‽istis wonders: taking
the ‘double-knee’… (weekending July 17th 2021)
This week ‽istis wonders about gestures
and whether it might perhaps be time to propose a new one or at least possibly bring new meaning to an old gesture that may just need reclaiming?
So, with personal reflection on a trilogy
of aspects of personality/agency/functioning - affect, cognition and behaviour...
‽ feelings
of guilt by association, identity, reference group - and a power-ful beneficial
legacy; of shame; of complicity[i]; of
contrition; of apology; of penitence…
‽ thoughts
informed by continued increasing awareness[ii]
and considering the influence of (and power behind) received, taught, absorbed,
institutionalised, systemic and systematised and perhaps hegemonic ‘wisdom’, ‘history’
(v histories?), ‘worldview’, morality…
‽ behaviour
when gestures and other related action could perhaps make a
difference
…‽istis suggests for some: ‘taking the double
knee’.
·
Two knees on the ground most definitely not on the neck of another person (although, this week quite
possibly kneeling in Dutch, German, French or Belgium flood water[iii]
or on the partially surveyed grounds of Kamloops Indian Residential School in Canada[iv]
·
Head bowed
·
After the apologies (however long that might take), silence;
without opinion, (especially one masquerading as a universal truth); without
any type of ‘splaining’; without excuse
·
Listening to the sound of new-found other, othered, minoritised or silenced voices speaking of experiences to which they bear
witness over decades and centuries; the sound of current stories; the sound of
fears for the future; the sound of weeping; the sound of resilience and solidarity;
the sound of solutions
·
Hoping
for forgiveness
·
For as long as it takes
Well, that could be a start…?
Leaders of relevant, over-developed/under-developing/developing-at-the-expense-of-others, the imperial and hegemonic nations; representatives of relevant organisations and institutions (temporal and spiritual) - might show the way before ceding power and capital in its many potential forms[v].
In a world where ‘how I live’ seems complexly connected
across space and time to how you and others have died or live right now, then groups
and individuals (the privileged, the beneficiaries, the majoritised, the non-othered) might join in - kneeling alone or together…
And then, from that position of penitence, let the work of reparation and
restoration begin and just perhaps, possibly, maybe the balance could tip more towards a common level…
©
Pistis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to
this week’s theme and past blog
entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily
indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’:
@Pistis_wonders
[i] Hmmm,
is complicity a feeling? For discussion…
[ii] ‘Conscientization’/’waking’
more than ‘woke’ (which perhaps seems to imply ‘job done’ / event more than perhaps
a necessarily on-going processes / destination more than possibly a journey…
[iii] Heavy flooding sinks
Maastricht, The Netherlands 🇳🇱 July 15 2021
overstromingen het water - YouTube
[iv] https://bc.ctvnews.ca/still-65-hectares-to-be-surveyed-at-kamloops-residential-school-before-total-number-of-unmarked-graves-is-known-1.5509999
[v]
See, for example, https://www.forumforthefuture.org/the-five-capitals
