An Emerging Worldview
On worldview(s) and what it takes from each of us to bring a new one into being
We can see more clearly when we tell our stories.
We can see our histories, our lives, our peoples and experiences, and how they are interconnected and influenced by one another.
At Resonance Network, we believe it’s these stories and connections that weave a tapestry. That tapestry illustrates how we see and interpret the world, make meaning of it, and co-create what it will be for our descendants. This tapestry is our participation in a worldview.
We all have a worldview — even if it’s not immediately visible to us. It is the lens through which we see and experience the world. Our worldview shapes how we believe our families, communities, and society should be organized. This includes how people believe and act, what we see as ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ who ‘belongs’ and ‘doesn’t belong,’ how things should ‘work’, what is ‘important’, what has ‘value,’ and on and on.
Our worldview is formed through the interplay of our values, identity, culture, faith, history, and life experiences. It not only shows up in families and communities, but also in our laws, institutions, and cultural norms.
A worldview that we share at Resonance Network — that sees all people and the Earth in an interconnected web of belonging and interdependence — is only one worldview.
There are other worldviews. A dangerous and decaying worldview asserts that those who get to call U.S. land as “ours” are those who are eligible for a U.S. passport or have white skin. Another worldview sees the land as a commodity and nothing more — a place from which to extract resources to build wealth for a few, at the expense of the many and of the Earth herself.
The United States is in the grip of deep polarization. The stark discord in public discourse, the dramatic differences people have been feeling — on everything from immigration, to foreign policy, to policing — are not just about issues, parties, and candidates, but reflections of fundamental differences in worldview.
These worldviews find their origins many generations ago when the idea of “supremacy” or superiority based on race, gender, religion and more became systems of violence and domination. This historical legacy continues to play out today in state violence against Black bodies through policing and prisons, repression of Indigenous nations protecting their lands and water, violence against women and girls, transgender and gender non-confirming folks and myriad other forms of abuse. This violence and threat of violence keeps us disconnected from our humanity and each other.
I would argue that the crises we face today are the result of a dominant, if decaying, worldview — based in white supremacy, patriarchy, and consumerism — that is taking its last stand.
The violence, disconnection, and planetary emergency we face today have illustrated plainly that these systems are not only harmful but unsustainable.
And if they cannot be sustained, and will eventually collapse — are we prepared to build and govern in the systems that will replace them?
Our movements, neighborhoods, families and communities of color are and have been imagining and living other possibilities.
Resonance Network connects thousands of people who are creating the conditions for communities to be just and compassionate. We have found and are finding each other because we share a worldview. We believe our communities are enriched by the full participation of all people, and that when a community practices justice and compassion, we make it possible for every living being to thrive.
Our Resonance Network members are exploring how to both hold our anger and despair at the impacts of these systems of power, while also asking how we can channel our collective energy into building something different in our communities.
Together, rooted in a new worldview, we are asking: What we can do, and how we must be different?
