It also takes into account findings from neuroscience showing that what children experience or observe shapes the development of our human brains, and hence how adults think, feel, and act - including how we vote. It is multidisciplinary, and includes new subjects like gender studies, making it possible to see connections that have been invisible.
What Partnership is Not
The alternative to "power-over" kinds of relationships is not some sort of homogeneous, wishy-washy world in which no one expresses differences or disagreements, and where everyone is always "nice." In fact, strong, healthy, respectful confrontation between parties is sometimes essential.
Especially in groups - when establishing ground rules regarding the quality of relationships - unless we are clear about the difference between power-over and power-with mindsets, it is all too easy to fall back on struggles for power, even (and perhaps especially) among people who would like to think of themselves as working together in a partnership style. We need a to be aware of what goes into real partnership.
In addition, it is sometimes assumed that partnership stands for cooperation and domination for competition. Not so. Partnership doesn't mean eliminating competition since competition can often be beneficial. And let's remember that domination systems have thrived on cooperation. In a dominator system people cooperate for the purpose of eliminating their adversaries. The Nazis cooperated with great efficiency in achieving their goals.
The Shift - The Great Turning
Before exploring partnership more deeply, let's cut to the chase. Eisler is talking about an immense cultural shift, which will impact every dimension of our lives.
"Power Matters Pt. 1," outlined the dominator system. It is clear that this mode of being is unworkable for many reasons. In "leaving Eden" we had learned to dominate nature and our fellow humans. In time imperial civilizations emerged. Kings and rulers organized great empires under their personal auspices where the wealth created by nature and human labor was squandered on wars and opulent luxuries. Some five thousand years later, the ruthless domination and exploitation of Empire has reached the limits of what Earth's societies and living systems can endure.
Even if the authoritarian way was useful for mobilizing humanity's stunning technological potentials -which are now bringing us to the edge of planetary civilization - the dominator way, with its leveraged capacity for violence has also brought us to the edge of "an eve of destruction."
There us no question that we have created dazzling achievements; but we have also been quite successful in creating an impending, massive eco-crisis. (For more on this, see my piece, "Toward a Mature Global Civilization" on OEN). It is becoming more and more evident that we are already staring into an abyss. Put simply, we are like the sorcerer's apprentice and the old ways of doing things must go -before it's too late (if this is not already the case).
We face an epic choice and for us even to have a chance of accomplishing this prodigious shift, we will need a tremendous outpouring of social creativity.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
