Session 2 Reflection, by Dr. Amber McZeal
Greetings and salutations to all participants in the Sugar & Decoloniality 2.0 Series. It has been a delight to walk with you on this journey, cultivating generative change. In session two, we explored how the imaginal–a world that precedes and gives shape to physical form–may be a fountain of inspiration and resource in efforts to promote health & create well-being in our communities. One core reason for emphasizing the imaginal world signals a common theme expressed among those who accept the charge of social transformation–a sense of overwhelm and helplessness that emerges in attempts to transform a system that is massive. Inspired by the work of adrienne maree brown, among many others, this gathering centered on activating the imaginal within each of us through the exploration of Indigenous myths and engaged art practice.
At the end of session one, we explored the Indigenous concept of Wetiko as an archetype of destructive & exploitative capitalism. Focusing on how this energy manifested through the historical legacy of chattel enslavement and sugar production, we charted a throughline to contemporary sugar industry practices. Wetiko provided another lens through which to engage and interpret the logic & values of capitalism–an economic system that has grossly distorted our relationship to nature and humanity.
As an Indigenous mythos, this soul figure exists in the world of archetypes, symbols and imagination. It operates on the patterning of our mythic mind, which is a way of knowing and being that functions through multiple sensibilities. Mythic sensibility includes engagement with narrative, art, symbol, embodiment, psyche, social, and ecological life. It provides a way to understand and re-interpret life, politics, social cohesion & harmony, economics, and well-being. Where scientific inquiry stagnates or stalls, where we become saturated and disillusioned by soul-less efforts to evoke change, the mythic mind begins. Engagement with myth stimulates an expanded sensorial territory, which includes the body as an intellectual faculty, “intuition, extrasensory perception, humility, and a holistic worldview (Martin, 2012, p. 85).
Many scholars, healers, and activists have taken up the charge of tending the disenchantment of our world—the destruction of the sacred. Disconnection and displacement from relationships with the Earth, land, waters, and food production were all central features of the colonial project. This has produced, over time, a disenchanted, mechanized worldview. To foster a re-enchantment of the world–a return of sacred relating–it is imperative to take seriously what Henry Corbin called the Mundus Imaginalis–the world of soul, the home of the subtle body, the foundation of symbolic meaning, the storehouse of psychic patterns, or the Eye of the Heart. Western culture has renounced this realm, relegating it to the margins. Whereas, many Indigenous cosmologies have retained a functional praxis, acknowledging the interface between this inner landscape and the outer world.
To accompany the journey through Indigenous stories about land, place, and nourishment, we participated in one of the most ancient ancestral technologies–making clay bowls. Across the human family there exists wide recognition of the power and sacredness of soil. From creation myths that source humanity from the dirt itself, to the marriage between soil and fire, our ancestors have understood themselves to be radically entangled with what lay beneath our feet. Understanding our ancestral connections to land and place–the myriad ways they cultivated tools and nourishment to support life–has tremendous implications in tending change today. Their stories hold principles of eco-balance. They carry immense wisdom that may support us as we tend change.
In session three, we’ll gather at the Presidio Tunnel Tops for our Peace Walk where we will have an opportunity to embody these concepts with greater depth, sourcing wisdom and inspiration from nature itself. I look forward to gathering with you again soon!
- The Spell of the Sensuous
- Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown
- “Mundus Imaginalis or the Imaginary and the Imaginal” by Henry Corbin
- “Touching Earth, Finding Spirit: A Passage Into the Symbolic Landscape” by Betsy Perluss
“At the heart of psychologies of liberation is the prophetic vision of individuals living together in a peaceful network of just and joyful communities, where past violence and marginalization can be acknowledged and mourned, where conflict can be experienced and resolved, where the diversity of cultures, species, and habitats is appreciated and protected, and where dialogue and love can flourish” (Watkins & Shulman, 2008, p. 131).
