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Core
Values for the World We are Creating
Everyday we are faced with challenges and
opportunities. Challenges that test the nature of our existence, our attitudes
that influence how we carry out the tasks of living in a complex society.
Who are we? And what do we want to be?
What kind of world do we want? As American citizens in a diverse culture,
the great melting pot, one of our biggest challenges is learning how to live
together in our differences, indeed to build on them and unite so that we can
grow into greatness as a society and as individuals. But there are difficulties
that prevent us from turning our challenges into opportunities. One of the
biggest stumbling blocks to inclusivity and achieving common ground is race.
For generations we have been plagued by racist legacy.
Just who are we to one another? What does it mean to relate to someone of
different racial or cultural background? We are often confused, embarrassed and
ignorant about how to overcome our deeply introjected racial attitudes. We are
plagued by our history. When we try to move on, to get beyond our troubling and
difficult past. We can't seem to get beyond it.
Consider our schools, colleges, religious institutions.
Places that should be rich breeding grounds for talent, skill, intelligence,
moral authority, the places where our greatest hope for the future exists are
haunted by racial misunderstanding.
There is no doubt that we are products of our history,
we carry into our future the memories of our past; and we often live that out in
our present. But remembering our history does not mean that we must be bound to
and imprisoned by it. For people of goodwill there is a way to overcome our
tragic past and build a future based on justice and humanity. And servant
leaders can take their place in helping create a different future. We can those
values that support our principles.
1. ELIMINATING DICHOTOMOUS THINKING
: From "Either/Or" to
"Both/And"
Dichotomous
thinking engages judgmental and rigid attitudes. It is by its very nature
oppositional. And it seeds the attitude of “Otherness”. It forces us into
separate corners where we are labeled and judged. We are then faced with the
difficult task of holding strongly to our beliefs and attitudes even when it
means conflict, separation and eventually loss. We are stymied by our negativity
and we create a context in which individual growth and real possibility are
abrogated.
What might be more true and closer
to reality is that there is something of value to be discovered in our differing
realities. When we allow ourselves the gift of understanding at the Meta
(deeper) level what lies underneath what is obvious on the surface, we come to
understand there is much more that unites us than separates. We must recognize
our common roots and apply the old Golden Rule, "Do unto as we would have
them do unto you."
We have placed far too much
credibility in our differences. We have assigned a value to them and assigned
privilege accordingly. This comes from an impaired sense of self.
Each of us is special because we
have a unique medicine that we bring to the world.
When there is real and substantial respect for self, we extend that to
others. When we lift ourselves up by putting others down, it say more about our
internal estimation of ourselves than anyone else. We project out what is
inside.
2.REDEFINING
POWER:
From Power Over To
Power To and Power With
Some say that
this is the age of anxiety. We are stuck with the awareness that no one gets out
alive. How do we manage this knowledge, the sense that danger awaits us at every
turn? That we can only guarantee our existence for this minute or indeed this
second? In the time it takes to inhale, our existence can be over and we belong
to the ages. It happens.
Sometimes we
believe that all we need to do is maintain control. Control of ourselves and of
others… Control of our environment, our physical appearance, our bank
accounts.
In our
anxiety we believe there is not enough and our environment is not safe. We must
protect ourselves from all the negative and hostile forces out there. We think
if we can do these things, gain power over, maybe we can control, change or
delay the outcome.
But too much
control can become oppressive. The quest for totalitarian power derives from our
lack of faith in community. We cling to rugged individualism, unable to trust
our neighbor.
Power
is not a zero-sum proposition. Power is exponential.
When power is shared, it multiplies. In our effort to protect ourselves
we harden around our anxieties, we believe that power over…people, events,
etc. can keep us safe and secure.
Achieving
cooperative, mutually supportive relationships with each other is the most
enduring source of security and peace. It
is not about power over but power
with and power to. Perhaps true serenity and the sense of safety is about
letting go and acting in concert with others to create the safety we want. It is
said that no man is an island. We are by nature social animals. We need each
other. As we exercise our individual freedoms we can learn to live cooperatively
with each other.
3. Acknowledging
the personal right to name one's experience
We are a
nation of labels. We have a name for everything. Some names can limit, demean
and humiliate. Words like fags, bitches, niggers, wops, spicks,
negate the human spirit and
abuse self-esteem. It creates scapegoats, and projects negative stereotypes.
Sometimes we project on to others that which is perceived as unacceptable or
damaging within ourselves.
The most
powerful name is the name we give ourselves. We each have the right to name our
own experience and to articulate our own reality. Hopefully we can do this in
such a way that it does not abrogate the legitimate rights of others.
4.The
Process is as Important as the Product
Can the end
justify the means? It is written,” What does it mean to gain the world and
lose our souls? It is believed by some, that if a goal has been attained or an
outcome achieved then it is sufficient to claim success .Over focus on the
achievement of outcomes as the only measurement of success can lead to
exploitation, abuse, and tyranny.
What and how
an outcome is achieved is as important in holistic, living systems as the final
product itself. The what and how of events indicates the process. It takes into
consideration how individuals are affected and the specific steps taken to
achieve desired outcomes. In just and humane systems it is important to consider
the impact to all involved. In Native American Tradition, we are asked to
consider the impact of our actions up to seven generations.
5. The Personal is Political
“It
wasn’t me,” she said. “So why should I be responsible for what my fore
parents did?” I hear this often, particularly around the issue of racism. No
one wants to be held responsible for something that which they did not create.
But
racism and other bigotries are here today. Is that our responsibility? I think
you would agree that it is. Racial prejudice, sexism, homophobia are deeply
woven into our cultural fabric. So what is our answer for its existence?
Sometime we say, it is those people, but not us. I believe that whatever is here
we have all helped to create. Are you the person you want to be? Have we created
the society we want? What if we
acted consistently with the values in which we say we believe?
| 
The Leadership and Empowerment Institute, Inc. 
