Let’s say you wake up one day and overnight, while you were asleep, the revolution occurred. No one told you it was going to happen. And you didn’t witness it because you were asleep. Before you see it confirmed on the news, what signs would tell you that the world is how you wish it to be?
Let’s suspend disbelief for one moment: the overnight revolution was so thorough, that it fully solved all of society’s problems. Not only had old systems burned, but new systems had been established and the kinks had been worked out all overnight. What would it feel like within your brain and body to live in this better world?
Get as detailed as possible even if it feels unreal or too good to be true (because we know the change we want to see cannot occur in one single night and we also know that our brains and bodies would need ample time to adjust, to form new associations, to experience the creation of this world one decision at a time). But just go ahead and allow yourself to dream and imagine the world as you believe it should be. Without genocide. Without imperialism. Without violent hierarchies of power. Where everyone’s needs are met. Where daily life is structured around the needs of the most vulnerable, those who need the most support, therefore encapsulating most, if not everyone’s needs. Where scarcity no longer exists.
What does it feel like on your bones?
How does this type of world shape your thoughts?
What happens to your relationships, your work, your hobbies, after the revolution?
What is safe now (emotionally, spiritually, logistically, socially)?
Allow yourself to dream even if it feels risky. Even if it feels impossible.
This little avenue of imagination that I hope you spent some time walking with me is my rip off of solution-focussed psychology’s, “Miracle Question.” The Miracle Question is often used by therapists to support clients in naming and shaping their therapeutic goals and it’s very similar to what I asked, except it’s focused on you, the individual, the client, and the things in your life that you’re responsible for. Sure, you can name things like, “the cat doesn’t pee on the carpet,” but a therapist might support you in exploring what you can and cannot change in order to potentially support your cat’s behavioral change and/or your emotional reaction to it.
The Miracle Question is, “Suppose tonight you go to bed and go to sleep as usual. And during the night, a miracle happens. And the problem vanishes. And the issues that concern you are resolved, but you’re still asleep. Therefore, you don’t know that the miracle has happened. When you wake up tomorrow, what will be the first things that will tell you that the miracle has happened? How will you know that the transformation has occurred?” (TBH: here’s the source, but it’s not a source I’m eager to share overall, I just specifically liked the wording of the miracle question).
If you can, take a moment to get a little more detailed about your revolution miracle. If you can, try your best to be mindful of the thoughts, feelings, and sensations you have around this revolutionary dream you’re having. Mindfulness (is a practice stolen from Buddhism) isn’t about making meaning or passing judgment, it’s just about taking in information.
If mindfulness isn’t accessible or feels frustrating or overwhelming right now, note that, too, and carry on.
In my miracle of revolution, I wake up and hit a physical snooze button with a **click on a freestanding radio alarm clock, instead of tapping the screen to stop the pre-programmed sound coming from my phone. My phone isn’t even in my bedroom, and maybe I even have a flip phone…I know these are changes that I can make without waiting for the overhaul of our systems, but it represents the revolution to me because it means that culturally, we’ve reworked our relationship to technology (and that personally, I’ve made small, revolutionarily-aligned changes to my daily life along the way).
Alarm clocks and flip phones might not be part of your revolution, but I don’t think that poses a problem. For me, differences in approach towards the revolution is a big part of how I believe we get to the world in which I awake in my miracle-revolution-scenario and you awake in yours. We get to the world we want to see through many avenues; through the autonomy and wisdom of each individual taking daily steps into this world. These steps will gain momentum, giving folks a glimpse into a better world by how we treat them will create a critical mass, and generate collective action
~ Yes, that last sentence is phrased definitively, but not because I’m 100% convinced this is what will occur, but because I felt an affirmation would be supportive—I am unafraid to hope that this must be true. That is a large part of this miracle question, after all, allowing ourselves to dream and name these changes with a level of certainty and detail we hadn’t previously dared, as if we could reach out and touch the revolution, as if it was so close we could taste it. And the taste was sweet. ~
Most likely sweet after bitterness.
But/and/also, what if I cling so closely to the idea that love, compassion, and kindness is a means to creating a better world, so that others can cling to violence, sacrifice, and strife? Together, I think we hold something close to the material reality of what it will take to build a better world. And I think this perspective supports the type of revolution I believe we’ll see, because it necessitates that we work together, that we share. I don’t need to compete with folks who understand imperialists only care when property is damaged (or other means of violence that I will not name directly). I need to be in community with them and they need to be in community with me. We need to share our efforts. We need to trust each other. And trust that our differing perspectives can be true at the same time—that they need to be true in order to make all of the changes necessary to remove systematic exploitation of each other through violent hierarchies.
I believe holding different visions (with at least compatible values) for the future allows us all to toil towards it. Because the uniqueness of our perspectives on the world and our abilities to enact liberation are our strength. If we were all doing the same revolutionary acts of resistance, we might build a better world more quickly, but by taking our own approaches and trusting each other, I believe that we will more thoroughly revise and rebuild this world.
Because you and I are not competing to be the ones leading the revolution, we have the time, effort, and energy to actively revolutionize our culture, our society, and our politics by the ways in which we engage with each other. By the ways in which we build community with folks who see things ever so differently.
Maybe that’s a white woman’s interpretation of the concept of, “master’s tools,” but I stand by the idea that community, not competition, is more likely to get us to where we both want to go: a world without exploitation. Because the revolution will not simply appear overnight like the miracle question asks, but the revolution is created every single day when we put our values into action. Values that undermine imperialist hierarchies.
