How might we shape change?

Poet + philosopher, healer + doula, and social justice facilitator adrienne maree brown is creating a new language for us to imagine social transformation—to make evolution irresistible. Her book, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (AK Press, 2017), offers a portal to more collaborative, sustainable ways forward. She is a futurist, seeing “the world full of beauty, magic, miracles, and patterns that induce wonder.”  

adrienne maree brown shares: “Emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions.” A core concept is the “fractal”—meaning, “how we are at the small scale is how we are at the large scale.” It’s related to her mentor Grace Lee Bogg’s mantra: “Transform yourself to transform the world.”  For adrienne maree brown, “this doesn’t mean to get lost in the self, but rather to see our own lives and work and relationships as a front line, as a first place we can practice justice, liberation, and alignment with each other and the planet.” I appreciate this invitation to shape change by turning a compassionate eye inward; and, by opening my front door and journeying with the intention to create more love.