Allowing Light In

How can we build peaceful lives and societies if all we are trained to do is normalize the study, report and defense from the "worst" of humanity?

There is a song I really love by Birdy called “Standing in the way of the light”. It narrates the ordeal of being accustomed to shadows, hardships and destructive behaviors in a relationship and how, after much fight, one of the two characters wants to rethink conditions and repair.

The song carries a wider message for the times we live in today - an invitation to reflect upon how we have normalized violence, suffering and pain in our view, study and report of the state of the world - and our relationship with it.

In Politics and International Relations, we are trained to seek problems to find solutions for; to prepare and defend agendas for whichever old or trendy model of thought is believed to be best for _____; and… to normalize conflicts - and violence to create or solve them - as part of self, societal and system’s growth.

Trying to reinvent the wheel seems an impossible task nowadays for the quest of Power often requires a high level of acceptance that violence was, is and will be “ever” present to attain, sustain, shield or remove People from “it”.

Concrete structures and marble statues have been built and hundreds of laws and constitutions have been written throughout centuries as symbols, playbooks or spaces to convene, formalize, amass or weaken “Power”.

Violence has followed, center stage or behind the curtains in this quest. It can easily be found if, once again, we are taught we “should” look for violence to denounce or demonize it.

The premise of that search may be “good-intentioned”.

Some of us (cannot speak for everybody) study and report on violence so we can prevent it, so it doesn’t continue, so it stops spreading like a plague and causing much “senseless” harm.

Yet, somehow, the more we do, the less it seems to bring us and others: peace.

Why is it so?

Why is it that, by normalizing violence and wars as the *only* focus “worth” reporting, studying or crafting domestic and foreign policies for (or as a result of), the more it seems to linger on?

What if, in this and many other fields, we are taught to normalize the presence of dissatisfaction, evilness, cruelty and unsafety because Humans cannot be “naive”, “trust each other” or “get along” because then… what would Politics - as we know of today - be any good for?

“Of course, division is needed, the more complicated the better.”

The more labels are used, the more systems are overanalyzed, the more we are overload with information, the more we focus on the “bad”, the more “good” professionals in this field we can be or, sorry, better phrasing is “we can be seen as”.

Is this approach affecting our health and wellbeing?

Is our mind the only valuable asset we can offer, as humans, to these fields? Where do our spirits, hearts and bodies fit into the equation? Or they simply… don’t matter?

You see, minds are easy to train, retrain and control.

Spirits and hearts are different, bodies have their own way to react and keep score.

How much violence, how much darkness, how much evilness is “enough” to focus on before a person becomes all those attributes or, worse, gets destroyed by them?

In this field, we barely can address mental, emotional, physical or spiritual health as professionals, it is a taboo topic. It is taboo to even ask whether they can impact the way we choose the topics we research upon, the public or foreign policies proposals we draft or the way we project our personal/collective frustrations to political figures, leaders of parties, companies or organizations who also - perhaps - were not taught or do not have the time to prioritize their wellbeing.

And then we wonder why their decisions are filled with lack of empathy, lack of understanding, lack of awareness of the social or environmental damage they will cause?

And then we wonder why is the world not getting “better”, “safer”, “worth living on or… for”?

If we are taught to only focus on what’s wrong, what doesn’t work, what shouldn’t happen (because that is a Realist view of Politics and IR that still prevails to this date), isn’t that paradigm placing us, humans, in a self and collective defeating mode?

Do we have a chance if we are, ourselves, unconscious or willingly, standing in the way of the light?

A while ago, one of my psychologists Mercy gave me a huge lesson: “You need to allow light in Natalia”.

I was resisting it with all my force to believe it was possible to see the light, to focus on the good, the solutions, the inspiration when all the international news were framing ethnic cleansing, wars, genocides, bombings, extraction, natural disasters, human-made devastation.

Rather than wondering “where was the light”, my biggest question was “how” I could let it in when everyone around me in this field and in journalism seemed to “crave for” the violence because that’s how we were taught we could keep a job? If it bleeds it leads - kind of mentality.

What if I allowed light to enter and then someone hurt me? As it has happened before in many forms, hacking, bullying, loss of jobs, loss of friendships, loss of followers and “good” reputation…

In the bridge of the Birdy song, she mentions this sentence “We've been living in the shadows too long”.

In my work as an international mentor and journalist, I used to live in the shadows, see conflicts, violence and destruction as part of my daily life and work. It was normal to me. Until the day, it took a toll on my physical, mental and emotional health and none of the people I used to “want to help” were there to support me. I started noticing how the focus on all the bad led me to feel unsatisfied, scared, insecure and undeserving of any type of happiness.

“If people around the world were or are suffering, I therefore, should suffer too - kind of mentality.”

It took me years and finding the right spiritual teachers and psychologists to learn that my focus was misdirected. That I didn’t need to self-sacrifice for a “greater good” because that only was feeding the violent loop some of us (not all) are seeking to overcome and transcend in this field with the hope of helping the world be “a better place”.

But, my point here is, the current daily grind isn’t allowing us to think and feel that way.

Is it the system? Or is it ourselves?

What needs to change?

Are these filters of dissatisfaction with Politics -and the violence that can be found depending on the country and context one comes from - preventing or shielding us from trying to see “anything” good in life or in this world?

I have struggled and still struggle to include Light, Goodness, Joy, Gratitude and Bliss as part of my daily life and work, there are so many societal judgements that dictate one doesn’t mix with the other. If you are into Politics and IR, you cannot dare to talk about Spirituality or Good News or Happy People.

So, instead of trying to go to the extreme, I am learning the art of balance.

I am hardly working to deconstruct this norm of self and outer violence as the *only* “valuable” way to view, report and relate to People, Politics and the World.

Because I know today, there is no other way but to allow light in.

I know the world of shadows, darkness and bones, it is easy and comforting to report and focus on all the worst of humanity than to believe and report in its capability to do good, thrive and lead life-sustaining ways and forms of self/societal organization.

What if “goodness” is something valuable to report on?

What if, in this polarity equation of light/shadow, we need to see more of the “light” in order to believe it is possible for us and for all to believe it can exist and we can deserve it too?

Is Life or, by extension, Politics what we make of it?