Hope or Fear??
Why are we organizing? How do I get other people to believe that working for our community is worth it? How do we decide what our values and strategies in organizing are?
These are all questions that I’m encountering all over the site, in my message box, in the forums, and in my own work in my community. There are volumes of writing and thought over the centuries about these questions that we must struggle with in our community organizing, but there is also a common theme that these questions come back to: why have we decided to care about our community?
Some folks decide to care because they are scared. Because we are losing jobs, and losing relationships, and losing connection with others, and all the while being told that if we don’t defend ourselves and don’t protect our turf and don’t be careful of who we let in, then we will lose. So we start organizing from a place of fear. And the results of fear are all too common to us all: defensiveness, paranoia, reaction, scapegoating, blame, apathy, confusion, criticism, and the list goes on.
Some folks decide to care because they have hope. Hope that their lives and their communities can be different and better and safer. Hope that drives us to look to what can be instead of what is. Hope that calls us to believe that everyone wants to be safe and cared for and loved – not just us. And the results of hope are creativity, vision, innovation, co-operation, grace, and belief in others' motives and actions.
And so many of us want to hope and want to come from a positive place and still find ourselves in a heated, intense moment reacting out of fear. The cards are pretty stacked against us – the messages of fear are everywhere and even on our best days fear can seem like an easier starting place than hope. Our work in organizing our communities must continually call us back to a place where we can meet each other where we are at, support each other in our moments of fear, and remind ourselves that even we can change and be different.
Each of us is working on just this. Every day calling ourselves out on reactions or conversations that are fear-based and asking ourselves instead, “What is it that we really hope for? And how do we get there?” And we need everyone in the FWT community to support us in these questions…to examine our conversations in forums, and our interactions at our local meet-ups, and our planning for our local actions and to ask, “Is this coming from a place of fear or a place of hope?” And how we can do that in tangible and helpful ways is a conversation we can start here…
These are all questions that I’m encountering all over the site, in my message box, in the forums, and in my own work in my community. There are volumes of writing and thought over the centuries about these questions that we must struggle with in our community organizing, but there is also a common theme that these questions come back to: why have we decided to care about our community?
Some folks decide to care because they are scared. Because we are losing jobs, and losing relationships, and losing connection with others, and all the while being told that if we don’t defend ourselves and don’t protect our turf and don’t be careful of who we let in, then we will lose. So we start organizing from a place of fear. And the results of fear are all too common to us all: defensiveness, paranoia, reaction, scapegoating, blame, apathy, confusion, criticism, and the list goes on.
Some folks decide to care because they have hope. Hope that their lives and their communities can be different and better and safer. Hope that drives us to look to what can be instead of what is. Hope that calls us to believe that everyone wants to be safe and cared for and loved – not just us. And the results of hope are creativity, vision, innovation, co-operation, grace, and belief in others' motives and actions.
And so many of us want to hope and want to come from a positive place and still find ourselves in a heated, intense moment reacting out of fear. The cards are pretty stacked against us – the messages of fear are everywhere and even on our best days fear can seem like an easier starting place than hope. Our work in organizing our communities must continually call us back to a place where we can meet each other where we are at, support each other in our moments of fear, and remind ourselves that even we can change and be different.
Each of us is working on just this. Every day calling ourselves out on reactions or conversations that are fear-based and asking ourselves instead, “What is it that we really hope for? And how do we get there?” And we need everyone in the FWT community to support us in these questions…to examine our conversations in forums, and our interactions at our local meet-ups, and our planning for our local actions and to ask, “Is this coming from a place of fear or a place of hope?” And how we can do that in tangible and helpful ways is a conversation we can start here…
Views: 2
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Rant on -
I swear this discussion is about me! I waffle between hope and fear hourly at least. I need constant reminders to stay positive. I have to struggle to stay aware of the issues, then start a brand new struggle to keep in a proactive mindset.
-
Permalink Reply by always73 on -
i'm here out of hope because i'm sick of living in fear and despair.
i know that things will get better. they must get better. and i won't ever stop fighting for that change and that reason. hiding behind fear and saying that's your reason for fighting isn't going get us anywhere. we must all fight for hope and for good because that is love.
-
Permalink Reply by fear-the-undone-08 on -
fear breeds confusion agravation premotes irrational thoughts and fear hides behind the most powerful the one who has the big red button hope powers the hard working man breeds noble causes we need no balnce between good and evil we need only good we need no balnce of fear and hope hope is all we need fear breeds people closing there eyes and following the person who says he can save them (bush) and when people are hopeful and follow a man yet keep their eyes open you have a great thing (obama)
i do not want to say bush is a bad man but he shouldnt have had controll of the u.s and im not saying obama will solve all our problems but i hope that he can but i see his flaws too.
-
Permalink Reply by Traveling Zach on -
“The Higher Dimensions of B’riyah and Yetzirah have a factor of change, but those changes take place outside of time. They are in the Eternal Now, that is, what we think as the future in this world is Now, in the Higher Dimensions; and what we think of as past is also Now. The events of the physical world of the past, present, and future exist in the Higher Dimensions as the Always Now, or Eternal Now.
Understanding this enables you to draw on the Higher Dimensions when you are making a choices for your Life. For instance, when you fear something in your Life you rob yourselves of the energy of the moment of Now in this Dimension, because fear is ALWAYS of the future. Make a list of three things you fear. Look at each item on the list and ask yourself, “Is this going on right now? Is this something of the future?” Every item on your list is most likely something you fear will happen in the future. You are only given energy to live in the moment of Now in this Dimension. When you hold fears and thoughts connected to the emotion of fear there is no energy for it because it is in the future, and the future is not yet here in this Dimension, so there is no energy for it. The only energy you have is in this moment of Now. It is akin to breathing. You cannot breath for next week; you can only breathe for the moment of now, now, and now. Your energy for living, the flow of your Life-Force is the same way. That is the only available energy with which you are holding your fears. That robs you of the energy to live fully in the “moment of now.” Sometimes your fears can be so pervasive that you miss the current moment all together. Holding your fear with the energy of the moment can leave you feeling drained, for it has leaked out trying to hold the future in the now. But you have a choice.
Fear is a natural part of the human experience; so how can you use fear for good in you Life? You can use your fear as a flag reminding you that you have a choice; you can stand in your love or you can stand in your fear. But, ultimately it is your choice. Fear and love are the same continuum; love is at a high vibrational energy and fear is at the other end at a very low vibrational energy. This is why we use the phrase, “frozen in you fear.” Fear stops action. Your choice is what empowers you. Every moment you make a choice of what to use your energy for, thoughts connecting to love or fear. You fear has thoughts attached to them as does your love. Which thoughts will you choose to hold? If you hold your thoughts of love, then you easily return to the moment of now and your fears dissipate. Your energy flows to you moment by moment; you can choose how to use it...”
Rabbi Esther Ben-Toviya
‘Created in the Image of God’
-
Permalink Reply by New American Insurgent on -
Well, I reckon hope motivates me. I hate this thing that people and society have become. The government and people who think they have power try to get us to do things because "something bad" might happen. It's ridiculous. All you need is hope, and nothing bad will happen.
Fear motivates people to do the bare minimum to keep them safe, but hope will motivate them to go beyond what they thought they could.
I'd like to see that one quoted.
-
Permalink Reply by Gu4ch3L0c0 on -
Yeah, I dont even get the point of this post. i guess i'm just not the writers intended audiance. i believe everyone "here" is trying to make change so what does it matter if it came from fear or hope, as long as its for the "better"?
now i recall seth stating that it comes down to a question, "why we decided to care for the community in the first place". well I dont know about how closed minded people are although i do know there are some out there, but the community is in defenition identical with ecosystem excpet for humans, now with that being stated whatever happens in the community although not always directly will have some effect on the world around you(community/ecosytem/ect.) now there are those that can see these negative effects and negative cuases and there are those who cannot.
so if you want someone to get involved there has to be a problem, and problems are bad, not good. so of course there might be fear but i would encourage seth and everyone else who is uncomfortable with the good/evil comparison to use the the word "awarness". once you raise awarness to those who did not know or see. will then begin to react and get involved with the community.
-
Permalink Reply by Milena on -
I'm impressed with everyone's opinions about this. I think that every person is driven by something so it's valuable to take some time through self-reflection to look inside and see what is motivating us. We are all working towards change through community involvement but by finding what is driving us we can use that to generate more energy and power towards what we're working towards.
I think that is valuable to maintain awareness but I believe that our outlooks influence our actions. By keeping up hope, I personally feel that a more positive energy is created through this hope.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- …
- 3
- 4
- 5
- Next ›
Videos
Groups
-
Progressive Veterans
77 members
-
Next Human Evolution
28 members
-
South East Region
39 members
-
Street Fighters of Publi…
8 members
© 2012 Created by Fight With Tools.
