Friendly Honey Badger Reminds Us Again to Wake Up to Strategic Hopefulness

This is what inspired integration looks like

Another brilliant video by Friendly Honey Badger. Since I have been writing about the transition into “the new” consciousness, I realized that she demonstrates all of these qualities. As I began to get into last Sunday, the next phase of human evolution is about integration. It’s about sorting out what has been valuable and useful from the past, and mixing and matching it in new ways, to create new forms. With flexibility, we are liberated from any one way of looking at things, and that is how the next new arises.

And this means us, too — that is the big point.

• None of us has all the answers

• And none of us can afford to waste our time excluding the other ones

• Self-righteousness harms us all, and humility is paramount

While the old modes (the fundamentalisms, the tech saviorisms, and the rigidly righteous justice battles) all anchor into a fixed set of viewpoints that keep their followers safe, in the next Big Wave we are moving into, we can let that go. — Gradually (perhaps). Painfully (often). Kicking and screaming (yes, a lot of the time). But it happens.

One of the biggest pieces for us Lefties is to let go of the moral righteousness that says, “I don’t have to inspect my values — I am already on the right side of history — it’s those other idiots who have to do so.”

Friendly Honey Badger is a strategist. In the video below, she articulates the wisdom of actual inclusion, which means strategically welcoming in those whom you may have disagreed with — and even those you may disagree with now.

Let’s put it this way — which is a better use of energy?

• Working for justice while condemning people who don’t agree with you?

• Working for justice while inviting the people into your tent?

What I’ve been trying to say with all this Tier 1 / Tier 2 stuff is really just that: We can no longer afford to be self-righteous. And the Left can be as self-righteous as anyone (but cannot see it, much of the time).

“Enlightenment” sounds very big and very fancy, but getting the wake-up call that we can all be better at listening, open to new viewpoints, and not being so darned sure we have all the answers — this is something we can all do.

In Spiral terms, what Honey Badger is doing is coaxing Green folks like our flock to see the contradictions in our own logic, and nudge us towards smarter ways of acting. (One of the ironies of the Green meme is that it can preach inclusion, but if you go against its precepts, it does not want to include you… so…)

This integrative, holistic thinking — this is actually one of the big things that helps us move from a dreamy, idealistic vision of the future we want, to an activated, effective one. When we break out of our own ego traps, it helps us transcend these unnecessary pitfalls.

By sensing the pressure of wasted cycles, we wish to let go of that which does not serve the effectiveness of our purpose, and to let it go. The phrase “necessity is the mother of invention” is perfect to embody this: why any of us evolve to this next level, and beyond the rigidity.

To quote Barack Obama (a very Next Tier leader): “We don’t have time for this kind of silliness.”

It requires compassion. It requires a healthy dose of humility. The rightness on all sides will have to be transcended. But when we do, the sky is (truly) the limit.