Warning! Article Contains Adult/Sensitive Content!
Spit or Swallow?
We have a saying in our coaching programs that if you can see and speak to the limiting story, then you’re already beyond it. You’re now in a position of choice regarding what to do about it. This keeps the emotional system circle jerk to a minimum and offers those ready for it a chance to light their way out.
In a similar sense, inherent in rape culture conversations is the invitation for a depth of self-awareness and self-dominion, the likes of which this world has never seen large-scale. If we do this, we have an opportunity to not just recreate the world from an enlightened, equitable foundation, but we can also rewrite the history that ceased to be a learning tool long ago and has become a camping-out spot for those too afraid to step into what comes next.
This is an intensely personal decision. For those consciously aware enough, the choice clearly symbolizes one of life or death. For those getting swept up in the surge, it feels like life or death, on both sides. The perpetual victims can’t get out from under it and the perpetual victimizers can’t keep it up. The divide between the cans and the cannots continues to widen and the only question that dictates your personal experience is: do you spit or do you swallow?
When faced with information do you unconsciously consume? Do you internalize it as truth without any mechanism to determine truth for yourself? Before asking if it’s true or if you want it to be true, do you blindly amplify it by posting about it, talking about it, complaining about it? When you read or hear something that supports your bias, do you share it without considering the cost? How much time do you spend contemplating the foreseen and unforeseen consequences? What degree of internal synthesis do you invest before adding your creative power to the situation?
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This piece of the puzzle cannot be overstated in both its importance and its pervasiveness. Culture is only perpetuated by those willing to perpetuate it. Before the power and privilege rants start, if we want to see ourselves out of this, we must be willing to question everything. And, like it or not, women are not and have never been a numerical minority. If we want out from under man-on-top, we probably need to change positions and, ultimately, be willing to apply a tried-and-true principle every two year-old clearly models. If it doesn’t taste good, spit it out.
Rapes of Wrath
Setting the role playing aside and inviting everyone into a self-actualized state, we can begin to discuss the heart of the matter…. (continue reading)
About the Author: Tonya Dawn Recla
