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Guest Blog: WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION OF OUR TIME? from Marcia Lee

Marcia Lee asked this question on Facebook and i really loved the questions that came out. i asked her if we could share the questions further, and she responded not only with the questions organized but this awesome framing:

“We are living in a time where it is essential that we strive to have our values and our actions match. However, fast action without sufficient analysis and reflection will lead to reactions to the immediate rather than long term transformation. We need to move fast slowly.

“One of the ways we move fast slowly is ask carefully crafted questions and allow the answers to be our actions. If we don’t ask the right questions, we will not have the right answers. In the last few years of Grace Lee Bogg’s life, she would often ask people who came to visit her, “What is the most important question of our time?” She would often pair this question with, “What time is it on the clock of the world?” The second question grounds us in our reality and then in discovering the important question for this time, we are able to move more effectively towards the answer.

“In order to help us to find the right question, I asked folks on facebook. 34 people responded and the questions basically came in a few categories. I am sharing a few questions that fit within each category, but if you want all of the questions, post a comment and we can share them with you. In sharing these questions with you, the hope is that you will either dive deeply into one of the questions or develop your own. If you would be willing to share your questions in the comments, I would be so grateful.

“Individual:

how do i keep moving forward when i am scared? ~adrienne

How do we heal ourselves? ~Parker

What healing do I need to commit to in myself so my being can impact the healing needed throughout my community? ~Shelly

What is required of me, in this moment? ~Mindy

How can we be kind to ourselves and others? ~Cristina

Why am I standing still? How can I move forward to be a catalyst of hope, love, and joy? ~Tania

What am I willing to do? ~Scherezade

What do you notice in your body? Where in you is calling to your attention? What does it need/asking for? ~Sarah

How can I support myself & others in letting love guide? ~Mahfam

“Organizing:

What are we willing to surrender for the sake of the future of living communities on the planet? ~Margaret

how does humanity reconnect to our shared fate? ~Leo

What are the differences between a riot, rebellion and revolution and how can we sharpen the analysis around resistance so that it speaks to the role of the visionary. ~Tawana

How are we equipping future generations to be fearless and free of the current structures of oppression? ~Ryan

How can we radicalize our relationships, narratives and actions to build stronger communities through tougher and more turbulent times? ~Michelle

Do you know how to organize and act while listening to those who are silenced? ~L’Heureux

Where do I/you still hold on to greed? ~Cynthia

how do we effectively organize to create a mass movement capable of turning the tide. ~Lou

“Environment:

How can we, as a global society, take the treat of climate change serious enough to have 1st world countries drastically change to renewable & to help developing countries to prosper without using polluting natural resources. ~Ant

How can we better manage land and other natural resources? ~Lawrence

How do we save our one and only planet as mining, logging, drilling, etc will now get a giant green light? ~Sura

“Diversity:

How are we valuing each person regardless of gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, abilities? ~Rhonda

How do we inculcate a spirit of cooperation in people from differing value systems? ~Rain

Can/how do you convince someone to change their mind/act differently without threatening them or yourself? ~Joey

How do we prevent the conflict that arises when cultures meet and clash? ~John

“Politics:

How do we eradicate poverty? ~Desmond Tutu (I asked him this question a few years ago and this was his answer at the time)

How do we end these huge pendulum shifts from one set of values to the other, in terms of the belief systems that influence governance? are these pendulum swings to be understood nationally or globally? is there a way out? also: what motivates those who seem to care only of short-term profit? do they know a way off the planet that others don’t? what do they want for their grandchildren? When I taught US government to high school students I mapped this out and it went back to the early 19th century, maybe even 18th. There’s a way to read it as proof that the voting public will never let extremes get too extreme. That there’s a self-correcting instinct toward centrism. That read now feels dead wrong. The swings are exhausting, untenable and dangerous. And I wonder if it’s always felt that way to people who have lived through more of them. ~Dani

“Why?” is the most important question. The truth will be the most important answer. ~Frantz

“Community:

Why won’t every single body sit still some damn where and mind his/her own damn business? Stop trying to fix everything and fix his/her own self. Stop interfering with other people’s land, homes, and livelihood. ~Sun

We are all connected. How do we come to know this in our bones? ~Ian

At what point does the greed end? ~Daniel

How do we encourage actions showing love and acceptance that are rooted in equity and justice? How do we heal from shame? ~Esperanza

What are the young people saying to us that needs to be listened to and explored more deeply? ~Janice

What are the best things a man can do to support the rights and equality of women? ~Michael

How can we be love when we are surrounded by hate? ~Fred”