Cultural assumptions

One of the exercises in which we participated at the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium was listing unnamed cultural assumptions.  Here are some that were raised at the conference, mixed in with a few more of my own:

• Bigger and more is better
• Poor and hungry people are lazy
• Survival of the fittest wins; be it at the individual, corporate or national levels
• Jesus looked just like us
• My neighbors aren't interested in _____, therefore I don't talk with them about my areas of concern
• We are privileged in the United States to be "God's chosen people", not like the rest of the world
• We deserve the income we earn and our great abundance; we're entitled
• The more I buy, the more jobs I will create
• Other people will solve our problems
• Technology will solve our problems
• We can think our way out of situations we have acted ourselves into
• Professionals have the wisdom
• Consumer goods at the store reflect the accurate costs of production
• Clean water is an unlimited resource
• One person can't make a difference
• If you bet on the coach roaches everything will be fine
• People in third world nations are worse off than us
• We can have it all
• Grass is best for our yards
• Everything I need I can go and get immediately by car
• It is a "them" and "us" world
• There is scarcity of resources, therefore I can't afford to be generous
• Might makes right
• We deserve the income we earn

What cultural assumptions do you have that might need re-examining?

One disturbing observation was made regarding how residents of the US were once primarily identified as "citizens", but now are more likely to be labeled "consumers".  What a different perspective that puts on our roles.

Commitment card

Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium

Presenter

This past Sunday at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in St. Paul I had the privilege of attending a symposium with an ambitious purpose...Bringing forth an Environmentally sustainable Spiritually fulfilling and Socially just human presence on the planet.  If successful participants would leave in a state of blessed unrest.

Symposium agenda

While a vast amount of information was presented at the conference, the most central point was that we are all "kin" to each other. This includes all the people groups from around the globe, animals, air, plants and water.  It was argued that we are all connected both at both the macro and micro level.  Thomas Berry's book "The Universe Story" was referenced, which suggests that all things evolved from the same source, hence we are all inter-related.  A video with the Buddhist monk, Tich Nhat Hanh, further elaborated this concept, suggesting that none of us can be ourselves alone, rather we are "inter-be" with the air, people, animals and all of creation.

A video, Global Wombat, highlights the world's interconnectedness.

Van Jones, author of "The Green Collar Economy" challenged the notion that more things will fix the huger in the human heart in another video. A number of unexamined assumptions were explored, which I'll address in another blog.

This conference was sponsored by Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light.

Conference participants discussing issues