When I think about sustainability, I think about diversity and equity at the same time. A series of interconnected topics come to mind, and I want to develop how they are linked.
Economy for Con-Tribu-Ting or gift economy, as it is known in NVC, is the idea that when everyone contributes according to their economy, everyone's payment will make the activity sustainable.
This has to do with equity because when a specific amount is requested, it may be giving equality for all, but there will be some who can pay it without problem and others who cannot, and everything will depend on the level of privilege each person is in.
For centuries, there has been privilege to some because of their gender and to others because of their skin color. This has generated a systemic imbalance in which there is neither equality nor equity. Within equality it is presumed that we are all on equal terms and that the strategies to cover everyone's needs are the same, and that is not real. For me, as a neurodivergent Mexican woman, the conditions and context are very different from those of a white, neurotypical man. The effort I make to overcome inequalities is not even noticed by that man because everything is made for him to flourish, not me. For those who have more privilege, and specifically economic privilege, paying a fixed amount is just making the decision of whether they want to pay it or not, but for someone with different conditions, the issue can involve all the resources they need to be able to have access, and with all resources I include: if they have someone to leave their children with to participate, if they have “authorization” to participate, if they have internet, if they have the money to pay, the time, etc.
The economy for contributing is based on the idea that when everyone contributes, sustainability is achieved because everyone can participate and be nourished. The invitation is to contribute according to your conditions, that is, to give an extra to the average payment so that another person who does not have the possibility to pay can participate. It reads easily and makes logical sense; the difficulty in living it comes from hundreds of years of mentality of separation, of pain, of anger, of frustration. I think of the times I've heard something like: “I've earned what I have,” “they're doing badly because they don't try hard enough,” “it's their fault for not putting in the effort”—phrases we hear and repeat because for generations the use of the left hemisphere of the brain has been favored, which incapacitates the connection with the right hemisphere, which is what allows us a broad vision. The rational part seeks to make sense by blaming the other, which makes it impossible to connect with the relational part that integrates the global vision, the emotional and empathetic guide that allows us to see real circumstances. There are people who truly cannot see inequality because a brain that has disconnected links between the two hemispheres cannot process it, and this is transmitted from generation to generation until a conscious person manages to break that chain.
Breaking the chain of the mentality of separation requires many resources for a person; I will give an example to provide clarity:
A baby is left crying alone in their room to learn to fall asleep by themselves. The baby subconsciously internalizes that they are alone and nothing they do will make others help them. Growing up, they go to school where they are required to remain quiet, seated, still, and obey, or else they will receive punishment; thus, they learn that their needs do not matter, only those of the adult who tells them what they “should and should not do,” and in their brain, the neural connections that would put them in danger (of being punished, excluded, rejected), i.e., the connections with the right hemisphere, are severed. This is how they become an adult who trusts no one, who does not listen to their needs, and has no connection with empathy, care, or any function of the right hemisphere. They are a person who becomes a functional cog in the system, obeys, and replicates what they learned. It is difficult for that person to see beyond because that is how they were socialized, and their entire environment has that same mentality of separation. To break free from that cycle, several circumstances are needed, some social, some genetic, and some personal. Thanks to wise nature, there have always been neurodivergent people whose brains do not sever the neural connections with the right hemisphere, who tirelessly seek another form of meaning, push the limits of the cog-like society, and find new paths. They are the ones who push for changes in social circumstances in which each person can seek help given their personal situations. Diversity is what helps us as a society to awaken, to break the paradigms of separation, and to find ways to reconnect and move from a mentality of separation to a mentality of unity that allows us to see ourselves as interconnected beings, and the well-being of all and sustainability can be achieved.
Ultimately, the ability to Con-Tribu-Te to the life of another, whether by donating so that another with less privilege can participate or by being in resonance, depends on our capacity to connect with the right hemisphere, and that depends on the experiences of empathy and resonance we have been able to have in life. Every act of love resonates in the universe, and a spark of compassion can make all the difference in a person's life story.
Do you have the conditions to re-write your experience from resonance and a Unity mindset?