An Invitation to Connect Differently

 The more I study theories of anti-oppression, the more I am convinced that privilege, oppressor and oppressed are quite complex expressions of samsara, or suffering. They seem rooted in the political notions of surveillance and normalizing certain groups of people and casting out others in the process. But this relationships is always situated, and I am afraid that without a nuanced understanding of greed and hatred (as well as ignorance), it's hard to really get to the heart of oppression.
  The critical problem for me has always been how to look at privilege as an invitation to connect differently rather than the retreat into fear, xenophobia, and insecure clinging to one's false and unearned sense of power. What power does, after all, is to bolster a sense of identity. When a person burrows down beyond the layers of desire for material things, prestige, status, etc. it's ultimately the self that is threatened when these particular attainments aren't met. But when I recognize my guilt in having succeeded in certain things in life by virtue of privilege rather than personal achievement, I start to feel a kind of openness to the world and others: I no longer need to feel so guarded, since what I am trying to guard is ultimately a "sham" or a kind of unreal sense of self and entitlement. It's only when I can see it this way that I can really question whether such things really define who I am. But alas, as easy as this sounds, a period of mourning the loss of the self is needed, as well as a healthy sense of guilt.
    Why connecting differently is so important is that without the sense of connection, people will take their privileges as themselves, clinging to it for life. When they loosen their identification, there is no longer a need to wall oneself off from others. These others come closer to oneself, and there is a little more of a sense of solidarity in the process. Somehow, for me, this is the exciting part about anti-oppression approaches, and I look forward to learning more in the weeks ahead.