revisiting threads in the Pagbabalikloob YahooGroup
Jul 14, 2005
In the book The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World author Amit Goswami describes the basis of colonial mentality:
If we could single out one historical concept that has propelled humans and their societies toward much violence and warfare, it is the concept of hierarchy.
the concept of hierarchy has given way to the belief in superiority, elitism and privilege. Privilege has given way to domination, conquering and exploitation
can other words for “colonial mentality” be “conqueror mentality”… “domination mentality”, “exploitation mentality”….
is colonial mentality like a collective superiority complex of a colonizing nation/race? and a collective inferiority complex of the colonized nation? the more i say that on paper, the more i think it is so…
to decolonize is to unsubscribe in all belief systems of superiority, elitism and privilege.
to decolonize is to no longer believe in inferiority or superiority of culture, language, race, age, gender, education, etc…
to decolonize is to unsubscribe from belief systems of separation and isolationism due to any physical attributes (race, nation, culture, religion, and also, gender, material wealth, politics etc.)
to decolonize is to seize believing in one’s right to dominate and exploit another due to race or culture.
to decolonize is to seize believing in one’s right to be dominated and exploited by another race or culture.
to decolonize is to escape from the box of institutionalized thinking (although not negating that capability or looking down on it)
to decolonize is to refrain from superiority complex based on race, culture, language (and gender, etc).
to decolonize is to refrain from inferiority complex based on race, culture, language (and gender, etc)….
to decolonize is to deconstruct all heirarchies in one’s mind….
to decolonize is to truly believe that all humans are created equal…
to decolonize is to refrain from judging according to hierarchy and superiority….
to decolonize is to come to respect one’s path and all other’s paths…
to decolonize is to let Illusion fall away. to decolonize is to come to know Truth.
to decolonize is to come to embody in mind body and spirit pakikipagkapwa….
to decolonize is to lighten our load of baggage of issues due to race and culture.
to decolonize is to become en-lightened.
to decolonize is to awaken.
to decolonize is to come to Universal Love.
on that same page, under the same subtitle [“From Simple to Tangled Hierarchy,” there was described] for me “decolonization” for both the colonized/colonizer, conquered/conqueror:
In the twentieth century, however, many social changes have involved an intuition that hierarchies are not essential, are not indispensable and universal, and at best are of only limited use. In particular, we have seen artificial hierarchies based on race and gender begin to crumble around the world.
Pagbabalikloob YahooGroup was created in 2001. Pagbabalik-Loob/Turning Towards Home is the discussion group about Undoing Colonial Mentality. : This discussion group has been created to provide an online forum to discuss the body of works and the concepts of the process of decolonization for Filipinos (in the Philippines, in the US, or in the diaspora). And was inspired by Leny Strobel’s book on decolonization, Coming Full Circle: The Process Of Decolonization Among Post 1965 Filipino Americans, first published in 2000.
