I like what you say about "shifting power" and "centering ... people". We come from different angles but there is so much that resonates. Repentance can mean many things. And you are right it can be a just a doorway into recognition - a truly Christian view (my angle) would be a decentralising of self for the sake of love but even that can backfire into a return to self if that love does not take us to centralising the other.
I read a book by a guy called Timothy Morton called "Humankind" on OOO - "Object Oriented Ontology" (I think!) which, though not restricted to human relations had the same effect on me as your words.
Re "wokeness" - yes I'm familiar with it's origins, how it has been hijacked, used favourably, then disparagingly - I don't like to use the word or at least what it has become - hence the ""! Keep up the good work👍
Is this an exposure of "wokeness"? The public awareness of the others' condition so that it says more about "me" and my perceptiveness than being in anyway creatively changed towards deeper practical compassion? I would say I am guilty of that! I cannot see anyway out of this except by deep and thorough repentance.
Thank you for this reflection. I really appreciate the honesty in your words—and the self-awareness in recognizing how awareness can sometimes become more about self-perception than solidarity.
This line especially stayed with me: “so that it says more about ‘me’ and my perceptiveness than being in any way creatively changed…” That captures so much of what this session is naming. And your question—what now?—is a powerful one. Repentance can be a doorway. But I also wonder, like you: what happens when we move that recognition into relational accountability? Into shifting power, not just perception? Into centering the people whose lives we’ve learned from—not just our realization about them?
Also—since you used the word “wokeness” (and I know you did so with quotes, which I appreciate)—I want to gently name that the term “woke” has a long history in Black liberation movements. It originally meant staying awake to injustice and systemic harm; a recursive awareness. Over time, it’s been distorted, diluted, and weaponized by those who feel threatened by the awareness it represents. I don’t think that’s what you’re doing here at all—but I think it’s important to hold the lineage of the word, even as we critique the commodification of its intent.
I’m grateful you’re here in this space, wrestling with these questions. That wrestling is the work.
I like what you say about "shifting power" and "centering ... people". We come from different angles but there is so much that resonates. Repentance can mean many things. And you are right it can be a just a doorway into recognition - a truly Christian view (my angle) would be a decentralising of self for the sake of love but even that can backfire into a return to self if that love does not take us to centralising the other.
I read a book by a guy called Timothy Morton called "Humankind" on OOO - "Object Oriented Ontology" (I think!) which, though not restricted to human relations had the same effect on me as your words.
Re "wokeness" - yes I'm familiar with it's origins, how it has been hijacked, used favourably, then disparagingly - I don't like to use the word or at least what it has become - hence the ""! Keep up the good work👍
drunk dial @#$%&*
Is this an exposure of "wokeness"? The public awareness of the others' condition so that it says more about "me" and my perceptiveness than being in anyway creatively changed towards deeper practical compassion? I would say I am guilty of that! I cannot see anyway out of this except by deep and thorough repentance.
Thank you for this reflection. I really appreciate the honesty in your words—and the self-awareness in recognizing how awareness can sometimes become more about self-perception than solidarity.
This line especially stayed with me: “so that it says more about ‘me’ and my perceptiveness than being in any way creatively changed…” That captures so much of what this session is naming. And your question—what now?—is a powerful one. Repentance can be a doorway. But I also wonder, like you: what happens when we move that recognition into relational accountability? Into shifting power, not just perception? Into centering the people whose lives we’ve learned from—not just our realization about them?
Also—since you used the word “wokeness” (and I know you did so with quotes, which I appreciate)—I want to gently name that the term “woke” has a long history in Black liberation movements. It originally meant staying awake to injustice and systemic harm; a recursive awareness. Over time, it’s been distorted, diluted, and weaponized by those who feel threatened by the awareness it represents. I don’t think that’s what you’re doing here at all—but I think it’s important to hold the lineage of the word, even as we critique the commodification of its intent.
I’m grateful you’re here in this space, wrestling with these questions. That wrestling is the work.