8/3/2019 Conversation on Leadership ContinuesBy Xochitl Alvizo

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Originally published:http://feminismandreligion.com/2011/12/07/conversation-on-

leadership-continues-by-xochitl-alvizo/

Conversation on Leadership

ContinuesBy Xochitl AlvizoDecember 7, 2011

tags:Courage to Sin,dialogue,Feminist Leadership,Mary Daly,Xochitl Alvizo

byXochitl Alvizo

In a recent poston leadership I proposed that facilitating open dialogue is a central aspect of leadership.

That if we are to move into new horizonsthat is, feminist horizons of mutual communal empowerment

and liberationwe must be willing to both risk and dialogue, and a leader

is one who helps facilitate those practices.

Dialogue and the practice of making room for one anothers voices and

contributions do not come easily to us however. Humans have a tendencyto stifle and squelch one another especially if we sense that our privileges

and comforts, our truths and our convictions, are being challenged or

threatened. And so the breakdown in dialogue can result in the literal

prevention of change and possibilitythe possibility and actuality of

entering into a more divine reality and way of relating. A leader then must

be someone who can recognize and be aware of change-stifling powers,

be willing to name and resist them, and help facilitate the creation of a

literal time/place space for open participation and dialogue. This new

open space has the potential and literally becomes the womb from which

something new may be birthedit is a fluid, messy, mysterious place, and

not one necessarily easy to exists within, but absolutely necessary if seek

to contribute toward a more just and beautiful existence. Open dialogue is

a necessary part of helping create this new womb space where differences

(of perspective, voices, people) can come together to interact and spark with one another in order to morph

and change and thus birth something new together. How then does leadership help to facilitate this process?

The first thing to recognize is that leadership is a communal effort. It is not true leadership if a leader thinks

they are doing things alone or thinks they have the best and fullest insight to offer. Leadership is first of all

a team effort. Leadership is a group of people coming together with their diversity of gifts and talents ready

to contribute them toward the well-being of the community.

Mary and the Labrys: Feminist Tool of Wisdom and Wit

Leaders who aim to participate in birthing the new must also be comfortable with the mysterious and the

unknown. People who are venturing toward a new divine reality must have a secure

enough place from which to explore, experiment, and take risks. This is why

community is so vital. A community of people willing to engage and participate with

one another through open dialogue into the yet-unknown-though-hopefully-more-divine reality, can help offer that measure of safety required in our bones that allows

us to make those risk-taking decisions that both exhilarate us and scare the wits out of

us. For this Courage is also required.

Leadership requires courage.Mary Dalydefined the Courage to Sin as the Courage

to be intellectual in the most direct and daring way, claiming and trusting the deep

correspondence between the structures/processes of ones own mind and the

structures/processes of reality; the Courage to trust and Act on ones own deepest

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intuitions (Wickedary,pg. 90). For her, to sin was to participate in Be-ing, that is, to participate in

Ultimate/Intimate Reality, the ground of be-ing which is Verb, the ever-living and changing Goddess.

It is not an easy thing to trust and act out of our deepest intuitions sometimes we dont even know how to

recognize the divine voice deep within. But good leadership helps create the space that provides room and

allows time for birthing the Courage to trust and act out of our deepest intuitions. Thus, I think it is

necessary that we discern and journey together. A community of courage and open dialogue can help

facilitate and sustain us as we discern the deep wisdom that would move us toward the more beautiful and

just existence that many of us so deeply desire.

I propose that we must all be leaders. I propose that all of our participation is needed in the task of creating

the new womb space from which we could birth something new togetherthe space in which we can

sustain open dialogue and risk toward the yet unknown. What deep impulse from within our soul needs to

be expressed? What holds us back? And in what ways might we be the leaders that help facilitate this

exploration and discernment for ourselves and one another? What might it mean for us to lead with the

Courage to Sin and Sin big?

Xochitl Alvizo is afeminist Christian-identified womanand theologian currently completing her PhD at

Boston University School of Theology in practical theologywith a focus on ecclesiology. Finding herself on

the boundary of different social and cultural contexts, she works hard to develop her voice and tohear and

encourage the voiceof others. Her work is inspired by the conviction that all people are inextricably

interconnected and the good one can do in any one area inevitably and positively impacts all others.

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