Being self-righteous and scoring points or kudos from others who share our thinking can be affirming and validating. It can certainly be palpably tempting to dehumanize those who have dehumanized you or those you love and care about. But I was also wondering about how those of us who aspire to work to reduce violence and the roots in oppressive systems, also use dehumanizing language and approaches in the name of social justice.īell hooks reminds us that these are tools of oppression. You might think of your uncle’s homophobic comments at Thanksgiving, white supremacists in Charlottesville, or the roots of genocide around the globe and across history.
She shared this quote to talk about how tempting it can be to distance and dehumanize others who are different from us. I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain. She offered four practices for doing so, which also are outlined on the back of her book. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are.
True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. She calls for us to move toward true belonging. Spirituality is recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that power and one another is grounded in love and compassion. She calls this a s piritual crisis of disconnection.
In the absence of love and belonging, there is always suffering. On Sunday she spoke about how as individuals and communities today we are sorted (into communities with others who are like us), lonely, and afraid (of those who are not like us). Her ideas and concepts have been helpful in my presentations, my coaching with clients, and in my own life in relationship with others and myself. I’ve benefitted greatly from Brené Brown’s work including her previous books Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, and Rising Strong (and now Dare to Lead) as well as her TED Talks. On Sunday evening I had the opportunity to hear Brené Brown speak in Minneapolis about her new book, Braving the Wilderness, which came out on Tuesday (September, 2017).
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