I’m seeing the term “collective liberation” everywhere these days, and understandably so. In the US, we’re witnessing our rapid descent into authoritarianism with the antics of a government that seems hellbent on disregarding and destroying the laws that had governed us since America’s problematic inception.
I myself have been using this term ad nauseam to refer to my “why” for the work I do as an entheogenic medicine and breathwork facilitator. But lately, I’m starting to find “collective liberation” having a semantic satiation effect (“the effect in which a word seems to lose its meaning after it has been repeated many times in rapid succession,” as defined by the American Psychological Association). What the fuck does it even mean anymore??
Of course, we use it to refer to social justice movements that believe ALL of us humans have the right to a self-determined life. We resist against the oppression that revokes that right for marginalized peoples.
Many of us have been using our voices and gifts on behalf of the liberation of the Palestinian people who are being blatantly genocided by Israel as the world watches in horror. We protest and cry out for their liberation, because their liberation is OUR liberation.
But we have to go deeper and look at what causes Israel’s oppression. What causes any ruling body to feel justified in wiping out a people to seize land, seize resources, seize power? Yes, it’s supremacy, but even that has a root as well.
As I reflect on this, I keep coming back to the poisonous fear-based belief inside every human –
I’m not enough.
I don’t have enough.
There is not enough here (for all of us).
Not-enoughness is the true pandemic that is killing all of life on this planet, including us. It is a global health crisis that not only affects humans, but the animals, forests and oceans, the sky, the land, the soil.
Not-enoughness that is at the root of white supremacy, the belief that certain humans are superior to others.
Not-enoughness is at the root of human supremacy, the belief that humans sit OVER all other beings on this planet, including the Earth.
Not-enoughness fuels capitalism, creating competition among humans to grab and amass as much financial resources as possible so that we feel safe and secure in our surplus. We begin to associate our worth and value as a human to our successes in acquisition. We are praised and admired for these successes, rewarded with social currency and power, which further deepens our worthiness dependency on material wealth.
Not-enoughness fuels authoritarianism and fascism, causing leaders to seize power by absolute rule, punishing and ostracizing dissenters who challenge their power. Much like a narcissist with their supply, they cut ties to any ally and isolate the country so that no one can intervene against their power.
So when we talk about collective liberation, when we rally or protest, when we speak out against social injustices, there exists an invitation for all of us to look within ourselves, and recognize our own not-enoughness.
Liberation is a state of being. It’s not a goal to be won outside of us. It’s our relationship to our inherent value and worth as a divine being.
I pray for our collective liberation. I pray that every human being sees themselves as divine, imperfectly perfect, priceless, creative, beautiful, and worthy of a relationship with Source or the Universe, the god force.
We were never deficient.
We were always enough.
The Earth provides all that we need.
So when we embody that belief, there truly is enough here for all of us.
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