Deep Green Resistance Spirituality plays a role in resistance. First, it lends a moral-mythic framework for facing down power as in the Underground Railroad exodus of enslaved Africans from the southern states of the U.S., the Jews flight from enslavement in Egypt, or Jesuss throwing the moneylenders from the Temple. In contrast, the hyperindividualism of inner peace as a final goal offers nothing but moral and political disengagement. Second, a spirituality of resistance provides a connection to something way bigger than ourselves. Whatever you want to call it - the Great Mystery, the Goddess, a Higher Power - that source can lead us out of our personal pain, loss, and exhaustion, and lend us the courage and strength to fight for justice. That is not to say that our personal suffering should not be addressed - indeed, conditions like depression, addiction, and PTSD can be life-threatening and people in our communities that are afflicted need our compassion and help. But a spiritual system worth the name must ultimately lead us out, not in, both because it offers an experience of love or grace beyond our personal pain and because it connects us to the wider world - human, planetary, and cosmic - that must call us to action. A serious strategy to save the living planet has to consider every possible course of action. To state it clearly once more: OUR PLANET IS DYING. There could not be a greater call to responsibility than stopping the destruction of all life.... It is long past time to stop playing make believe about the threats to our planet, solutions to those threats, and about the courage and sacrifice that will be required to bring the system down. ~ from Deep Green Resistance by Lierre Keith, Aric McBay, and Derrick Jensen, p. 108 deepgreenresistance.org
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 06:05:39 +0000
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