Why Affirmation of Identities?

When we look towards emergence in social processes as opposed to looking at how to garner more power or status from the social structures and customs already in place, we are looking in a fundamentally new way. Rather than looking at a zero-sum equation (as if there is only so much affluence, power, status, whatever), we end up looking to create. One difficulty, though, is that many of us feel that desire to create without having a clear idea of what we want to collaborate on creating. This is where affirming identities can be applicable.

Essentially, we are asking the question: where is opportunity? Or, "If Opportunity is always knocking, what is possible now?" In the same way that it is somewhat true that all politics are local, all actionable opportunity is local, present, immediate. In order to seize the day, this day, this moment, we need to see the opportunity that is offered here and now. With limited vision, the easiest and surest way to do that is to garner some degree of power or status as historically (already) recognized. This is a process of painting oneself into a corner, though. Eventually, we will bump into everyone else who is painting THEMSELVES into the same corner!

Conflict only makes the limitations obvious and unavoidable--it doesn't suggest progress. What's more, the conflict is only an outcome of limited vision--not so much an inevitable consequence of human nature. When we have enough to space to grow into, most of us are more interested in growth, play, and creative exchange more than limited and limiting positions (corners). It's a high enough percentage that, once we realize what is genuinely inherent in human nature and how to recognize opportunity, there are easily enough of us to contain the psychopaths that will still be attempting conquest of various corners of the world.

In order to suggest or prompt for progress rather than ignoring conflict, winning conflict, or despising conflict, we have to train ourselves to see and utilize opportunity. Now, the physical world (ecology, pollution, economics, etc.) is too complex for me to actually control or even understand fully. But there are certain trends in psychological motivations that are based on universal brain potentials and genetic programming which coordinate our actions whether we recognize the coordination or not. An unintentional experience of these motivations will as likely lead us into competing for corners as to progress and a utilization of opportunities.

Because the world is so complex and society is so mobile, it is hard to plan explicit and concrete progress on a large scale. That's okay--human planning has always fallen far short of the mark set by those who believe in planning. And when it does, and it usually does, we rely on our resilience. If we know ahead of time that our planning is likely to come up short, it doesn't mean we shouldn't plan. It simply means that we should begin to emphasize our resilience. Focusing on resilience--as opposed to only looking at threat and security--not only teaches us about resilience but also puts us in a frame of mind that encourages creativity and action in the face of threat. Emphasizing threat and pumping people for fear, on the other hand, encourages reliance on authority, learned helplessness, and "groupthink".

From an Understanding-level interpretation of the world, we can do our power analyses, risk analyses, etc. and try to problem-solve. But unequal power structures and risk will not go away. In order to take the next step towards flexibility and agency, we need to look at how to move beyond seeing the world in terms of competitive structures/positions and problems to be solved. How? This is simple. We need to encourage intentional experience of the things that drive us. What's more, rather than seeing those things, those drives, as problems, we need to find ways to see our basic and universal drives as potentially valuable. (I say "potentially" because I am a realist; the same drives, taken in a close-minded way, also move us towards fighting in various corners.)

How do we find these seemingly elusive opportunities, these perspectives on potential value? Simple. We look at which "selves" or what qualities others are trying to feel by what they do. We are all almost always trying for something better. We almost always interpret other people's behavior as selfish or incomplete in some way. And that combination allows us to see our own aspiration in comparison to other people's limitations. Psychologically, this puts us in the one-up position, gives us comparative status or moral power in our own minds. Other people are doing the same, and in the real world, our competing visions (when I believe I'm one-up while you believe you're one-up) lead us to conflict. What we can do instead of painting ourselves into that contested and shrinking corner is to start to see our interpretation of ourselves-as-good as a bad thing. This goes into all the humans-are-corrupt, ego-is-evil interpretations. Those interpretations also set up a shrinking corner where people compete to be seen as less-selfish rather than as good or worthy. Bleh, I say, bleh.

Another option is to start to see other people's motivations as affirming in some way, just as I experience most of my motivations to be affirming. This sets up an expanding space and an expansive mindset. What we look to do with this mindset, then, is to separate the limiting aspects of behavior from the positive aspects of motivation. In other words, we combine realism and affirmation while diminishing the assumption that being in a separating/separated one-up position (shrinking corner) is so ideal. I do the same thing for myself as for you. I look at what I'm doing, what positive aspect or self this behavior is intended to affirm, and I check whether or not it is actually supporting a playful self, able self, good and right self, a mature self, a true self, a beatific self, or a fruition self.

Part of what this method assumes is that I am willing to be "right" enough in my thinking and interactions to actually question myself. Usually, when other people question us in ways we don't want, we take it as judgment and threat of our precious corner. We feel cornered. That's a pretty consistent sign. If I feel cornered, I've probably painted myself a good ways towards a corner. In such a situation, someone else competing for that corner or pointing out how I'm limiting myself is secondary to whether or not I am actually painting myself into a corner. If I can't question myself, I have already cornered myself, put my spirit in a stranglehold. If that's what I'm doing, it makes little difference--although it can be distracting--if someone else comes along and tries to choke me!

We are all looking to experience ourselves as open, clear, and free. That is truly who we are and we fight against untrue expressions of who we are. But to actually grow into that freedom--the actual, real-world truth of that freedom--we must know ourselves as creative, able, good, and mature. As Shams of Tabriz said, "All lights are friends to each other." My true self is open to your true self. When I feel closed-off, that is not my light, not my true self. When that is how I am being, I have work to do. My opportunity, at that point, is to take responsibility for how I am feeling and what I am doing. Putting in the necessary work, at that point, is the genuine authentic expression that I want to be and express who I really am. I affirm my light.

Hasrat Inayat Khan said, "Everything in this world which seems to lack harmony is in reality the limitation of man's own vision." If we want to live the beatitude in that statement, we must be true to ourselves, true to each other, true to our world. To find the beatitude in that statement or this world, we must find how it is true.