Greetings!
I hope this finds you well on this side of the equinox – the days lengthening for some and shortening for others in our diverse, sometimes completely opposite worlds.
Speaking of worlds, I hear the question posed in the subject line a fair bit – What world are they living in?! – and it’s often expressed with exasperation (or worse). Yet I love this question because it begets a closer look at what a “world” is, who “they” are, and what “living” means. Seeking to understand always helps.
Even though the question is usually posed without really wanting an answer (presuming “their world” is dumb...), if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that there are a lot of worlds! They’re all amazing to check out. And they are rarely – if ever – dumb.
Curiouser and Curiouser
Case in point: a funny coincidence happened to me the other day. Two friends in different parts of the world sent me links to podcasts. While neither friend is American, both podcasts were by popular American podcasters. Both were hosting guests who are American-trained, practicing physicians with experience treating people with covid-19. And both were referencing some of the same datasets and timeframes. Yet they were reaching different – even diametrically opposed – conclusions.
But I would go out on a precarious little twig here and say they were both telling the truth.
I might not have noticed this interesting other worldliness if I hadn’t received the links at the same time. Somewhat serendipitously, I listened to them both in parallel because of the way my days and devices were arranged. I listened to one on my phone as I tinkered over here, the other on my laptop as I puttered over there, etc., bit by bit until I heard them both in their entirety over the course of a few days.
The tone, branding and style were different. But my sense was that both hosts are equally committed to sharing “The Truth” and generating the best possible outcomes for their listeners. Yet they arrived at opposite “sides” of the narrative! (I put “sides” in quotation marks because I’m beginning to see narratives in spheres, not sided things. More on that in a moment.)
What does this mean? To me it means truth is complex, diverse and often highly contextual. Maybe it means something else to you? Here are the links (Sam Harris, hosting Dr. Eric Topol, and Allison Morrow hosting Dr. Mollie James) in case you want to have a listen. I guarantee at least one of these will make you uncomfortable. But I urge you, if you listen to one, please listen to the other. That is how we may come to see what worlds we’re all living in.
And that’s just a bit of worldliness about our diverse approaches to a virus. Imagine what happens when we step into vastly diverse worlds of everything! With that in mind, I love this piece by Samantha Suppiah, Pluriversality & Regeneration. The videos and text might either feel to you like, “Finally, my people!” or that kooky bar scene in Star Wars (or both, or something else entirely) depending on your world. Regardless of anyone’s feelings, this pluriverse most certainly represents a way wider swath of worlds than the airwaves of the global hegemony suggest.
Meanwhile In My Own Little World...
Here’s a recap of what’s happening in my little corner of the interwebs, as I share what I can about corporate efforts on social and environmental impact while trying to reveal the more beautiful world my heart knows is possible (to borrow from Charles Eisenstein, whose world I dig).
- A few weeks back I mentioned I was being hosted by Eli Ingraham of Women4Solutions to explore the myths and realities of corporate purpose. Two things happened next. First, we talked about purpose. We were gentle but... er... purposeful in our dismembering of some of the jargon that floats out there. Second, there were a few little references to some felt balls. Huh? (See next bullet.)
- How do Dominance and Partnership relate? What about Scarcity and Abundance? I wasn’t sure but I wanted to find out so I made a 2 x 2 matrix which became four round woolen spheres (because it turns out there aren’t really “sides”, as I mentioned above). It defies my ability to use language so instead I offer are a few written words and a wee video.
- Canada marked its first Truth and Reconciliation Day on September 30. As a settler, I felt compelled to highlight parts of the truth that get missed – hindering reconciliation – and to recognize my own role in perpetuating this. You can read Truth Before Reconciliation on the blog. It’s not pretty but it’s truth.
- I have been curating a speaker series about Decolonizing Regenerative Agriculture over the last few months, enabled through collaboration within the Global Regeneration CoLab. These are conversations that are unscripted and unbranded, with farmers who have weathered the travails of colonized, industrial agriculture and still continue to produce food in ways that nurture the land and the community. There is a two-part conversation with Valerie Gabriel, a Mohawk farmer from Kanesatake here and here; and a Portuguese conversation (with English subtitles if you switch them on) with a father and son from a Quilombola community (i.e. descended from African slaves) in Brazil here, as well as a follow up conversation in English here. These are rough-and-tumble videos made public with a little thought-bubble of hope that there may be a way to produce them into something that reaches more people to enable more regenerative practices. For now, feel free to absorb and share. Many who have taken the time to watch have been moved by the different worlds these farmers inhabit.
Much of the above comes in response to provocations and ideas from some of you, and many of you have been part of these live conversations! I love my world(s).
Which reminds me: I signed off my very first newsletter back in December 2016* with the phrase, “Yours in connectedness” and I mean it today more than ever. To paraphrase the amazing Clarissa Pinkola Estes, while we may sometimes feel alone we are now and always will be all one.
Yours in connectedness,
Lorraine
* The book project I referenced back then continues. It’s a bit like a tree, pace-wise.
