Abundance, Freedom, Equality - Online

 
"The most fundamental question we can ever ask ourselves is whether or not the universe we live in is friendly or hostile."
– Albert Einstein

Abundance emerges from trusting that our needs will be met, even though our minds can not always specifically articulate how.

Freedom can be described as a sense of purpose and clarity that leads to unfettered action, directly born of our core values.

Equality is a state of being where we see the intrinsic value in all, meeting people where they are, welcoming their uniqueness, and supporting their contributions to our community.

These are the ingredients that cultivate cooperative problem solving, mutual understanding, and shared meaning. They summon a world of power-with, of co-creative relationship that fosters peace.

When our experience is one of scarcity rather than abundance, we fear that our needs will not be met. This arouses the urge to control events to meet needs, and we become attached to outcome. We strive to compel and find ourselves in the midst of domination / submission strife.

Strife breeds uncertainty and threatens our sense of safety. We begin to question and second guess our actions, calculating how they may effect the outcomes we are attached to. Thus our actions become inhibited and constrained. Freedom gives way to oppression.

Our natural reaction to oppression is rebellion. We begin to assess who is with us and who is against us. We work to suppress those who we perceive as against us, and injustice emerges.

This tension between abundance and scarcity, freedom and oppression, equality and injustice, is fundamental to the transformation humanity is undergoing. Both visions of the world are on full display, awaiting our choice.

There is the iconic story of the young one who approaches a wise village elder. The youth says "Sometimes I do things that cause harm, and I feel ashamed. Other times I act in ways that provide support, and I feel proud. I strive to control my actions and only do things of which I am proud, but try as I might I still sometimes do things that bring me shame."

The elder looks at the youth and says, "I feel both of those urges in me fighting one another like wild dogs."

Amazed, the youth asks, "Which one wins?"

"Which ever one I feed the most", replies the elder.

Skills like NVC and mindfulness empower us to make deliberate choices, transforming scarcity to abundance, oppression to freedom, and injustice to equality. Come learn how the world of observations, feelings, needs, requests, and empathy feeds and invites a world of love and compassion.