“The essence of transforming capitalism—or creating a new economy, if you prefer that term—is often missed or overshadowed by activities that happen under the headline of pursuing corporate social responsibility. These are worthwhile efforts, as are many of the sustainability-related activities undertaken by business. But a true transformation must deal with an essential design flaw in the core architecture of capitalism." -- Otto Scharmer
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I remember some of the times when I was most happy, after — I used to spend the whole of Lent in a hermitage alone, and I’d come back just sort of glowing, like a bliss ninny, for the next couple weeks. But when people would look at me, I remember again and again, they said, “Richard, you look sad.” And I said, “Oh my gosh, do I?” Because in fact, I’m feeling exactly the opposite. And I don’t know how that transferred to my face as sadness, but when you live at this deep time, deeper level of communion or love or grace or whatever you want to call it, there is a heaviness to it that — “Is the rest of the world not seeing what I’m seeing? Why are they so caught up in trivialities, and why are they making one another suffer so much?”
So it’s the strangest combination of being able to hold deep sadness and deep contentment at the very same time. So I discovered that in myself, and my most wonderful moments were also my most sad moments, which leads you to a kind of participation in what I called earlier “the one sadness,” that your very fact of enjoying grace and love carries with it a dark side that I didn’t deserve to know this, I didn’t earn this, and most people think I’m crazy if I try to talk about it. So the two intense emotions very often coexist in the contemplative mind.
So that’s what taught me this both/and world view, that opposites do not contradict one another. In fact, they complement and deepen one another.
Richard Rohr
I absolutely loved how he spoke about the contemplative mind. Our obsession with trying to be wide-eyed, hypnotically happy state 24/7, even in our sleep and the truth is that state that somehow our western society has encouraged in us is so farrr from reality, so far from what the human condition is all about.
To read the whole interview or listen to it go here to one of my favourite blogs.
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*sigh* yup😒
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Baby back, tender back, take it back. Soft back. Hard back, broken back back where we started back. Black back.
Bent and stretched - 2016
Work in progress.
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Um
©Penabranca
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Beautiful Restored Trulli In Puglia Italy
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this is EVERYTHING. I have been working to embody Ubuntu in my life for over 7 years now, it’s been on and off and it keeps showing up again (give thanks for the reminders). I went through all of what this poem paints and now I am working on healing myself and working on being my own best friend, showing myself compassion because my ability to do any of this stuff for US or for society is not my best right now, it’s not coming from a grounded place of peace, it’s coming from my martyrdom and my PTSD and my dire need to see harmony and peace in the world but it’s not efficient or soul fulfilling. I am working to heal and tap into my soul which is the bottomless well that may fuel activist work in a much more sustainable way. GYC has even taken up Ubuntu in the last 6 months, yes! This was written as if they had us in mind!
Thx Nate Gerber for sharing this with me!
fongtranpoetry:
DON’T BE AN ACTIVIST
Don’t be that dirty A word: Activist
Like a viral disease
It always starts in college
took that sociology or ethnic studies class
joined that outreach recruitment center for
underrepresented youth of color
you wanted to hold it down for the struggle
at the rally for undocumented student rights
and then it happens
you become an activist
the symptoms will kick in fast and heavy
Your parents will tell you to get a real job
Fox news will tell you you’re unpatriotic
Your friends will call you too sensitive
Your family will call you too liberal
Your community will call you too communist
You’ll work at a non-profit organization
cause you said you want to make a difference
cause you certainly aren’t making any money
even though your official job title is just program coordinator
You’re really also the organization’s social media director
youth outreach manager
office technician
staff personnel therapist
grant writer
program assessment evaluator
and in-house cultural competency trainer
You’ll wonder how many top ramen will it take before you give up
on your close to impoverished 50hrs a week
$800 Americorps monthly living stipend
You will buy extra lip balm for all the future ass kissing
you will do to potential grantees and funders
all in the name of community
…and to keep you job
…cause your grant contract ends by the 2017 fiscal cycle
way to stick to the man
You’ll feel guilty for listening main stream hip-hop
and that your favorite song is Tyga’s Rack City
even though that song represents everything that you stand against
misogyny, male patriarchy
the commodification
hypersexualization
and dehumanization of womyn
that beat is still so DAMN good
rack city, rack rack city
I mean Sac City, Sac City…ssstitch
Don’t be an activist because you’ll just be angry
angry because you learned that everything evil in this world is rooted
from colonialism, white patriarchy and capitalism
Paulo Friere called it
when they made the matrix
once become conscious, you can never go back
and with liberation comes burden
that burden sits heavy like asthma
Ignorance must really be bliss
because it’s exhausting
looking through Facebook newsfeed
without saying “gooddammit this shit is fucked up”
without seeing white people throw peace signs and make squinty eyes in pictures with the #asianpose
without having another “conversation” with your
well-intentioned but racist ass friend
who commented on your scholarly post on
“microaggressions in the classrooms”
without seeing another fraternity throw another
cinco de drinko “cross the border” party
without seeing another newscaster blame the victim
and defend the rapist
without another black body being shot
by another gunman named officer
and feeling
like you can never do anything
ironically enough
you try to brush it off
so you can procrastinate on your 8 page sociology paper
on institutionalized racism in the California prison system
It will hurt
it will hurt because
it will come from your own people
they tell you, you too cocky
that you’re an opportunistic
that left South Sacramento for a job at UC Davis
and that you a sell out
and so you buy into their thinking
and they said you were never REALLY down
and so you tell yourself that you were never REALLy down
and they called you out for saying something problematic
so you think of yourself as a problem
you didn’t get enough petition signatures
you didn’t stay long enough at the town hall meetings
you didn’t mentor enough youth
you weren’t there for your community when they needed it most
and so you questions everything that you are
everything that you stand for
you hit this point of confusion
of what it all means
and you succumb to self-doubt
and burn out
you get tired
of being tired
and you tell yourself
“I just want to be normal
just like everyone else”
That heavy anxiety sitting on your shoulders
makes you want to scratch your skin off
but then you realize
normal
normal is that bystrander effect
that MNC chokehold that stops you from raising your voice
and forces you to turn you head away from injustice
and face down at iphones screens
Normal is making it easier for you
to keep up with the Kardashians
than to keep up with the sake of humanity
Normal is that basic shit!
Normal is that stuff that makes people cynical
cause being cynical is always easier than critical
Normal is making society a status quota
number of soldiers pulled out
the dowe jones down
unemployment up
climate change doesn’t exist
Racist republicans still do
and so we confuse normal
for this substance that cynicism made ugly
validation, acceptance, love
and you finally realize that it was never about you
and it wasn’t about them
but it was about everybody
It was about humanness - Ubuntu
a justice that institutions are incapable of achieving
so you’ve been forced to dream
you check your privilege for low paychecks
to implement your social justice
be the monkey wrench in the machine
activism is not a sprint
it is a lifelong marathon
and your most crucial asset in your run
is the not the power in your legs
but the strength of your heart
so you must protect it
You must pace to it to give it resiliency
you will be your biggest critic
but the minute you look far too much
in your own steps
you will lose vision
so you must keep your head upright
never lose sight of your finish line
this world does not need normal
it needs relentless unafraid pursuit of compassion
every action or inaction
disrupts or perpetuates that power of oppression
but you choose
to upset the set up
disrupt the corrupt
stand against the standardization
hunger strike for the hungry
you were meant to be different
you are greater than Normal
you are more than an activist
you are deeply and truly necessary
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Spoke N’ Heard is one of GYC’s member organizations.
Spoke N’ Heard is a grassroots, youth-led collective of artists, entrepreneurs and youth workers, united by our passion for social change and community empowerment, with a focus on the holistic progression of humanity through the arts. The Founder & Director of Spoke N’ Heard, Jordon Veira, started the organization out of a desire to provide youth with a safe space where they can share their stories and experiences through the arts. Our desire is to spread awareness regarding mental wellness stigmatization, as well as to address issues facing marginalized and racialized youth within various communities.
This was their video for their 3rd year anniversary last year - it was a phenomenal event. These guys are so good at tantalizing every one of your senses and offering a variety of entertainment at every corner of the room. Not only is their event planning skills on point, their hosting is well beyond their age, and their humility, spirituality and pure love for the arts tugs at your heart strings.
Make sure to follow them on Twitter, or FB!
p.s. I’m loving how I’m allover this video - but incognito!! The shots with the champagne glasses and hands? Who could that be!?!?! lol
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The Mentorship Program at GYC has developed and grown over the years and we had a really successful round for our official pilot (fall 2014). Here’s our recap!
Thanks to Jason Demata for his contribution into the program, to all the investment of time from the mentors and to the mentees or members of GYC who committed to working on their personal development to change circumstances of our communities in Toronto!
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I’ve had the pleasure of working with Youth Social Infrastructure, aka YSI. An Ontario-wide network of youth organizers and youth serving agencies creating a system/infrastructure to better support young people making change. I’ve learnt many skill sets and perspectives through my involvement with YSI and have had the time to deeply reflect on the conversations we have there about the real elephants in the room regarding youth’s access to resources to make change.
For more info: www.ysicollaborative.org
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YesB.Pcess
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I had the pleasure of facilitating the panel discussion at 416RISE last year for their 2nd year anniversary held at Daniels Spectrum.
It was an epic, beautiful event where the generations of hip hop and art in Toronto came together to display their art.
This year it’s happening again to celebrate their 3rd anniversary!!
For more info: @RISE
Video Credit to: @YYZHilightz
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"Love In the Time of Tear Gas." Picture from Ferguson
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lolol
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