2:11: Hope: How To Protect The Optimism We Need For Massive Response And Massive Heart

For episode eleven of season two, Tim and Tuesday reflect on how hope can — and must — co-exist with an acknowledgement of where we are, even in crisis or struggle. If we are to respond massively to an emerging future, and grapple with our current reality, what steps can we take to preserve optimism?Together, Tim Merry and Tuesday Ryan-Hart are THE OUTSIDE—systems change and equity facilitators who bring the fresh air necessary to organize movements, organizations, and collaborators forward for progress, surfacing new mindsets for greater participation and shared impact.2.10 —— SHOW NOTESTim: There’s a Thomas Merton quote about finding rightness in the work itself, to surrender the hope of results. And I came across this quote from William the Silent: “It is not necessary to hope in order to persevere.” There is one story that I’ve come across in our work - how important hope has been to persevere.Tues: The quote that comes to me is a Toni Morrison quote: “You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.” I believe my ancestors, on both sides, had deep hope as they left their shores - that there was something different, something better.Tim: I feel like we are in the midst of a level of crisis that is now beginning to truly impact the middle and middle-upper classes in a way it hasn’t before in such a pervasive scale, scope and reach. I think that’s a piece of the class response that I want to identify and have some compassion for and not pretend it’s not a product of privilege. It makes me think of the quote from Rumi: “Sit down and be quiet. You are drunk, and this is the edge of the roof.”Tues: I wonder about my own lens and perspective; I feel there is no lack of material for hope for me. My vantage point is of people who are actively working and trying.Tim: This kind of analysis that becoming acquainted with despair, but still maintaining hope, is an issue of how insulated your life has been.Tues: Whose going to make it and who is not? Disaster capitalists are moving into Puerto Rico right now and beginning to set themselves up for when it all goes down and the question is what will happen to the Puerto Ricans who are there?Tim: What does it mean to not prioritize engaging with the emergence of consciousness among the privileged classes and the fragility that comes with that? This kind of awakening to the level of despair, because you are experiencing it… I am intrigued by that. How this get’s integrated into how we think about significant change happening. I also don’t want it to be the thing that slows us down.Tues: It’s not do we engage it or don’t we - it’s how and when and why. Everyone gets to decide what their own energy level is.Tim: When we go into those stories that are so intimately connected to us, we find both the “You are drunk, and this is the edge of the roof” and we find the hope, the gift, the power to stand in the face of it and take the next step.Poem: Build the Arks (King Kong Song) by Tim MerryI just read about the coming of the ice ageEarth’s rageThe mighty mother, the sage,Turning another pageOf evolutionA natural solutionThe vibrationOf creationMelting ice caps into the gulf stream flowsThe European heating system blowsBeyond repairMy mother, father, sister, brother live thereStop, bear witness, take a long good stareDigest our reality and start to careThe planet is movin’ onWe all be livin’ in the final swan songThe future’s comin’ on strongLike King KongWe all be the hapless maidenLooking in his big brown eyesBeginning to realiseIt’s all beyond our controlBigger than we’ll ever beSee?Fuck the swan song,This is the King Kong songWe ain’t got no choice but to go along. No more prizes for predicting the rainThe painNew startsTime to build the arks What’s my contributionAt this crazy time?Am I gonna whineComplainAbout the pain?The fact we all seem to be going insane?No!Trust in surpriseIntegrity has no compromiseRelease all tiesOpen the eyes. Our survival seems hit and missLike the world is taking the pissA final good night kissAll this material wealthThe illusion of blissIt’s a big mis –stakeTime to rakeThe fallen leavesAutumn choicesWinter bereavesNot everyone will make itWe can’t fake itThere’s no hidingFrom this collidingWith the end of an eraIt’s never been clearerSome will get left behindLinger in our mindsTheir remains to findIn millions of yearsAs we learn again our evolutionFrom homo-confusionHomo-luminumNo more prizes for predicting the rainThe painNew startsTime to build the arks Gather now at our community centresWith friends and mentorsAnd EldersWe all be the weldersOf fragmentationOn the edges of the new creationThe builders of the New Space StationRight here in the arms of the motherWhere the heroes gather undercoverSensing the future with sonar soundThe builders of boats aboundReadying for the coming stormsTrainers of the warriors who break the normsYield to the fieldDrop the shieldWhat are the skills we need to survive?To be one of ones aliveWho looks backThinking“holy shit how did we survive that?”What does it take to make the warrior casteTo see our king kong future comin’ on fastThen look back and know it as the past?This ain’t about seekin’ thrillsWe need to know the survival skillsGet into trainingI’m not exaggeratingI wish I wasThis is real,nowhereIt’s time to get clear.There’s no more prizes for predicting the rainThe painNew startsIt’s time to build the arksSong: Faith’s Hymn by Beautiful ChorusSubscribe to the podcast now—in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or anywhere else you find podcasts. New episodes will be available every second Tuesday. If you’d like to get in touch with us about something you heard on the show, reach us at [email protected]. Find the song we played in today’s show—and every song we’ve played in previous shows—on the playlist. Just search ‘Find the Outside’ on Spotify.Duration: 47:20Produced by: Mark Coffin @ Sound Good StudiosTheme music: Gary BlakemoreEpisode cover image: source Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.