Autonomy

How can we foster self-determination, responsibility and compassion?

How do you contribute?

Why am I here?

Imagine a life well lived - waking up everyday and deciding what you want to do, and how you will do it. What would autonomous, self-determined success on a finite planet look like?

"The dominant culture of the world teaches us that The Other is a threat, that our fellow human beings are a danger. We will all continue to be exiles in one form or another as long as we continue to accept the paradigm that the world is a racetrack or a battlefield." - Eduardo Galleano

"There can be only one." -  Highlander, the movie

Back to Keys

Challenge the Competitors

The Competitors attempt to sacrifice self, but compete, to gain love, respect or stifle their fears…

Can we compete our way to a diverse and inclusive society that doesn’t eat its weakest members? Why is this competition narrative so sticky, so convincing? On the other end of the competition spectrum, sacrifice performs the moral high ground act of bending both the ‘good’ value of giving and helping to the underlying power of controlling the means and forms of giving. Who decides who gives and gets what? We see the Donor, similar to the Injured or the Scarecrow of other gangs, as an immensely powerful influencer of our motivations.

We have become experts at neo-liberal practice, yet we use imaginative language to achieve much of anything. Let’s bring our philosopher-poets out of retirement, strip the commercial gloss from our paintings, take the defensive architectures out of our sculptures, and review the pseudo-inclusiveness in our community engagement. And have the courage to fail gloriously.

Questions

How can we question how we contribute and participate, without succumbing to the defensive resistance these questions may bring up?

How can we talk about privilege, without blame and instilling resentments?