(at this conference about reconciliation) If you are here (at this conference about reconciliation) you have most likely experienced a process of questioning and challenging a number of your unconscious beliefs about race.

What are some of your generationally inherited messages about race? Pair and Share What are some of your generationally inherited messages about race? How can we move toward a post-racial society? So, how are beliefs formed?

Unconscious Intention Embedded Conscious Intention Entrepreneurial By Todd Grennan, 2015 https://www.braze.com/blog/6-ways-to-get-your-customers-subconscious-on-your-side/ Focus on Intention- unconscious and conscious. Repeating cycles. Most of us identify with being rational, thoughtful, and reasonable, and general make good decisions.

You may have heard that you can be "right-brained" or "left-brained"--and that those who favor the right are more creative or artistic and those who favor the left are more technical and logical. But brain scanning technology has revealed that the two hemispheres of the brain most often work together in complex processing. For example, language processing, once believed to be the provenance of the left hemisphere only, is now understood to take place in both hemispheres: the left side processes grammar and pronunciation while the right processes intonation. The left brain analyzes and makes calculation based on known information, often making new connections between previously unrelated information. But the right brain is where new information enters and this a requirement for entrepreneurial cognition. We used to believe utilizing both the left and the right brain was the highest form of cognition, but recently, we are beginning to learn about a heart brain, where the heart informs the two brain hemispheres to impact thought and behavior. So, what might this look like?

The symbolic representations of our shared values leave powerful messages for the next generation to inherit. The crucial process of introspectively taking inventory, questioning and challenging our own inherited messages (and our method for decision making) is a process that will require intentional effort and courage. This process will leave a legacy of reconciliation for the next generation, if each do our part. Isn’t it worth it?

“When debates turn ugly and accusations and personal attacks fly back and forth, we can be sure that what’s at stake is something larger and deeper than the issue at hand. Even more important - given how these things usually go - it’s unlikely that the worldview differences that are actually driving the conflict will ever be named, much less examined or discussed, which is why such debates are so unproductive and keep coming back (in different forms and issues).”

What is the content of your worldview What is the content of your worldview? Ask yourself these questions if you want to go deeper… What is the basis for believing my worldview is true? Careful study, comprehensive body of evidence? Stories? Personal experience? Gut feeling? What happens if I assume that the person I disagree with is every bit as intelligent, thoughtful and well-intentioned. How would this affect my understanding of the disagreement and my part in it? What does it mean to seriously consider that a view that contradicts my own might be true? (even partially) What does this consideration require of me? Is it possible that both opposing views have some element of truth, rather than dichotomous views? What is at stake for us if our view is challenged? What is the investment we have in being right, what do we lose if we are wrong? What are the social consequences of adopting one worldview or another? What are the effects for members in our society if we answer sociological questions one way or another? Who will pay the price for our decisions? (Johnson, 2018, p. 140)