CONVERSATIONS THAT MATTER
HOMAGE TO LORAINE
A panel of friends and colleagues come together to honor the life and work of Dr. Loraine Laubscher
Heidi writes
When I heard about Loraine*s death, I was deeply saddened.
There are outstanding women doing outstanding things in the world and hardly anybody notices it. More often than not they work together with men who are publicly seen and appreciated while the women who enabled the man to do his work, remains unseen and unappreciated. This is the old story of patriarchy, it needs to end.
Women do remarkable work in the world. Unfortunately they are often forced to adopt masculine ways of doing, thinking and behaving in order to get noticed. Our next step as women is to allow and appreciate the feminine way of doing, thinking and behaving and integrate it in our lives.
Our world is not at all in balance, the masculine energies are dominant and still suppress the feminine as something not valid, even ridiculous. It is time to change the perspective. We have seen where we’ve got with male leadership and masculine ways: we are again at the verge of an atomic war, separation is predominant, fighting and claiming to be right and know it all – an attitude which regularly has led to disaster.
When will humanity learn from the past? When will it acknowledge the gift of feminine qualities and fully integrate them? It is time that women rise up and appreciate their feminine ways of being and bring them into the world by being assertive and not allowing the traditional masculine way to push them back again. And it is time that men start to acknowledge the shortcomings of the purely masculine way of organising the world and to support the feminine energy in themselves and in the women to rise and take their rightful part in life.
In my exes, Lorraine Laubscher was a pioneer in bringing the feminine way to the table. Connecting and caring, creating peace and understanding. She was going all the way to bring people of opposite sides together by her ability to personally connect with the other person and not be deviated from political or social rules of segregation. She went into places which were considered dangerous, she spoke from her heart to the people whom she met and she was accepted and appreciated by, let’s say, the “enemies”. She was courageous in what she did and how she lived. I am sure that this courage came naturally from the desire in her heart to do good and to bridge the deep gaps between the people in her country.
Today it is time to appreciate her, as an exceptional human being and also as a woman, a pioneer, showing the world what women can achieve by using their innate feminine qualities and capacities. It is time to appreciate the feminine way and allow it to co-create our future. It is time to abandon the idea that our habitual way of dealing with the world is the only possible one. Yes, we need rationality and reason, strategy and following through with plans, but we also need the capacity to evaluate our plans from our heart and inner knowing, to correct the course when we realise that we have embarked in the wrong direction, to stop fighting blindly for ideological ideas, but sense what is needed in the moment and get on and do it. We need the feminine, we need it in men too. They need to let go of their narcissistic desire to be “the greatest” in order to become sensitive to what is arising in reality. And we also need it in women who have abandon their innate wisdom and knowledge in order to survive in a masculine dominated world.
May this event be the celebration of the life of a woman, Lorraine, who has done what she needed to do in her personal and professional life and who has given us an example of where women can go. As I got to know her, I believe she is a role model for a new femininity: Children, yes, and, as Barbara Marx-Hubbard said, women move along from procreating to co-creating. We women have the capacity to naturally co-create by connecting. May this be a milestone in promoting co-creativity over competition, over fighting and the striving for dominance. May Loraine’s life show the world the capacities of women to lead in a different and soulfully caring way.
All countries who have done better in the Corona Crisis are led by women and those who do worse are led by men. This is no surprise. Women care for life, men care for winning. Unless we find an integration, unless we win by caring, there is little hope to overcome the present challenges.
Let us give Loraine the due recognition and appreciation. Let us commit to integrate those qualities into ourselves which she so beautifully managed to do.
About Dr. Loraine Laubscher
Video Live Stream on August 26th, 2020 at 6pm CEST
You can also watch and comment on Youtube https://youtu.be/kS4FAe3brMo
Loraine is one of the most experienced users of Spiral Dynamics globally. She is renowned for her ability to apply Spiral Dynamics practically and with lasting results.
Her easy and accessible communication style enable her to share sound and practical problem-solving-, thinking- and conflict resolution skills with employees at all levels in the organisation.
Her research interests include effective work place forums, diversity management, personnel and organisational change.
Loraine has presented papers at conferences in North and South America as well as South Africa.
She also has extensive marketing experience.
