Emotional Responses to Power
“I don’t have the power to make change as an individual.”
The sheer scope of the forces we have to combat in the fight for justice can create anxieties around power, particularly around the power of an individual. After all, when we look at all the structures of oppression that feed into issues of social injustice, an individual’s power seems microscopic compared to that of the systems we’re up against, leaving us asking ourselves, “How could I do anything to make a difference?”
Balm of Co-Creation
This balm begins with an affirmation that the anxiety of individual powerlessness is valid. These emotional responses are a function of fighting against powerful, well-resourced, and entrenched oppressive systems - in fact, I would be lying if I said I didn’t experience those feelings of powerlessness myself. To address this specific anxiety, I would like to offer an additional framework that may open new doors into understanding individual power and agency in our world.
As a source of individual agency, we can turn to Gary Kowalski’s search for a definition of “God.” Within his work, Kowalski outlines his understanding of the universe as “an ensemble of interrelated and dynamic happenings” which are “in constant change and interaction with one another,” a framework grounded in a “process philosophy” approach to the world. Building on this framework, Kowalski also notes beings’ explicit role in this process as agents of change: “every organism exists within a network of relationships…that enable it to live and which it in turn touches and transforms.” Such a framework reminds us of the dimension of relatedness, but also invites us to think of the individual as an active agent in this process; in other words, we don’t have to let go of the idea of individual power, but rather change our understanding of how our individual agency is leveraged to make change from within that interrelated dimension.
Returning to the discussion of justice work, then, this framework of co-creation helps us better understand the role of individual power within the justice movement. This perspective invites us to think of individual and collective power as complementary and related, and reduces the pressure on individuals to have “enough” power - but also affirms and underscores the potential for individual agency to make change.
Balm of Relatedness
This balm is grounded in the concept of “relatedness” developed by Ivone Gebara and Marilú Rojas Salazar. Gebara expands her framework of liberation to draw connections between all beings, and Salazar builds on this framework to advise us on working for liberation. These concepts together will help us move away from an individualistic perspective to center the “whole” of life in our social justice work.
Gebara’s framework of relatedness is grounded in the concept of interdependence between all beings. She develops this concept in opposition to the idea of “in-groups” and “out-groups,” writing that “The recent discovery of the interdependent linkages among all things invites us to reflect on and articulate the notion of person in a different way. We wish to overcome exclusivist dualisms, not only on the theological level, but also in our social, economic, political, and cultural relationships.” In thinking about beings, then, we cannot fundamentally draw lines between “belonging” and “not-belonging;” instead, we must accept that “relatedness is the primary reality: it is constitutive of all beings.” This is equally true for “humans” as any other being, and Gebara reminds us that the definition of “person” first affirms the “collective existence” of life, the primary facet of which is “relatedness.”
Returning to consideration of social justice movements, this perspective reduces the pressure on one individual to “have the power” to make change. In fact, within a framework of relatedness, you’re never actually making change “alone,” but rather as a part of a larger whole! Instead of focusing on an individual’s power, then, we can turn to the collective dimension as a new source of power and support, bolstered by the conditions of relatedness. By accepting this framework, then, we can let go of the fear that we don’t have the power to act alone, and lean into the power that comes from acting together.
Building on this framework of relatedness, Marilú Rojas Salazar also calls us to see interconnection as necessary for liberation. She argues that the condition of relatedness creates connections between the liberation of all beings, writing that “Liberation in this sense leads us to enter the field of “communion.” If the goal is interdependence, then liberation is a process that happens not in isolation but rather in communion with other human beings, the Earth, and space-cosmos.” In this framework, then, we can see that the success of one justice movement is tied to the success of all, and the power to create lasting change comes from within the framework of relatedness.
Bringing the discussion back to the our justice movements, this perspective further reduces the burden on any individual to make change. Indeed, if we follow Salazar’s perspective to its logical conclusion, there’s no way one person can create liberation! Instead, we can return to the framework of relatedness developed by Gebara and accept interrelation as a fact of life, as well as a source of power and collective liberation, and remove the pressure from individualistic power.
Reflect on
Power…
Where do you draw your “power” from? Have you had any experience of collective or interrelational power?
Do your communities have a grounding in collective liberation? Where do you see new opportunities to work with others to deepen your communal connection to justice?
Try to identify three times you’ve “participated in creation” during your life. What did those experiences feel like? From this new perspective, what new insights can you identify regarding your individual power?