Imagining a new world

“Joy is to fun what the deep sea is to a puddle.  It’s a feeling inside that can hardly be contained.”–Terry Pratchett

In response to a comment on my last blog post, I stated that I have a crush on all of humanity. And I meant it.  We humans are utterly fascinating creatures, star dust all, random collections of molecules.

My latest crush is Adrienne Maree Brown, a black, queer activist from Detroit. I heard her interviewed by Tami Simon and was fascinated by her wisdom, her clarity and the following ideas:

We live in a world and a culture that was imagined by someone else. It’s not permanent—even though we often think it is. Many of the stories and beliefs we still act upon today were created long ago and way too many revolve around want, accumulation and fear. They’re not working anymore.  The cool thing is we can change them.

How? Fractal responsibility. A fractal, of course, is a pattern that repeats itself on many levels—in the universe and in a tiny cell. So to change the world, we can begin by altering our own personal fractal.

As Brown says, “Fractal responsibility is saying, How do I operate in a way that is responsible to my vision, in a way that’s not just pointing fingers and asking other people to change, but recognizing the kind of change I can make in the world is directly related to the change I’m willing to make within myself.”

For example, democracy. Rather than rail at what seems like threats to our country’s promise of equality, I can look at my own home where (gulp!) I don’t consistently practice democracy. My arrogant position too often is “Well, I bought the house, I pay the bills. I should make the decisions.” That’s not fair or democratic to Jim, my long-time partner. And that’s something I CAN change.

She also talked about pleasure activism, what she calls “a politics of healing and happiness that explodes the dour myth that changing the world is just another form of work.”

In other words, let’s make the revolution irresistible. Let’s make it impossible to want anything else. My mission has always been to create a path (to equality, freedom, creativity, joy, etc) that’s so compelling that people can’t imagine walking any other.

If you’re interested, here’s the interview that compelled me to bring home three of adrienne maree brown’s books:

Embracing Pleasure, Fractal Responsibility, and the Power of Our Imagination – Sounds True

#222 Forever

Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World) that has just been turned into an app. Badass ACIM (badass-acim.com)