Tough Questions about White Privilege and Creating Our Reality
BY ELIZABETH PURVIS
Like so many in our community, I write with a fierce and heavy heart. After the deadly Alt-Right protests in Charlottesville last year, and several incidents of racism and violence since, I am shocked, outraged, sickened, saddened, overwhelmed, and determined.
Like so many in our community, I feel so very deeply about all of this.
Never have I been so aware of my white privilege, and my own contribution to the crazy situation we find ourselves in today.
Never have I been so present to the implications of my privilege, my responsibility as global citizen and woman with a platform, and of course the choice as to what to do about it all. As magician, priestess, and teacher of manifesting and Universal Law, I have long considered the tough questions inherent in what I practice and teach. Now is the time to speak to these, directly and unequivocally.
It’s not unfair to say that the study of the Laws, manifesting, creating your reality, – as we know it in America today – is a part of white privilege.
New Thought rightly comes under fire for not speaking enough to the discrepancy between the teaching that we create our own reality, and, well, the reality of race issues. In 2018, a large segment of the population lives with discrimination, extreme poverty, diminished choice, deplorable acts of violence, and enslavement. In America we have white supremacists committing acts of domestic terrorism, and a KKK-endorsed president who has yet to fully acknowledge that fact.
How can a teacher like me say so loudly and with such conviction that we create our own reality, and that we have power when so many people are stripped of theirs, daily? And really, should we be going for our biggest, boldest desires when so much of the world is in suffering, when our own country is so divided, when things are so “f’in” insane? These questions, and many more, have long been inherent in this work, well before current events.
I don’t have all the answers. I never will.
But I do think, study and practice this stuff. I practice it every day and that demands that I ask difficult questions of myself and those who join me on this path.
Elizabeth Purvis is a mentor and teacher of magic to thousands of conscious women around the world. She is the founder of the founder of the Feminine Magic® School of Manifesting, where she teaches a holistic system of manifesting. Elizabeth is also a master business coach and founder of Goddess Business School® for coaches, healers and change agents.
Great post. It’s beyond time we woke up about this stuff – and I believe that is happening, as your post is evidence of awakening.
I don’t believe that we create our own reality. I believe that we create our own EXPERIENCE of reality. Overall reality is the creation of a more universal consciousness. I did not create you and you did not create me – but we each create our experience of one another. This is true individually and collectively – and Holmes and most of the other New Thought founders understood this. The emphasis on the idea that we create our own reality is based on what I would characterize as a subtle misinterpretation of principle which, over time, becomes not-so-subtle (see “The Secret”).
Our unconscious biases and ignorance have led us all, collectively, to ignore many things about ourselves, our communities, our nations, and humanity. White privilege and the patriarchy are examples of this. But we do not have direct access to our subconscious minds, so until there is an issue that comes to the surface, we cannot do anything about it. Richard Rohr wrote:
“You will remain largely unconscious as a human being until issues come into your life that you cannot fix or control and something challenges you at your present level of development, forcing you to expand and deepen. It is in the struggle with our shadow self, with failure, or with wounding, that we break into higher levels of consciousness. I doubt whether there is any other way. People who refine this consciousness to a high spiritual state, who learn to name and live with paradoxes, are the people I would call prophetic speakers. We must refine and develop this gift.” ~ Richard Rohr
Even when uncomfortable things do arise, we can evade or deny them if we feel inadequate to the task of taking them on and healing them. It’s not like we have not known about racism and sexism in the past, although not enough was done to move to a more loving and accepting way of being.
To me the big question is how best to encourage myself and others to face what needs to be faced, to do the necessary forgiveness work around it, to address the shadow issues involved, and to design and give birth to a new way of being.
We know that criticism of self and others does not do this – it only hardens resistance. We also know that those at different places on their developmental path will react/respond differently to all of this, making it even more challenging to move toward a healing consciousness. Perhaps we need to begin with forgiveness – and follow that with a resolved consciousness to never fall back into denial.
Awakening is happening everywhere. The increasingly clear threats of oppressive regimes coming to power in governments around the world, including close to home, may well be the igniting force to a wave of loving awareness of our oneness. And to a deeper realization that we must act to change our culture(s) for the better. We must come to see that social justice is the only way to ensure that we can all thrive.
“Never forget that social justice is what love looks like in public” ~ Cornel West
The idea that we create our reality is very attractive to those in positions of power, wealth and privilege. It says I’m totally responsible for what I have. Conversely it also relieves any guilt if you believe the poor or unfortunate are to blame for their condition. That’s not reality of course
Common sense tells us numerous factors play a role in our conditions. Beyond that there’s considerable research that shows circumstances and luck can determine success or failure. Ability is important, but so is where you were born, who your parents are, where you went to school, your genetic heritage and dumb luck. In fact, research demonstrates that those who are lucky do better than those who are more talented, but don’t have the same run of fortune. The bigger the success the more circumstances and fortune play a role. That’s hard for the wealthy or any of us to accept because we like to attribute our success to our own efforts.
“Ability is important, but so is where you were born, who your parents are, where you went to school, your genetic heritage and dumb luck.”
Superb! but it challenges so much of the (organized) New Thought dogma that I fear having real conversations about it are not happening where they need to happen (in churches and centers).
Blogs and writers like this one (and the thoughtful replies like yours) are critical to the on-going discourse and eventual (I hope) salvation of the New Thought movement.