Competing Visions for Our Future
Imagine a future that is one you long for and want to win. A future where all living beings belong without exception. A future in stark contrast to Project 2025's vision.
This week, Imagine Belonging celebrates its third book-a-versary! I’m grateful it remains a cherished guide for leaders ready to transform themselves & those they lead.
The book invites readers to co-create a vision for a belonging society. It offers a structured analysis of oppression and a practical guide to upend it and build belonging spaces.
I couldn’t think of a more salient time to read this book than right now. It offers a framework for co-creating a vision that sharply contrasts with Project 2025’s vision.
Octavia E. Butler’s Influence
When I was writing the book, I was influenced by Octavia E. Butler’s, The Parable of the Sower, which imagines a dystopian future that fails to address climate change.
Similarly, Imagine Belonging analyzes systems of oppression that should we fail to address them, may lead to dystopian futures that make our need for belonging elusive.
In Butler’s book, she contrasts this dystopian future with her astute exploration of themes such as change, liberation, and freedom.
In Imagine Belonging, readers have the opportunity to explore systems of belonging to remind us that we have the power to shape and co-create our culture and future.
The Belonging Belief System
Butler introduced readers to the “Earthseed Belief System,” encouraging them to:
Accept that change is everlasting.
Be curious about new ideas.
Examine how our actions impact others.
Collaborate rather than rely on rules or dogma.
A memorable quote from the book reads:
All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you. The only lasting truth is change. God is change.
Much like Butler’s Earthseed Belief System, the Belonging Belief System outlined in Imagine Belonging encourages readers to:
Imagine possibilities that transform today’s reality.
Practice collective care to build belonging spaces welcoming co-creation.
Exercise curiosity, rigor, and judgment when co-creating a shared vision.
Commit to bridge differences to confidently activate this shared vision.
Groups practicing belonging beliefs create the space required to abandon future visions rooted in scarcity while welcoming new visions rooted in growth.
This practice produces clarity in vision, which increases a group’s confidence that they have what it takes to commit to transforming today’s reality.
[Image Description: The Imagine Belonging Transformation Formula features a Venn diagram with three circles: 1) clarity, 2) commitment, 3) confidence, and transformation is at the center. The formula is featured in Rhodes Perry’s book, Imagine Belonging.]
Your Belonging Coach
Practicing these beliefs requires committed action. Daring to imagine transforming today’s reality demands that we give ourselves permission to believe in the possibility.
It requires a radical imagination, the kind adrienne marie brown inspires. A visioning process that is only limited by our self-imposed boundaries.
We begin with ourselves, excavating the wisdom from our bodies. It’s for this reason that I am gifting you with this Imagine Belonging-inspired meditation.
[Image Description: An image of Rhodes Perry, wearing glasses, a hat, and a gray sweater holding up his book, Imagine Belonging, as he delivers a meditation practice in celebration of his book’s 3rd book-a-versary.]
Want More Practice? RPC Can Help!
After listening to this mediation, consider exploring additional resources sourced from the book to help you imagine and build a belonging society:
The Belonging Practice. If you’re seeking a community of visionaries to co-create a future you long for and want to win while practicing collective care and somatic practices, consider joining our weekly Belonging Practice on Thursdays at 8 am Pacific Time. Save your seat.
Imagine Belonging Masterclass. If you missed our January 30th Belonging Vision Masterclass, where I guided you through applying aspects of his book Imagine Belonging, be sure to explore different access options here to get extended access to the Belonging Circle.
LinkedIn Learning Course. If your company has an enterprise account with LinkedIn Learning, consider taking a truncated course on developing Your Belonging Vision. This course is a great primer on co-creating a shared vision for your workplace’s future culture. Check out the trailer here.
If you need additional support, please contact us here. Together, let’s grow our Belonging Movement!