The Womanist Idea

Layli Maparyan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780415886826
• eBook ISBN: 9781136485503
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Following on the heels of The Womanist Reader, The Womanist Idea offers a comprehensive, systematic analysis of womanism, including a detailed discussion of the womanist worldview (cosmology, ontology, epistemology, logic, axiology, and methodology) and its implications for activism. From a womanist perspective, social and ecological change is necessarily undergirded by spirituality – as distinct from religion per se – which invokes a metaphysically informed approach to activism.

THE METAPHYSICAL ARCHITECTURE
OF THE WOMANIST IDEA

LUXOCRACY:
RULE BY LIGHT

Where there is no vision, the people perish.

—Proverbs 29:18

All good enterprises begin with a vision, a telos, fueled by intention. As I begin this project, I am impelled to assert outwardly a vision, a telos, an intention that stirs me inwardly. This vision, this intention, is my guide star, my pole star, my teleology; it is that organizing principle around which everything else coheres, it is that originating fount from which all else springs, it is my creative center. It encapsulates my understanding of what is possible for the world, for humanity, for Earth. It is that toward which we are collectively tending, even if, in these times, it seems improbable, impossible, or even unthinkable. I assert it now only because my feeling, my unshakeable sense is that time is short and the stakes are high, and the possibility of rerouting human destiny far outweighs the risk of being deemed preposterous or absurd. As a scholar, I am aware that I am going out on a limb, but if that limb forms a bridge across a river we must cross, then my choice is to proceed intrepidly.

The name of this vision, this intention, is LUXOCRACY, which means “rule by Light.” Light in this instance refers to the Inner Light, the Higher Self, the Soul, the God Within—what I will hereafter refer to as Innate Divinity—as described by mystics and others across cultures, across faiths, and across the centuries, if not millennia. As more and more people recognize this Inner Light in themselves and others, by whatever name they call it, as this recognition becomes universal, structures of governance as we know them today will become unnecessary; as aptly stated by Ayi Kwei Armah, “An awakened soul does not need to follow a leader.”¹

Humanity is in the process of evolving toward global society and planetary identity based on global, even cosmic citizenship, yet none of the existing or traditional forms of social organization is suited to fully encompass this emerging reality. Not only is humanity evolving as a whole, but also individual humans are experiencing an expansion of consciousness on a scale unprecedented in previous historical periods. A critical mass, the dimensions of which are only beginning to be visible, is building in size and momentum. What is needed at this juncture are new languages to encompass emerging possibilities: Enter LUXOCRACY.

LUXOCRACY represents the higher octave of many of the better known systems of social organization in discourse today. Like democracy, LUXOCRACY is egalitarian; unlike democracy, LUXOCRACY rests on a foundation of spirituality. Like anarchy, LUXOCRACY eschews formal, hierarchical structures of governance; unlike anarchy, LUXOCRACY is thoroughly benevolent and nonviolent. Like theocracy, LUXOCRACY is spiritualized and spiritually centered; unlike theocracy, LUXOCRACY rests on internal, personal notions of spirituality rather than on external, organized religion. While, in today’s world, these systems of social organization seem mutually contradictory and in conflict, another perspective is that a dynamic synthesis is in process, the ultimate upshot of which is LUXOCRACY. In other words, the conflicts between these perspectives today will ultimately help people to understand and be drawn toward LUXOCRACY.

In today’s world, many people look toward politics for liberation. Politics or political activism is assumed to be the answer to human misery, strife, and injustice. Yet, the limitations of this strategy are rendered invisible by belief systems that, at best, separate the material world from the spiritual realm or, at worst, negate the spiritual realm altogether. The political is earthbound. If politics is not undergirded by a sense of the spiritual, the sacred, it is a dead end. This is equally true of politics on the right and politics on the left. Politics as it is understood and enacted today is incapable of delivering humanity to its own potentiality. Yet, outside politics, this potentiality is gaining expression and momentum in the larger global society among people from all walks of life who are awakening to the power and reality of their own spirituality as well as the spirituality of others and the spirituality of the world around them. As people come to apprehend their own Innate Divinity directly, as well as the Innate Divinity of others, Earth, and all aspects of Creation, they think, speak, and act differently; they expect different things from their world, and they begin to live in a different reality altogether, regardless of what is going on around them.

Debates—and wars—over which political system would be better are nullified by the reality that only a political system that is informed by spiritual considerations would be significantly better. One important caveat, however: spirituality is not to be confused with religion. Religions exist to deliver people to spiritual knowledge and its application, although they have historically been compromised by the interference of politics. Thus, religions themselves are no more related to LUXOCRACY than is politics. While religious expression and participation is a matter of choice that would be supported within a luxocratic system, religion itself could not serve as the basis for LUXOCRACY. Similarly, while awareness of multiple religious traditions and teachings could facilitate the consciousness necessary to enact LUXOCRACY on a global scale, these traditions and teachings alone would not be enough to make LUXOCRACY feasible. It is only the universal recognition of innate human divinity and the immanent spiritual nature of the lifespace in which humans exist—above and beyond all religions—that would make LUXOCRACY possible.

Indeed, I prefer the term lifesystem² to the term religion because it encompasses religious expression and personal, internal spirituality simultaneously, and it is impartial to all particular forms this may take. Historically, religion has been the province of institutionalized structures, while spirituality as such has been the province of mysticism and metaphysics. Yet, the two are connected and interpenetrating in ways that, again, require new language. For womanists, spirituality is an acknowledged relationship with the divine/transpersonal/ cosmic/invisible realm, while religion is a culturally organized framework for experiencing that relationship. The term lifesystem allows Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, the Baha’i faith, and all other “institutionalized” religions to be on equal footing with African traditional and African-derived religions, Native American religious traditions, Aboriginal religious traditions, and all other “indigenous” spiritual systems. This language, the language of lifesystems, also creates space for numerous initiatic traditions from around the globe; so-called New Age spirituality; Wiccan, pagan, and other Earth-spirit based traditions; and various humanistic, secular, and agnostic traditions. Womanists embrace many paths to the same destination, and the term lifesystem affirms this value. Furthermore, the term lifesystem acknowledges the simultaneous interaction between cosmology, metaphysics, culture, practices, traditions, histories, and social networks in the operation of human life around spiritual questions and the spiritual dimension. Womanists accept the contemporary reality of highly eclectic and synthetic approaches to spiritual experience. Thus, the term lifesystem is a great equalizer, badly needed in this day when, globally, people are not only becoming more aware of one another’s traditions, but also are becoming personally attracted to, and involved in one another’s traditions on an unprecedented scale.³ This movement makes a concept like LUXOCRACY cognitively and socially necessary.

My own personal terminology for the common spiritual architecture and energy underlying and animating all lifesystems is SOURCE. For me, SOURCE is both the Origin Point (i.e., the Creator of All That Is, whether it is called God, Mind, the Unified Field, or something else) and the totality of the emanation from that Origin Point (i.e., Creation, the Cosmos, etc., especially the spiritual mystery that all religions make reference to and seek). For me, SOURCE is the one true “religion” and the object of the quest of all lifesystems. SOURCE is like the ocean from which all rivers originate, as well as the water that flows in these rivers. When we stand by or in the river, we see the ocean, if only we know what we are looking at. And, if we are motivated, we can walk or swim or float like a leaf on the river all the way back to SOURCE.⁴ Humanity collectively is now swimming back to SOURCE and is caught in some rocky rapids along the way.

The two things most facilitative of LUXOCRACY coming into being are education and health. True education fosters the discovery and development of the Inner Light, while the promotion of health and vitality provides its necessary physical substrate. As goes a famous Latin quotation, “Mens sana in corpore sano”;⁵ that is, “sound mind in a sound body.” A society that centers on education and health as vitality would necessarily evoke LUXOCRACY as a form of social organization once a certain level of universality was attained with regard to these conditions. As a Baha’i passage states, “Man is the Supreme Talisman. Lack of a proper education hath, however, deprived him of that which he doth inherently possess…. Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures and enable mankind to benefit therefrom.”⁶ The education we are talking about here cannot merely be “education for domestication,” however, it must be “education for liberation.”⁷ That is, it must reflect the true meaning of education—e (out from) ducare (to lead), literally, to lead the Inner Light out from within. This type of education would go far beyond the acquisition of information and knowledge, which are currently emphasized, into the realms of wisdom, and ultimately, onward toward enlightenment in a process I refer to as the Ladder of Learning (see chapter 3). Health would move far past notions of “freedom from disease” through “wellness” onward toward “vitality” and indeed the “luminous body” in a process I refer to as health empowerment.

LUXOCRACY takes as fundamental that all persons are unique manifestations of the One, the All, the Creator, SOURCE. As such, each person’s Inner Light guides the manifestation of that uniqueness across the span of a lifetime. The optimal purpose of society is to foster, facilitate, nurture, protect, and coordinate the expression of every person’s Innate Divinity simultaneously. In the past, various structures of governance have used the principle of the commons to try to maximize the number of people who can experience such self-expression and development. The principle of the commons, through its goal of maximization, assumed implicitly that the good could not be optimized for all persons. LUXOCRACY, on the other hand, assumes that this right of optimal well-being has now been extended to all and has become universal and categorical. Thus, the principle of the commons has now been transcended to encompass everyone because LUXOCRACY rests upon the broader concept of commonweal.

Humanity is shifting into a new age. This new age represents an evolutionary shift in the human being as well as human society. Numerous writers and thinkers argue that the human being, currently known as Homo sapiens sapiens or “very wise man,” is moving toward what has alternately been called homo illuminatus or homo noeticus—both of which essentially mean the illumined, enlightened, or superconscious human.⁸ These authors argue that we are currently in the midst of a period of what evolutionary scientists would call rapid evolution, and even though we may be centuries if not millennia away from the full flowering of these emerging forms of humanity, the initial signs of emergence, of a true turn in the nature of what it means to be human, are clearly visible now.

The difference between wisdom and illumination is complete and unequivocal recognition of the Inner Light and its relationship to spiritual realities that go far beyond Earth. LUXOCRACY is simply the willingness, or even just the tendency, to organize human society around such knowledge and its embodiment. As we evolve, so must our social structures.

How does LUXOCRACY relate to womanism? LUXOCRACY is inherent within the womanist idea, as well as its upshot. I know this because womanists recognize the Innate Divinity in all humans and all creation, as well as the principle of interbeing.⁹ In addition, womanists distinguish spirituality from religion, which opens up new possibilities. Thus, LUXOCRACY is implicit within womanism and must be recognized in order to draw out both the highest aspiration and most profound architecture of womanism. People do not expect LUXOCRACY to emanate from Black women’s thought, yet Black women have kept this flame of Innate Divinity and the Inner Light eternally lit across history, culture, and geography, as documented in Black women’s religious thought, spiritualized social change leadership, and personal spiritual practice.¹⁰ This preservation of the flame of Innate Divinity has not been limited to Black women—indeed, other women of color, and other people of all genders from a variety of backgrounds—have also done so. The womanist idea is really about a practice and a perspective more than an ethnic group or a gender, even though it is undeniable that Black women have had a special role to play in its propagation and promulgation. What is perhaps most important to recognize at this point in time is that once womanism has done its work, it will disappear and no longer be relevant, but that time has not yet come.

THE THREE RECOGNITIONS: A FORMULA

There are three fundamental principles that underlie or enable LUXOCRACY. I call them “The Three Recognitions.” They are: Recognize your own sacredness. Recognize the sacredness of everyone. Recognize the sacredness of all created things. And then act accordingly—inwardly and outwardly. Sacredness refers to the higher dimension of a thing, that essence which evokes awe. When we become aware of sacredness, our mindset changes and we become capable of operating within a frame of reverence, and reverence evokes our most generous and respectful feelings and behaviors. This fundamental change in how people think and feel is what is needed to dislodge current conflicts on Earth—those seemingly intransigent and intractable forms of violence that some unimaginatively refer to as “human nature.” But human nature is only debased when we think of human beings as debased; when we think of human beings as sacred, human nature becomes sacred, and the establishment of the “humans are sacred” thoughtform within the collective consciousness fundamentally alters our collective sense of what is possible, probable, and necessary for us as a species. When we expand this reverential, sacred thinking to other life forms (i.e., “livingkind”)¹¹ and from there to all creation, then we end up with a qualitatively different kind of life on Earth. This is the simple formula for change that LUXOCRACY proposes.

INNATE DIVINITY

The next stage of human evolution is the universal recognition of the Innate Divinity of human beings. Innate Divinity means that the fundamental essence of human existence, of the human condition, is a spiritual one, is energic rather than material, and is constituted by a “seed of light” connecting all embodied beings to the Great Light, otherwise known as Divine Intelligence, God, or the All. Through this Innate Divinity, this seed of light, all human beings are interconnected with each other, with all creation, and with the Creator. All that exists, all that a...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Acknowledgments of Sources
• Part 1: The Metaphysical Architecture of The Womanist Idea
• Part 2: Womanist Spiritual Activism: Five Case Studies
• Part 3: Beyond Womanism
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index