear (detail here).
†My definition of freedom: knowing who you belong to and how (detail here).
§ “But it is also a world that seeks order. When chaos erupts, it not only destroys the current structure, it also creates the conditions for new order to emerge. Change always involves a dark night when everything falls apart. Yet if this period of dissolution is used to create new meaning, then chaos ends and new order emerges.” Margaret Wheatley. Leadership Lessons for The Real World. 2006. http://margaretwheatley.com/articles/leadershiplessons.html
addendum
sooooo i have more thoughts and i’m not sure if they actually fit in my vision statement but i want them to be visible somewhere. so i’m just gonna leave these here and see what happens.
these are a list of beliefs that i have either (a) newly adopted in the last year or (b) reinvigorated their relevance in my daily life.
- liberation: sometime i need to update my definition of liberation to include some framing about collective freedom… inspiration from here.
- child-centered society: i want to build a child-centered society. i am learning from birthworkers that the marginalization of the work of birthing and raising children is very likely the primary source of the fuckshit of our world.
- abundance: there is enough for all of us (human and more-than-human beings) to thrive. there are historic and systemic realities that result in the uneven distribution of that abundance. i am working to change that reality.
- self-reflection: myles horton said in an interview once “you only learn from experiences you learn from.” fuck yes to that. also, i want to hold myself to as much self-reflection as i ask others to do.
- medicine: medicine is anything that brings balance. i learned this from decolonizing wealth by edgar villanueva but he cites indigenous wisdom keepers everywhere.
- poision: any medicine used to excess.
- other words i need to define: resilience, equity, justice, leadership (inspiration)
- accountability: i am in the process of building out a structure in which people can enter into accountability process with me. i started working with nisha purushotham on this in early 2020. it’s in progress. ping me if you want to talk to me about it…