Emotional Responses to Scale
“When the scale of a problem is so large, it feels too monumental to address.”
When we take a broad look at any social justice movement, it can seem intimidating; after all, any given social justice has so many causes, and all of them are so high-level - how do we even know where to start?
Balm of Mystery
Emotional responses to considerations of scale are (at least partially) fed by our belief that the scale of the problem is fixed - at the individual, community, and systemic-levels of social justice work, we operate within the understanding that the “actual” scale of the problem is far greater than us, and will continue to be so.
While this can be a helpful perspective in identifying the scope of the problem, when it comes to actually doing the work, our certainty that the scale of the problem is “bigger than us” interferes with our ability to take meaningful action; after all, how can we fight against something we know is bigger and stronger than us?
As a way to move through these types of emotional responses, I offer the correction that we can never be certain about the “scale” (or any other unit!) of an issue, and instead, should lean into the mystery at the center of life. This requires shifting our perspective, and leaning into the teachings of others who have embraced the mysterious qualities of life.
Balm of Fractals
First, what is a fractal? In her book Emergent Strategy, Adrienne Marie Brown defines fractals as “infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales.”
Fractals are a pattern inherent in our world; found in things like broccoli and ferns, or riverways, or even our life-giving veins, fractals remind us that the patterns written into the code of the Universe are reflected back to us all the time in our lives. This concept even applies to less “tangible” things in our world - Adrienne Marie Brown’s framework of fractals allows us to imagine social justice movements as a series of patterns, or fractals, multiple “scales” of praxis working in parallel and reflecting the same energy and goals.
When we consider emotional responses to scale, we can counter anxiety that the “problem is too large” by remembering that, at any scale, we are part of the pattern; therefore, we inherently have the agency to make change from any scale.
So the next time you feel blocked by considerations of the scale of your social justice work, consider the pattern - where do you fit in?
Balm of “Address What You Can”
Emotional responses to scale often come from a place of “not being able to do enough” relative to the “size” or scale of the problem. We also compound this problem by insisting that our work falls along a binary of either “Helpful because the effort matches the scale of the problem” or “Useless because the effort doesn’t match the scale of the problem.”
Instead of forcing ourselves into that binary, we can remember the Balm of Fractals and situate our work as one component of the spectrum of “usefulness.” This opens us to new ways of understanding our social justice engagement and invites us to “address what you can.” Within this framework, we are called to turn our attention to the concrete issues in front of us, using that narrow focus frame as a jumping-off point for our work!
So the next time you feel blocked by the scale of a problem, ask yourself - is there something I can do right now, even something small, that would help to address this problem?
Reflect on
Scale…
What do you find “mysterious” about your own justice work? Can you think of ways to connect to that sense of mystery?
Where do you see examples of fractals in your own life? Can you identify patterns that may be relevant to your social justice work?
Try to identify three aspects of your social justice issue that are “within your control.” What could you contribute to the solution?