cc'ing Jay Golden, in case it's of interest. Jay, this is a discussion from the OGM mailing list, in a thread where we're discussing how to help the people in the world to "get it", about water or food systems or soil health or equity & justice, etc., so that we can be good stewards of the planet and good ancestors for the generations to come.
Rob, Hank, thank you for generative questions and comments (quoted below).
One of the things we've said a number of times in OGM calls is that belonging trumps reason.
People don't come to believe something because they hear a more reasonable, or more urgent, or more truthful narrative; but rather, because they hear a narrative which helps them belong to something bigger than themselves.
Belief is identity. My beliefs are who I am, and which communities I belong to; changing my beliefs means changing who I am, and even more importantly (and more scary) _where I belong.
So, how can we help people feel like they belong to a future in which we have a verdant, alive, co-creative, equitable world, rather than the dry, dusty, hot, lopsided hellhole that too much scale/not enough balance is wreaking?
In closing, a pointer to a short meditative piece by Doug Carmichael, on the OGM Forum:
"Why it is so difficult to persuade people"
Bonus link, Doug's "Gardenworld Politics" draft chapters/
Pete
Rob writes,
What would be a universally compelling narrative? Is one possible? Is diversity part of the narrative? Or, is the narrative obscured by diversity? Is it possible to embody all stories in one story? Is an integrative, guiding mythos already there and we just don’t see it?
Hank writes,
This is a story being told in diverse ways today, but none of the narratives appears to be compelling enough.
This seems to me to be where many of the threads of the OGM conversations converge. From ‘Future of Food’ to ‘Shifting the System’ and more.
OGM Belonging and Big Narrative
From Jay Golden Wed, Jun 16, 2021 at 1101 AM