What a fantastically foggy February morning in Florida! When I lived in Chicago, I dreaded February with its bitter cold and gray skies. But February in Florida is a wondrous thing: comfortable temperatures, foggy mornings, sunny afternoons, an abundance of birdsong, and a season for planting blooming flowers. Midwinter in Florida seems like a perfect time to ground oneself in gratitude for the gifts of nature and to contemplate the ways we can give back, because the world seems to really need some love and care right now. Grounding ourselves in gratitude can help us to refresh and restart and shift ourselves into new ways of being. Change will start with those of us who are aware and alive enough to know how deeply it is needed. It will necessarily have to come from a place that is rooted in gratitude and love.
And so, I want to share with you some suggestions for change. We, as a church, subscribe to The Soul Matters Sharing Circle, an independent Unitarian Universalist LLC. This is where our worship and programming themes come from (as subscribers, we get to “vote” and give suggestions for the themes). Then, each month, we receive resources for Worship, Creativity Matters, Religious Education, etc. that support these themes. This month’s packet on The Practice of Inclusion is full of engaging quotes, ideas, and links to videos and podcasts. I would be remiss not to share them with you.
To start us off in this fabulous month of February, I offer you this TED Talk. Before you begin, think about the ways that you normally converse with people who present you with very challenging and untruthful, even quite silly ideas. After you watch it, think about one thing you can do to change your reaction/response so that you may begin to make even just a little bit of change in the lives of others and thus the world.
On How We Create Conspiracy Theorists by Excluding Them TED Talk – Birds Aren’t Real?
How a Conspiracy Takes Flight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VEkzweBJPM
“What if by talking to conspiracy theorists like they’re ignorant and stupid, we’re actually pushing them farther away from the truth that we want them to see? Because what happens when someone tells you that you’re stupid, you’re all wrong, you’re the problem? You’ll feel judged and dismissed. And most importantly, you’ll feel othered, which may lead you to look for safety in those who are like-minded… We have to consider that conspiracy theorists are not just joining these groups for no reason. They’re getting rewards: things that we are all looking for, a sense of purpose, community… What if by addressing belief before belonging, we’re starting the conversation at the wrong place? Instead of sitting in collective bewilderment and frustration about how these people could believe these things, these crazies, what if we first looked under the hood and thought about what made them vulnerable to this (mis)information in the first place? What might they be getting out of this that they’re not getting in their everyday lives? How much does it have to do with a different truth, or how much does it have to do with the community that that truth brings? …Let’s direct our energy toward the crisis of belonging…”