Questioning anf Envisioning

Questioning and Envisioning

The questioning process challenges the rationalizations, and internalization of these rationalizations, that undergird the Hierarchical Polarization Paradigm, by asking questions about aspects of a hierarchical polarity that are taken for granted. Questioning processesare supported by self-conscious reflection, and by true scientific investigation and education.

Here is as an example of a transformative question:
" Are women (or blacks/gays/poor people) naturally inferior in their abilities, or have they been made such by our economic and social institutions? "

Questioning processes are the sine qua non for the transformation of hierarchical polarities, and of the Hierarchical Polarization Paradigm. For this reason, the ability to think for oneself, and to think critically about social roles, values, practices and institutions, is key to the Transformative Moment. Questioning occurs throughout the historical development of a social movement, but is especially crucial at its onset.

Embodied in questioning processes is the ability to begin to envision a future in which hierarchical polarizations are absent -- a future of equality and cooperation. Karl Marx, as part of the anti-class, workers’ movement, is known for his vision of communism without private property where goods and services were distributed, “from each, according to ability; to each, according to need.” Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech energized the Civil Rights movement by envisioning a society where “a person was judged not according to the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.”