Walking with Whiteness
Module Six: Unlearning Whiteness, Decolonizing Consciousness
Is it possible for people with European ancestry to unlearn whiteness? What do we mean by “decolonizing consciousness”? What would this look like in relationships and daily life?
This Module introduces the concept of Decolonizing Consciousness as a practice in socially locating ourselves through our lineages and our lands of origin as a way to step outside of historical amnesia.
Vocabulary:
Decolonizing Consciousness
Episteme
Epistemic Friction
Ideology
Worldview
Somatic Practices Recordings:
Tonglen Meditation Practice
Healing Whiteness Tuning Session
Concepts:
Decolonizing Consciousness: The unlearning of Western ideology as superior and universal, and unlearning the social hierarchies between social groups that were created in an effort to create divide and conquer strategies to govern and manage the populace.
Episteme: A way of understanding the world, a way of knowing
Epistemic Friction: Epistemic Friction is a term coined by José Medina that refers to the places in which differing epistemes, or ways of understanding the world, overlap, collide, and rub against each other. Our cultural episteme refers to a particular way in which we come to understand and interface with the world. Our worldview shapes our ethics, morals, belief systems, behaviors, actions, and how we interact with other.
Depending on our relationship with conflict and navigating social differences, epistemic friction can be perceived as “bad,” orthe discomfort can lead to a further learning of one’s own worldview and another’s. Epistemic friction has the potential to transform our consciousness if we allow it to, and to enter into deeper relationships with each other as we allow ourselves to more clearly see each other without needing each other to think or be the same.
As we bring instances of epistemic friction into productive dialogue, we further collective consciousness and allow ourselves to be seen, undone, witnessed, and held by each other.
Ideology: A set or system of beliefs and principles which create a basis for an individual’s or culture’s value system, behaviors, and mode of being
Worldview: A particular way in which we come to understand and interface with the world. Our worldview shapes our ethics, morals, belief systems, behaviors, actions, and how we interact with other.
Practices:
Tonglen is a Tibetan word that translates as “giving and receiving.” This Buddhist practice is an invitation to expand our heart, remove any lingering Heart Shields, offer other people energetic support for their pain and suffering, and deepen our capacity to love.
For the first round, imagine yourself sitting across from someone you care deeply about who is going through a hard time. Try on their situation as if it is your own. Do not turn away from their pain. Lean into it. Really try it on. On your inhale, imagine sucking in all of their pain and suffering from their field, like a dark cloud or low vibrational energy, and willingly take it into your lungs and heart, as if it is your own, because it is. On your exhale, send out love, serenity, peace, ease, joy to the person in front of you.
For the second round, imagine an acquaintance in front of you. Someone who is farther away from you and whom you feel neutral about. Repeat the practice as above.
For the third round, imagine a Master Teacher in front of you. Someone for whom it is difficult for you to empathize with. Repeat the practice as above.
For the fourth round, imagine a perceived enemy or someone who you find yourself having hatred, or other strong emotions for. This could be someone in your personal life, or a figure on the public stage. Repeat the practice as above.
For the fifth round, bring up a current event or social situation on the collective level that is in need of healing. Bring it up in your field and try on the pain and suffering for the collective. Repeat the practice as above.
For the sixth round, bring up a younger self whom you have a hard time forgiving. Imagine them sitting in front of you and taking on their pain and suffering as if they are a 3rd party. Repeat the practice as above.
Journaling Self-Reflection Prompts:
Using an intersectional lens, take some time to journal about what you know about your ancestral lineage and the social identities you occupy:
What is your ancestral inheritance?
What do you know about your family? What aspects of your family history were/are discussed? What aspects of your family history were/are unspoken?
What gaps are there in what you know about your family history? Who can you connect with to learn more about your family history?
What known traumas or pain bodies do you know are carried in your family line?
What stereotypes, biases, microaggressions, and prejudice have you witnessed being expressed by your family? Where do you think these limiting worldviews stem from?
What collective history does this ancestry carry?
In what situations has this ancestry perpetrated harm against other social groups? Which social groups? If you don’t know, do some research.
In what situations has this ancestry been harmed by other social groups? Which social groups? If you don’t know, do some research.
What are you interested in learning more about in relation to your family history?
What are you scared of learning more about in relation to your family history?
In truth, these “pain bodies” are just fragmented parts that we have banished outside of our I-concept, and labeled “bad.” In regards to our inherited and collective pain bodies, these can be parts of us that we do not even realize are there until they are activated, or feel so out of character for us that we struggle to make sense of them with our rational, conscious mind. That’s because they simply live within us as vibrations in our bodies.
When we begin to get beneath the behaviors and patterns, we can begin to befriend these pain bodies and send them compassion. Once you have identified some of your more notorious pain bodies, consider asking them some questions:
What is it that you are trying to protect me from?
What is it that you need to feel safe right now?
See if you can add some levity to your pain bodies. Consider giving them a name, or a personality. This can help to make them more identifiable and manageable.
As they arise, see if you can check in with yourself and ask, “is it true that I am unsafe right now?” If the answer is that you are safe, kindly thank them for trying to keep you safe, and then remind them that you are now in a place to consciously navigate the situation from a place of love.
Journaling on Module Three Material:
Read Lyla June’s “Reclaiming Our Indigenous European Roots” and listen to her “Healing Our Indigenous European Ancestors” podcast:
• What do you think of her ideas on the need to witness and hold space for European ancestors who also experienced trauma?
• What role does the land seem to play in connecting with our lineage? How do we differentiate the land from what happened on it?
• What questions/thoughts/concerns do you have about the ideas she puts forth?
Watch TheBurningTimesand read Rae Carter’s “How the Burning Times of Witches Influences White Women Culture Today”:
• How does these pieces ground Lyla June’s points into a specific cultural context?
• According to Carter, how does this cultural trauma come to lead to a continued policing and distrust between white women?
• How can we come to see whiteness as a reactionary cultural logic and posture based in an unwillingness to witness and heal past oppression?
Read the excerpts from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrassand excerpts from Susan Raffos’ Liberatedtothe Bone :
• How do Kimmerer and Raffo highlight places of epistemic friction in her work around Western and Indigenous epistemes?
• How can Kimmerer’s and Raffo’s reflections serve as an invitation to decolonize consciousness?
• How do Kimmerer’s and Raffo’s relationship with the land and plant relatives highlight what is lost when we lose our relationship with our land and our lineage’s cultural practices of connecting with it?