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| The Mystery within... |
Experiencing
discrimination as a woman has led me to seek to understand and appreciate the
many gifts of diversity. So when I encounter others who understand diversity’s’
importance in the natural world, and among us who inhabit it, I get excited and
want to share their wisdom.
Robin Wall
Kimmerer, botanist, Native American and author of “Braiding Sweetgrass,” braids
science, spirit and sacred stories to show us where people, the land, and
everything inhabiting it, can be good medicine for each other. This
symbiotic relationship grows and flourishes from our gratitude for the earth’s
many gifts.
Gratitude
and respect for the earth’s diversity is distinctive of native cultures across
the globe and has become an essential understanding for our future health and continued
existence. Other species can be known as models of ecological and
cultural sustainability demonstrating the power of unity through
diversity. Kimmerer says, “…it’s about listening and translating the
knowledge of other beings.” She knows scientists
would do well to listen to and respect the wisdom of old women who talk to
plants. A line from a native prayer she
shares acknowledges, “Everything we need to live a good life is here on Mother
Earth.” Kimmerer and many others know gratitude begets abundance
and our strength lies in our embrace of diversity. Being thankful for the plant and animal lives
that sustain us, taking care not to waste or over consume, and understanding
our interplay with it all is critical for Mother Earth and us.
Reciprocity
is a word Kimmerer uses throughout “Braiding Sweetgrass.” If we take
care of the earth, the earth will take care of us. We need to give back for what the earth gives
us choosing leaders rooted in service and wisdom; leaders who are willing to
work for common ground and common good, with an ability to ameliorate
differences; leaders who will present us with a Bill of Responsibilities toward
our earth and one another. We need to show up and speak up for Mother
Earth; become co-creators by risking loving the world and one another. Will it be the gift of fear that will eventually awaken our dependence on the earth and one another?
I was
exposed to some good diversity training in my former work life with the USDA
Forest Service as managers worked to comply with the Civil Rights Act of the
1960s. Just as biologic diversity is the hallmark of a healthy ecosystem
and planet, a symbiotic relationship among diverse people can create a vibrant
workforce and a healthy society. As the Forest Service worked to add
and advance minorities and females to its workforce (from which I directly
benefitted), it was also coming to terms with the importance of biologic
diversity in good natural resource management.
Understanding
the value of diversity seems endless. Reading
Susan Cain’s
book, “Quiet—The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking,” I was
fascinated by her report of Harvard Business School’s preference for more
extroverted students. This, along with her citation of management
theorist Jim Collins’ study of the best performing companies of the late 20th
century, more light was shed on the importance of diverse human input.
Cain
wrote, “Collins hadn’t set out to make a point about quiet leadership.
When he started his research, all he wanted to know was what characteristics
made a company outperform its competition. He selected eleven standout
companies to research in depth. Initially he ignored the question of
leadership altogether because he wanted to avoid simplistic answers. But when he
analyzed what the highest-performing companies had in common, the nature of
their CEO’s jumped out at him. All were
unassuming leaders. Those who worked with these leaders tended to describe them
with the following words: quiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious,
mild mannered, self-effacing, understated.” The lesson, says Collins, is
clear. “We don’t need giant personalities to transform companies.
We need leaders who build not their own egos but the institutions they serve.”
Employees
of these unassuming leaders were more often motivated to think for themselves
and offer their thoughts in a more accepting atmosphere. I believe the
dynamic of more thought interactions and contributions, sourced in diversity,
is the foundation for success, not just for a company, but also for its
employees, their country, and all of life. I have to wonder if the
growing divide between the haves and the have-nots in America is exacerbated by
our 21st century discrimination toward introverts? I see, in a new way, how important it is to
respect, revere and promote the gifts of both extroverts and introverts for a
more whole society.
As I read Howard Zinn’s ,“A Peoples History of the United
States 1492 to Present,” I periodically had to put the book aside for awhile to
recover. His brutal detailing of the
horrific cruelty to native people, and later to imported black slaves, was
emotionally draining. Awareness of
America’s shadowy beginnings sheds light on lingering racism and other social
problems. Learning of this deep darkness
can grow empathy and compassion for the wronged so needed now to end assigning
others with inferior status. Understanding our country’s past darkness can grow
us to embrace ethnic diversity and social justice. According to Carl Jung, knowing our own shadow
can be pure gold for enacting positive change.
Native
American wisdom is shared through story in Hyemeyohst Storm’s book “Seven
Arrows” which I read many years ago. I
was fascinated with his telling of the Sioux tribe’s peace shields that depict
an individual’s strength along with one’s weakness for all to see. What a
great ego softener that honesty would be. My shortcomings could elicit
understanding and help from those I encounter throughout my day, and my
strengths would be known for what I could contribute to the whole. Native American wisdom parallels the wisdom
of the Enneagram. Their Medicine Wheel
represents the Universe into which we each enter through a particular direction
as a unique self with gifts to share along with a balancing need to learn from
others’ gifts. Different totem animals
and people come to us throughout our life bringing teachings to grow and
balance us. Storm writes: “The
Medicine Power is within all People, and in all the things of the Universe.”
I understand
spirituality as a profound sense of belonging to the earth and one another and
was grateful to the friend who loaned me a PBS video titled “Beyond Our
Differences” featuring diverse and prominent spiritual leaders from around the
world. Highlights for me from that video
were: roots of good religion are sourced in love, compassion and
tolerance—quests for certainty are dangerous; there are different approaches to
the same goal—to create good human beings; everybody and everything is
forgivable; God is found in the heart and where people come together;
surrendering to anger and hatred is violence against ones self; non-violence
creates spiritual healing; we are to help people understand each other;
authentic spirituality is working with the excluded and abandoned; all is
sacred; inalienable rights belong to everyone and everything; surrendering to
the Mystery will reveal your purpose; it is most important to be brave; a
recipe for peace is for everyone to contribute a small part; when you become
peaceful your life is different; appreciate and celebrate diversity; share each
others gifts.
In 1945, the late priest and paleontologist, Teilhard de
Chardin wrote: “It seems to me that the Russian
prestige is declining and that America holds in its hands the immediate future
of the world as long as America knows how to develop the sense of the earth at
the same time as her sense of liberty.” In 2017, America struggles mightily to embrace
the health and well being of others and our planet.
There are other countries that do a better job of providing
for the health and well being of its citizens and understand the crisis of
global warming to our common home. Some
countries have enviable health care, family care, and better education, and not
surprisingly a correlation to drastically lower incarceration rates than
America. The following quote from Bessel
A. van der Kolk, MD’s book “The Body Keeps the Score” should give us all
pause: “Could this approach to public
health have something to do with the fact that the incarceration rate in Norway
is 71/100,000 in the Netherlands 81/100,000 and the US 781/100,000, while the
crime rate in those countries is much lower than in ours, and the cost of
medical care about half? …The United
States spends $84 billion per year to incarcerate people at approximately
$44,000 per prisoner; the northern European countries a fraction of that
amount. Instead, they invest in helping
parents to raise their children in safe and predictable surroundings. Their academic test scores and crime rates
seem to reflect the success of those investments.” Are lower taxes worth their
cost? Is the height of America’s stock
market the only measure of success for some?
Darkness, mistakes, and trials
really are the supreme teachers. Perhaps it will be the gift of fear that will bring us to acknowledge what our country needs, awakening our dependence on the land and one another.
Linda Sechrist’s article in “natural awakenings” titled, “Heart-Based
Leadership—Women Mobilize to Heal the World, cites Rucha Chitnis’ conclusion
that women’s groups and networks offer a paradigm shift exposing links between
unbridled capitalism, violence, the erosion of human rights and destruction of
the earth. Jean Shinoda Bolen has been
advocating since 2002 for a United Nations Fifth World Conference on Women and
says, “Empowered and equal women are the key to peace and
sustainability. We need to rise up
together and fulfill the Dali Lama’s words at the Vancouver Peace Summit: ‘It will be up to Western women to bring
about peace.’”
I believe the one thing we all have in common is our differences. It is what gives life its color, allows us to learn from one another, and grow from experiences shared. Understanding
and appreciating the depth and gifts of diversity is endless. It would be like knowing the Great Mystery
who created it all.
What if we
shared more often diversity’s many gifts?
