Michael Lerner’s book, Surplus Powerlessness: The Psychodynamics of Everyday Life…and the Psychology of Individual and Social Transformation describes a barrier central to the success of effective peace building--and how to overcome it.
Lerner says we live in a repressive society which diminishes our humanity. He says there are very real reasons for feeling oppressed—conditions in society such as parental neglect, poverty, crummy television, the power and willingness of corporations to destroy our environment, etc. We see society as basically competitive in which only the powerful survive.
Lerner describes how feelings of powerlessness and isolation lead to cynicism, which further subjects us to the very forces that control our lives. We begin to accept our enslavement as just the way things are and there’s nothing a person can do about it. By adopting an attitude that “this is just the way things are and can’t be changed,” we further enslave ourselves. And we fail to take action to change the system.
And it can affect our mental and physical health. Instead of sharing our unhappiness, we stuff it, blame ourselves for our lack of fulfillment, and succumb to stress related diseases—cancer, heart disease, headaches, and a variety of other health problems that have been proven to be linked to the way we live and the way we think.
Lerner writes: “If we accept this society as unchangeable and make ourselves more powerless than we need to be, we may also be making ourselves sick. Taking responsibility for our health should mean overcoming our despair and cynicism about social change.”
This issue of turning personal powerlessness and despair into individual and social transformation is at the very heart of the peace movement. We have to believe that what needs to change can change.
Michael Lerner and others say the key to our liberation is getting in touch with our true relational selves. In every human being, he says, there is a fundamental yearning for relationship with others. We are social animals. Our happiness lies, not in competition, but in mutual interdependence.
Real powerlessness in society as well as the surplus powerlessness we impose on ourselves, Lerner says, comes from repressing our fundamental social essence. Our desires for fullness and joy and community get repressed, but they can never be fully extinguished. The alienation in this society is overwhelming—and it cannot be ignored, he says. But precisely because denial of our fundamental human needs hurts so much, there is continual hope that we will break through our isolations and connect with each other in a deeper way and find ways to change the larger situation. Hence, this website.
See more on the power of small groups to help people deal with personal powerlessness from Joanna Macy. On her page
