THE PSYCHE OF THE BLACK WOMAN: CONNECTING SELF AND COMMUNITY (Pt. 2)

Yesterday, I began a discussion about the psyche of the black woman. This post was so long that I decided to break it into two parts so that our discussion could be more focused.

When I listen to the voices of black women in the church, I hear a lot of pain, rage and despair. I hear a lot of discouragement. I hear the cried of a lot of women who are searching. There is a heavy burden that many women carry who do not know how to release that burden. I hope that our conversations can serve as a starting point for offering the necessary insights that will facilitate our ability to impact the collective progress of our people. I am encouraged by all of the insights that are presented by those who have engaged in our group examinations at this blog.

I want to maintain our group focus so that we can deconstruct and then rebuild. The chart, titled "Elements In The Personal Empowerment Process",(displayed below) was from a presentation by John Lord, titled "Empowerment: Self In Community" at the Empowerment Practice in Social Work Conference at the University of Toronto:



I wanted to include this chart so that we can analyze dynamics of fostering connections with self while we utilize this chart that lists the core concepts that we will explore. We know that the condition of our psyche impacts how we foster community (or diminish community) but we haven't discussed how it impacts each element of the personal empowerment process.

In the same online discussion referenced earlier, Khadija provided a very useful synopsis on June 21, 2008 that I believe we all can absorb and then utilize as a tool for further examinations. (Her observations are found in the comments section under the post about Ira Newble.)

In two different discussions on this blog, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs was mentioned. This was the 1990 adaptation of the Hierarchy of Needs model:

Level One: Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

Level Two: Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.

Level Three: Belonging and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.

Level Four: Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.

Level Five: Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.

Level Six: Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

Level Seven: Self-Actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

Level Eight: Transcendence needs - helping others to achieve self actualization.

This week, I decided not to add more posts to my blog so that we can revisit some of the key topics on this blog that we have skimmed over. New people have come to this roundtable who are adding their perspectives to discussions that we began weeks and months ago and we need to take time to hear what they are adding to those discussions. As I hop around my blog, I see that there are some discussions on this blog that we have not had that need to be initiated before we put more issues on the table for examination. I ask you this week to take a look at the introspection series on the sidebar and review some of the conversations we have had.

I find that when I return to some discussions that we have had on this blog, I am motivated by the rich sharing that has taken place here. Feel free to add more insights to the discussions if you find that you have more contributions to make. If you find that we have missed an important issue that should be expanded upon on this blog, you are certainly welcome to click on "speak" on the sidebar and list the issues that we need to explore more thoroughly.

This week, I want to revisit this Hierarchy of Needs model and to begin to discuss how to identify and communicate a process of collective self-actualization will be fostered through various dimensions of community-building among black women. Let us begin to target specific ways to advance the process of self-actualization for one another, even as we critically examine the psyche of the black woman.

We have a lot of work to accomplish but I am confident that we are covering a lot of ground in this extensive series. I know that I am not alone in my commitment to facilitating growth and progress for all of my sistas. I congratulate those of you who have actively contributed to the empowerment of black women and I encourage those of you who want to add to this rich community to step up to the table and share your experiences and wisdom so that we may all benefit.