Place-finding vs. Place-making
In the United States, and across the globe, we exist as social beings navigating through a fractured society. Many of us are aware that a more peaceful, unified, and more universally just—collective life is possible, but the barriers to realizing this potential are numerous, varied, and complex. A powerful truth that is morally, spiritually, and scientifically substantiated is human wholeness. This definitive way of seeing the human species suggests that much of the social conflict that we witness is a deviation from our true nature and that a peaceful coexistence is indelibly linked to realizing—even institutionalizing—our latent wholeness. In the same manner that a seed becomes tree, caterpillar becomes butterfly, and the babe becomes man, we can sense that our collective human journey is leading to an in-gathered global culture colored with peace, prosperity, and a realized promise seeded by the blood of many martyrs.
Achieving acceleration towards the realization of a sustained peace requires wrestling with the ideologies and practices that stand against universal human nobility. These ideologies and practices structure the formation and durability of social divisions such as race, gender, and class. These social divisions seek to marginalize human essences on the basis of their bodies and confine them to arbitrary places. The ideologies and actions that are tied to each form of social division do not proceed in parallel, they are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. Race colors how gendered expressions are read and received, and class shapes not only our notions of which self-presentations are respectable but also which racialized groups can enjoy class-based privileges.
We do not note these things to burden hearts, but to be honest and frank about the challenges ahead. The opportunity before us is to be a little more curious about human potential and what diversity of experience can offer. It is unleashing the power and promise of showing the courage to shift away from templates of marginalization. The return on investing in this form of capacity building will be establishing resource edifying place-finding cultures and moving beyond the resource-draining paradigm. What is possible when we open the door to a dynamic learning process focused on establishing place-finding cultures? How much more is in store for your organization once you embrace the opportunity to learn, pivot, and advance?
