When our environment feels the most uncertain and vulnerable, humans tend to lean into fear-driven responses. The fight, flight, freeze, or fawn phenomenon causes us to prioritize our survival, even if the threat isn’t to our physical well-being. We fear internal agony and societal rejection just as much as bodily harm.
Because we want to feel secure and included, we often act contrary to our and our community’s self-interest. The societal forces at play encourage us to embrace an illusion of safety and belonging because the desire for those is so strong. This desire can be so potent that it can lead us beyond just voting against our self-interest to pursuing our worst impulses. Impulses that create mass graves and international tribunals.
When we are inundated with fear-based notions and our modern deluge of information, we can fall into apathy or willful ignorance. Apathy breeds inaction at a time we need not just action but sweeping, transformative measures to propel us into the equitable utopia we seek to build.
How do we break the cycle of inaction? We dispel fear and leverage love.
As much as our survival instincts generate an abundance of fear, humans have the capacity for great love: for people, pleasure, and place. This need to give and feel love generates momentum to quell those innate fears. Many choose compassion and empathy toward others, even when they’ve experienced the most pain. Survivors of genocide, for example, use their experience to support others, such as with Maison Shalom in the Great Lakes region of Africa.
With alignment and affirmation, we can show folks a world of respect, dignity, and love. A place of true belonging. The Othering & Belonging Institute defines belonging as “a powerful vision for creating a world where every person is seen, valued, and empowered—a world where each individual’s humanity is recognized and celebrated, and the planet itself included in the circle of human concern.”
When we define our destination, that elusive utopia, with such clarity, such vivacity, there is no fear of the unknown. The future is no longer a mystery but a certainty, and once there, we fully embrace the currents to keep it in motion. We are aligned in thought, and thus aligned in action, as a wise soul, Kendra Graves, from Earthseed Yoga, once prophesied.
But how do we ensure we align with utopia and not some nefarious future masquerading as equitable? We build places and spaces that affirm the worth of every person on this planet. We create structures that truly operate for all, supporting the physiological and safety needs Maslow first alerted us to as the basis for self-actualization.
What would that world look and feel like, one where we are all focused on self-actualization and the peace it brings? How would this look and feel different than a world where too many struggle for food, water, and shelter? We do not have the answers yet, but we know the answers are out there, ready for us to put into action.
