I felt inspired to amplify these teachings from Dra Rocio Rosales Meza as I revisited my notes from her program ”Decolonial Shadow work – unlearn the white colonial mind”.
To shift the current world order in a sustainable way more people need to have a decolonial consciousness. But what does it mean to have a decolonial consciousness?
First, the definition must come from an indigenous perspective. The colonial mind can not define this. Also, it is a consciousness: integrated in mind, body and spirit.
Dra Rocio speaks of four things to understand and acknowledge to say we have a decolonial consciousness:
- The White Colonial Capitalist Patriarchy exists. It was white European settlers (men) that created the colonial paradigm for capital, for exploiting and extracting from lands and peoples.
It is important to understand the history of the system we live in. That colonization is not only about people but also about land. To just name it racism and white supremacy is incomplete. It doesn’t show where it comes from. When we have a decolonial consciousness we understand the history of the system and are unlearning its harmful ways.
2. All spaces are colonial except indigenous spaces. This is why we need indigenous wisdom to shift things sustainably in the world, because right relationship is required.
3. White Europeans colonized the ENTIRE world. It changed the way we think and the way we relate to each other. We have ALL been trained to think like a colonizer. For example how we define success.
4. White people have more power in the system. And as we have more power, we have a bigger responsibility to dismantle the system. Not in a colonial, individual way, but as a sacred, collective responsibility.
Eva Christin 