The Intersection of Personal Empowerment and Collective Liberation
True unity or oneness cannot exist without deeply confronting the systems of oppression we live within. These systems have been in place for centuries, making life unbearable—or outright impossible—for certain groups of people. The intersections of privilege and disempowerment, across various identities (see: intersectionality), live in the material reality of our bodies. As a result, these dynamics are always present in group spaces in a palpable way.
We internalize these systems as we navigate them, often without realizing it. We tend to view them as external forces while trying to sustain our own sense of goodness. But until we shine a light inward and start unpacking how patriarchy, white supremacy, colonialism, ableism, and other forms of oppression shape our thought patterns about ourselves and others, we cannot truly move toward safety.
Some questions I grapple with: In what ways am I maintaining my own privilege and that of people who look like me? How am I complicit in disempowering or excluding parts of myself and others that don’t fit the social script I was taught? Can I recognize how the liberation of those I deem “other” is inextricably tied to my own liberation as a human?
Unless we confront ourselves with these kinds of questions, oppressive systems will continue to be like the water we swim in, leaving us unaware that we are, in fact, drowning.
There’s a deep longing in people for unity and oneness, which is entirely understandable. But often, we forget the essential first step: acknowledging the (internalized) systems of oppression and inequality. Until we confront these systems, we cannot genuinely move toward unity, because someone in the space will always feel invisible or unsafe to speak their truth—unacknowledged in their embodied, material reality of how society treats them.
Beyond my academic understanding of these issues, I owe much of my deeper insight to working closely with Sylvie Fröhlicher, a gifted group facilitator, somatic coach and inner peace activist. She’s helped me see that our struggles with disempowerment and how we show up in life must be understood within the larger context of systemic oppression. In short, our empowerment and liberation are not “just” an inside job. Group spaces that hold collective awareness for and consciously choose to prioritize these issues can become profound sites of healing—not only for individuals but for the collective as well.
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