Interesting to see a post focused on love, by Ruth Levine, inspired by bell hooks. As Ruth puts it, “If love is important in every part of our lived experience, shouldn’t we think and talk about it in public policy?”
“all about love” is one of the few books that made the cut to return from Washington DC to the UK with me in 2020 - see here for more
… which reflects the fact that love, and the qualities of relationships that make lives and systems and societies what they are, has been an increasingly important part of my work since 2020 at Global Integrity
… for instance, in my reflections on integrity as the strength and quality of a system’s integration; the nature and inclusiveness of the relationships and processes that connect the various actors and make the whole system more than the sum of its parts.
And now, inspired by the work of the Collective Change Lab on a relational approach to systems change, (see my collated resources), The Relationships Project and many more
… love is one of the key strands of my freelancing efforts to contribute to the co-creation of living, learning and loving systems, as well as in my more personal pursuit of systemic happiness, locally and globally, and at all points in between.
So, I’m feeling further emboldened to focus on nurturing systems that are more about love and compassion than power and control, through an approach to social change and systems change that centres on kindness and relationships. Thanks Ruth!
cc. Kyende Kinoti and Yeukai Chiweshe for our past and future explorations of ubuntu! Here’s Kyende’s post on listening with love from 2020, which introduced me to bell hooks’ All About Love. Thanks Kyende :-)
First published on LinkedIn, 27 July 2023.