On worldbuilding
Q&A with Zen teacher and movement strategist, Norma Wong.
Q. Lately, I have been finding myself challenged to know when (and how) to invest my time and energy between worldbuilding — and responding to/resisting the harm of the world we live in today. I believe so much in the possibility of a new world, a world beyond violence. At the same time, the reality of this world continues to weigh so heavily on our families and communities. How do we — individually and collectively — find the discernment between responding to that harm, and building together?
A. The truth is that our communities need all of it — responding to conditions as they arise, and anticipating what communities need while working ahead of the curve, and creating the stories, strategies, projects and infrastructure for the world all of our peoples need, want, and deserve. This is collective work which cannot be sourced and sustained by any individual, organization, or movement.
The truth is that, on balance, most of our efforts have been in response and resistance, in defense and in opposition to. The urgencies of the immediate consume our time and resources. It is also a reflexive response… in a fight, fight back. So — on balance — not enough people are paying attention to anticipating let alone worldbuilding.
What are you called to do? How do you want to spend your time? What do you have the most heart and energy for and brings you the most energy? There is no wrong answer… just choices on what part of the collective effort you will focus on. These are individual choices, and best made aligning gut, heart and mind (in that order). What does your gut intuition tell you about where you would have the most impact? In considering what the work will be like, do you feel happy and positively energized about it — no matter the difficulty? Allow your gut and heart to align first, and then build a rationale and a pathway forward for your decision.
And, on a collective basis, we’d best organize and strategize for the whole spectrum of work, in relationship with other parts of the work and with each other.
Divided, conflict wins. Short-sighted, the status quo wins. Exhausted, our dreams dim. In relationship, stronger than the sum of our parts. The long generational arc is a time of leaping in the direction of wholeness, making more consequential progress than what is possible through incremental change. When we meet the challenges and do so in community while tending to our individual well-being, our hopeful stories will begin to take shape.
