Take the Partnership Attitude Self-Assessment

Oneness of all existence

1.  The Earth and everything in/on/above it is part of a single, self-regulating whole, which maintains itself through processes of cognition and communication. It is a living system that is constantly evolving, adjusting, and changing. The same is true of the entire universe.

2.  All that exists on Earth, including humanity, is part of a single interconnected, interdependent system which I, following Lovelock, Margulis and Sahtouris, refer to as Gaia, but which can also be called Nature.

3.  Human beings are part of Gaia/Nature, neither superior nor inferior to other life forms.

4. No human being is separate and independent of other people or other beings. We are all interrelated and interdependent.

5. My “individual self” is a small yet essential part of the “larger self” which is Gaia/Nature.

6. My goal is to harmonize my individual self-interest and expression with that of the greater holon of Earth/Gaia/Nature.

“Human nature”

7. People are by original nature kind and generous, and want to be useful and helpful.

8. People do cruel things out of woundedness, ignorance, or lack of awareness, not innate meanness.

9. Partnership is one f the most prevalent dynamics in all of Nature. Competition, domination, and violence exist but are not primary characteristics of Earth life.

Sex, gender, society, and spirit

10. Women and men are natural allies, not “opposites.”

11. Violence is not an inevitable part of human nature, nor of male nature.

12. “Masculinity” and “femininity” are socially constructed and defined, not innate biological or psychological traits.

13. The only biologically sex-determined roles are sperm donor, wet nurse, and birthgiver.

14.  Gender is an important concern for women and men, equally.

15.  The way a culture shapes the relationship between women and men is a model for all forms of relationship between categories of beings: adult/child, racial groups, social classes, human/animal, human/Earth.

16.  Human societies, like animal societies, took different organizational paths as they evolved: some oriented more toward partnership, others toward domination.

17.  Patriarchy is a relatively brief aberration in the many thousands of years of human existence.

18.  “The Creator” was conceived by the earliest human societies as female.

19.  Woman, sexuality, and spirituality were originally interlinked and inseparable, and the primary social value was giving and nurturing life and pleasure.

20.  Male-dominated monotheism, with its focus on dominator values, has led to cultures focused on control and fear of punishment or death.

Power, privilege, and the "isms"

21.  Race is a “mind-made” category. So is gender.

22.  Diversity is to be celebrated and encouraged rather than feared and suppressed.

23.  All of us are affected by “isms” whether we dominate others or are dominated by them.

24.  I, like every human, am a unique blend of privilege and disadvantage on the many continua of “isms.”

25.  Each of us has within us the capacity to do great good or great harm.

26.  Each of us has understandable and valid reasons – based in our cultural and family learning and individual experience – for the way we think and behave.

Language, communication, and consciousness

27.  Our consciousness reflects, is shaped, and constrained by our language and symbol systems.

28.  Mass consciousness can only evolve as quickly as language evolves. Most people can only think about concepts they have words for.

29.  We learn how to be, though the myths of our culture and the constraints of our language.

30.  Our conceptual systems and ways of communicating are based on metaphors that reflect our culture’s view of power (either dominator or partnership oriented).

31.  All our society’s institutions (religious, economic, social, educational) reflect this basic orientation toward either domination or partnership.

32.  Culture, consciousness, and language can all be changed (though not easily).

Partnership is a survival need

33.  The survival of humanity and many other forms of life on Earth depends on a shift away from domination toward partnership on all levels.

34.  Through conscious choices, human beings can further the partnership-oriented tendencies of evolution.

Copyright 2000 Lethea F. Erz . Permission granted by author for non-commercial use.