What’s happening in the world today?

I am going to do a bit of a deep dive on this question, as I typically do. To begin, I need to jump back in time to reference the Inter caetera (1493). I know we are all tired of hearing about colonization and decolonizing; don’t worry, this is not diving into that or my own history.

This is not my focus. I want to open this up for a different reason. When I read the Inter caetera (1493), what stood out to me was the reasoning behind giving folks power and authority over populations of people. One of the things referenced was reputation: “illustrious deeds already known to almost the whole world,” referring to, among other things, the conquest of Granada.

I don’t want to spend too much time on this document. While I feel that some of the reasoning within it sits at the foundation of problems we are still experiencing with elected leadership today, its influence can also be traced through legal doctrines that continue to shape Canadian law, particularly around Crown sovereignty and Indigenous lands. But that history isn’t where I want to focus.

So what’s my problem?

I have been exposed to and witnessed many folks around me expressing frustration with leadership and the choices “our leaders” are making. This is in regard to protecting wealth for a small minority of people, as well as the destruction of the natural world around us, and justifying it by throwing the word economy behind poisoned waters, cut trees, and damaged landscapes.

When I see the outrage, I feel the current too. I think I have just learned to watch it move over longer stretches of time, rather than only in the moments when something brings it rushing to the surface.

So, returning to the document, what stood out to me was this relationship between reputation, conquest, and the granting of further authority: “illustrious deeds already known to almost the whole world,” with the conquest of Granada held up as evidence of those deeds.

To me, it feels like we are still in a very similar place. We are choosing leaders based on their ability to affect large populations and their proven track records of economic conquest. Then some of us get outraged at the fact that they behave in ways that produce results for those who already hold so much wealth and power.

I think an important question here is: can someone say the right things, in the right ways, to get themselves into a place of influence, and then actually behave in ways that begin to prioritize the needs of our people and planet, even when doing so might threaten the past conquests and gains of the minority who currently hold so much of the power and influence?

A tangent thought here is: what is the experience of inrage?

Inraged (adj.) — The experience of turning outrage inward; recognizing yourself within the systems, behaviours, or conditions you are angry about, and allowing that recognition to provoke honest self-examination rather than directing blame only outward.

What if we got inraged at ourselves for the ways in which we not only participate but, in small ways, wish we could get to a place where we can enjoy the fruits of this system? Not assuming this is everyone.

To be even bolder, I am wondering: in what ways am I working so hard to try to carve out a sense of “economic security,” positions of authority, places of influence, and what is the cost of this?

I am preparing myself and sitting in the discomfort of these questions. The chase for fame is built into the system at its core, and it’s got a hold on me and us.

This is a very complicated situation, and simultaneously, we—and I—have had many amazing teachers in the world who walk the path of true change. I don’t claim to be one of these people, as I am wrestling with my own entanglements with these powerful and insidious forces. But what I can say is that I am not the type to pretend I can’t see a problem and then not see myself in it (as best I can!).

In closing, I want to say it could be possible to gain fame and do something with it to create change.

 In tension with: who of us gets to decide what’s right and how to move?

Maybe it should be those who have lived long lives and witnessed change over generations and are not easily pulled into the dumb immediacy of the political and media landscape.

Elders…