Meeting Disempowerment

Creating an empowering, participatory democracy would perhaps be easy—if it weren't for our disempowerment. So what is disempowerment, and how to resolve it?

Disempowerment, in the context of the democratic system we've inherited, exists with our exclusion from political decision-making. We are not empowered to directly participate in decision-making and, unless we strive to enter the arena and play the game ourselves—by becoming empowered through a system that functions by the disempowerment of the vast majority—our role is to vote, occasionally.

Why must decision-making power reside with so few people?

The oppositional system of government we have feeds an antagonistic and combative political culture that conditions our view of human nature and informs our beliefs regarding our assumed inability to live co-operatively, with mutual caring, kindness and ease. The corporate news and entertainment media regularly present a pessimistic view of human relationship, along with apparent evidence of our incapacity to govern ourselves—but not overtly presented so. When we believe that we benefit by the current political system, self-interest entices us to promote perspectives and beliefs which support current political and economic understanding.

Over time, culture and family condition us to non-involvement in important decision-making, and our willingness to participate often diminishes into disinterest, apathy and carelessness. Divided against one another, in competition to get needs met, and engulfed by self-interest in an economic climate of scarcity and fear, we struggle with our sense of self-worth and agonize quietly over whether we deserve to belong to something greater.

Disempowerment, then, is both the psychological outcome of the current political system, and the necessary condition for our continued exclusion from democratic institutions. Feelings of shame, depression, fear and anger are held down by beliefs about our inherent badness or our unworthiness to belong, and this has an enormous influence on how we engage, and disengage, with others. (For more on the dynamics between shame and self-worth, see the very inspiring work of Brené Brown: www.brenebrown.com.) But we hardly know this directly because the culture provides so much to distract us from simply experiencing how we feel, and from discovering the truth of our unmet needs.

With disempowerment, our challenge involves trusting our need to connect with feelings that we've come to believe are not okay to meet. Rather than meet all feeling, we habitually make judgments based on what we think is good or bad, or who we think is right or wrong, and the more oppressed we are, the more toxic our judgments tend to be.

Allowing ourselves to experience all of what we feel awakens our capacity to connect fully with life and resolve disempowerment. But this is neither easy nor comfortable for us, which is why we so readily go for diversions to throw attention into. We end up ignoring pain, pretending it isn't there, and who benefits from this? No one, really.

Maybe the degree to which we think that creating real democracy is challenging, we find actually embracing disempowerment difficult?

Disempowerment is not a solid, imprisoning structure, but rather a fluid state subject to change. And because it is a learned condition, it can be unlearned. This involves awakening from the sleep of self-interest and stepping away from disempowering perspectives that lead us collectively into imbalance, harm and suffering, rather than towards well-being, abundance and happiness.

Meeting disempowerment allows us to contact the oppressed life energy within us, shut down under layers of judgment and false belief, and bring on a rebirth of willingness to enrich the lives of others and create the kind of world we want to see. We long for meaningful connection: to belong with all humanity, protecting and creating this world, a beautiful place. And many hands make light work.

But discovering the desire to create a genuine democracy depends on our willingness to meet disempowerment, and the more we connect with that desire within us, and with each other, the less there is for us individually to do.

Empowerment is a road to healing and renewal, on all levels.