contemplations on abuse of power and community

are you not interested in challenging or questioning problematic behaviour because you are benefitting from not doing so?

are you deprioritising the experiences of your sisters because you are personally benefitting from doing so?

i invite you to look at that

and witness what comes up in your body when you ask yourself why that is 

“why don’t i believe her?”

witness the stories that take over and the justifications that arise when you ask yourself that question

where do they come from?

this is deep and confronting work

which (unfortunately for humanity) most people don’t want to do

people don’t want to step out of their comfort zones of sweet oblivious privilege

cozy detached paradigms filled with simulations of love and light

those of us choosing to only believe the best in others… 

what if we take a moment to pause and also consider believing the worst? 

if you are offering containers of liberation i think it’s really important to keep returning to notice where you are not orienting to liberation from these deep collective shadows

where you are telling yourself stories to justify your ignorance?

your compliance

where are you denying harmful and abusive dynamics to get ahead or to get unexamined personal ‘needs’ met?

and this is not about making you wrong or shaming anyone 

…but if shame is coming up in your experience right now, can you prioritise pausing and feeling that sensation in your body - by giving the shame permission and space to be here in a direct textural experience we disrupt the unconscious patterns playing out to divert your attention from the discomfort

this is how we build resilience to be with what’s really going on here…

this is about speaking to and therefore potentially illuminating incredibly harmful blind spots in our world and specifically in ‘spiritual’ communities 

why?

so that we may try and do things differently,

create community differently 

in which we co-create circles that give no one person more power or authority over others

community where we may steep in collective inquiry,

community in which we guide each other, hold each other and empower each other

community where we encourage each other to actually use our OWN BODIES as barometers for what’s true

no one else holds the key to our awakening…

making others the source of our liberation will always be dangerous and disempowering

exalting teachers or gurus or guides without questioning the relational behaviours in their personal life and the way they run their organisations is food for their continued unchallenged abuse of power… it is literally what their castle is built out of

imo these hierarchical ways of organising will always inevitably lead to abuse of power 

teachers often speak to the pitfalls of projections and “giving away your power” but how are they actually engaging in behaviour that empowers those around them? 

how are they structuring community in a way in which they are truly able to be held accountable? 

are they having these conversations honestly and openly?

how are the voices of those who disagree being honoured and welcomed?

are they speaking publicly to their blindspots and opening themselves for debate or is there just a lot of finger pointing and/or non acknowledgement? 

i’m interested in doing community differently, in cultivating relationships of respect and spaces where multiple truths are allowed to exist but responsibility and accountability are prioritised

if you are also truly interested in this kind of community i feel like i should say that the changes simply will not happen in your external world until you do the internal work in the discomfort of your own body

ask questions