The Importance of Conversation and Political Engagement: The Conscious Circle

In the time of immense uncertainty, engaging in political discussions is almost impossible to avoid but at the same time, difficult to truly harness without confusion and doubt. Political issues can be difficult to talk about especially when it is deeply personal. However, being able to engage in political debates is not only important to understand world affairs and how they affect us, but to understand people and why they think the way that they do.

Political engagement is often assumed to almost always end up firing heated debates that lead to anger and frustration, most of which i can attest to. However, political engagement also has the capacity to render provocative and eye-opening dialogues that foster radical empathy and mutual understanding. For me, political engagement enables me to understand where people come from, but most certainly, how their politics directly reflects their character and learned behaviours.

The Conscious Circle is meant to be a platform that enables these conversations to be had, and dialogues between people from all walks of life and different or not-so-different politics, to tackle relevant issues. While it is true that 'middle ground' is not always possible, the ability of conversations to open up spaces for introspection and unlearning, at least in my opinion, outweighs the often negative elements of political conversations. I hope that people who engage in this circle feel a willingness to learn about their own politics and unlearn the political landscape as an intimidating stage where power is only and can only be vested in others than themselves.

The Conscious Circle covers a range of political issues from a range of political contexts including social movements, economic policies, race relations, gender equality, immigration politics, capitalism, imperialism and the list goes on. The Conscious Circle while open to all dialogues, does not tolerate bullying, bigotry and hate speech.

 Image sourced: The Atlantic