“You are part of a global healing manifestation process!”

Every morning these words, drawn from spiritual guidance I recently received, greet me on my front door. They encapsulate a growing consciousness within me that for the Earth to heal, I must heal. That justice of any kind—environmental, social, or personal—manifests from the mitigation of violence. They remind me that what our Earth needs is bigger than my accomplishments, my ego, but I must still be an active participant in her stewardship. These words keep me grounded in intuitive wisdom rather than dogmatic truths. These words liberate me.

One year ago, I forayed into the world of Earth-based, feminine spirituality. I joined with a small group of women, motivated by a love of sisterhood and a belief in the sacred, to form a weekly circle. Within this container we held space to more deeply connect with each other and the Earth. What manifested in this space was more powerful than any outcome we could have individually pursued. By simply opening ourselves, an ancient wisdom made itself available to us: we are all fully integrated, whole. Our energy, manifesting into love, anger, joy, and fear, is not self-contained. As such, internal healing cannot be distinguished from external healing.

Powerful changes in my beliefs and actions manifested from these weekly healing rituals. For the past five years I had been working to advance criminal justice policy reforms. Motivated by the deep injustices in our law enforcement and sentencing practices, I was driven to pinpoint and address the sources of these problems. However, it was not until I had tapped into the intuitive wisdom of connection that I recognized a fundamental issue with this approach to reform: I had adopted a framework for change that I was apart from. I was identifying the people inflicting and incurring injustices, but never stopped to ask where I fell within this system of oppression. As such, I had not gone far enough to question the systems that financed and shaped our framing of issues.

As I became more attuned to the holistic nature of our actions and decisions—the simple ways in which we just accept the status quo and as such perpetuate harm for others—my perspective on how to effect change shifted. I began to challenge the idea of unbiased, data-driven social reform and realized that the lines we draw between our ‘professional’ and ‘personal’ lives are largely fallacies. Through the act of recognizing my own embodiment of oppression, I came to appreciate that we advance social change by engaging in reflective action—Paulo Friere’s ‘praxis’ articulated in Pedagogy of the Oppressed. We need to see ourselves in the larger history of society and be open to accepting that although perhaps not intentional, the comforts of our daily lives—including the jobs we have that proclaim to be in the service of reform—often disempower or come at the expense of others. We have a responsibility to name those issues and commit ourselves to resolving them.

Within this new holistic frame, my sense of what drives transformative systems change was radically altered. And so was I. The shift did not come with ease—it took many days of challenging my sense of truth, reconciling new ideas and beliefs with my old way of existing, and healing from the guilt I carried. What carried me through was my connection to a healing process—my sister circle—which helped me understand the meaning of the words “You are part of a global healing manifestation process.” It gave me the courage and strength to resign from my job, which had provided financial security and a sense of personal accomplishment, to pursue a life more integrated with my true sense of place in the world. So long as oppression exists, we all embody it. I believe that this simple, yet radical shift in how we understand our place in the world can change everything.