An Invitation for Change

       “We live in a love-starved culture,” and “hurt people hurt people,” come together for me to paint a picture of our society as one that is hyper individualistic, consumer-driven, and desperately famished for the aspects of life that make it worth living. We are creatures of relationship, born into a world that we need in order to survive, a world that has and continues to provide us with everything we need. Our relational lives however have become deeply wounded, our communities have become limited, restricted, and damaged, and as a result many of us live every day in the questioning of our own belonging. We question ourself, our families, our communities, our spiritualities, and our collective answer to this question is almost always limited, reductionist, and rooted in determinism. 

      My personal lens on our most pressing needs at this time are almost relational in nature, and as a result of my orientation towards solving these dilemmas almost always involve a relational orientation towards reconnecting with connection. Today, we see the common fantasy of romantic love as the root of addressing our deep depressions and anxieties, and in the procesess of romanticizing attraction, sex, and intimacy, we disconnected from the natural roots we were born with; love of and for community. All the forms of love are important, but the devastating myth of our time is that we can do anything alone at all. As a result, we now need to pay greater attention than ever to the state of our politic, our human relations, and the tendencies towards devisiveness and hostility than ever, and we must address these realities that, somehow, creates a world where everyone can participate and belong. 

      What is clear to me, however, is that to begin addressing something as wonderful as communal love and belonging in the United States we need start taking radical steps obliterating our racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and xenophobic idealogies before making this dream into a reality can even begin. The misuse and abuse of cultural heritages, the bastardization and white-washing of every culture under the banners of imperialistic colonization, and the fragile egotism that clings to nationalism as an identity are the terrible curses that need breaking the most at this time, and for these reasons I recommend potentially the most radical approach of all:

Loving as the end to finding means to the end. 

“What a privilege to be tired in the pursuit of a challenge of your own choosing.”