I think Coyote and Jayne are circling around something veeeery interesting,
here, and that is the question of just how much our thinking is STILL
dominated by patriarchal assumptions and ... just as important ... how
can we stand firmly outside of those assumptions, address them as needed,
and have philosophical conversations with individuals who are still in
the thrall of those assumptions ... I'm asking "how" in terms of
practical examples rather than "how could we ever accomplish that." I
think it's being accomplished almost daily on this list.
One of my major life commitments is to sustaining, to the best of my
ability, alert, balanced and non-judgemental awareness of the murderous
assumptions which pervade our society -- and to bringing those assumptions
to the attention of whoever is perpetrating them. This is ticklish at
least partly because damaging assumptions are usually amorphous and less
provable than errors in fact; effective assumption-busting depends, I
feel, far more on effective timing and timely examples than documentation,
because you're dealing with emotions as well as with personal (and
therefore variable) realities. I am far from perfect (I see Jayne,
especially, as being VERY accomplished, at least in her email persona),
but I'm still plugging, because I believe that one of the biggest dangers,
especially as change and chaos begin to move more and more quickly through
our world, is to fall asleep.
I believe acquiring this ability to "stay awake" is far more subtle and
complex than simply finding a sustaining, mindful and personally
satsifying philosphy (materialist or spiritual) and living it ... it's so
easy to say to oneself "Ahhhh, NOW I've found it!" and everything in our
culture encourages us to get "it" figured out and then set in cement, so
we can get on with the business of living, and not think about "it" any
more, whatever "it" is.
I am still reeling from the experience last week of having my
opthalmalogist tell me that we should have the Clipper Chip (government
spying device) on our computers to prevent terrorists! I asked him if he
also wanted a Clipper Chip on his phone, too, since terrorists
undoubtedly pick up the phone occasionally as well. And, do you know,
he'd never thought of that. As a good Washingtonian, he'd never put up
with a chip in his phone ... he's all for less government. BUT,he saw a
television show about military problems and blindly and agreeably stepped
into the propaganda trap without giving it a second's thought.
I believe that, no matter how alert we are, we can all fall into these
traps, and the best thing each of us can do for anyone we know who is
committed to ecofeminism or any other connecting/community/greater
awareness philosophy, is to help each other spot the assumptions. I
think we're especially vulnerable if we participate in any popular media
at all (TV, radio, newspapers, most magazines) ... and I personally
would be VERY grateful any time someone points out my blind spots ...
just be gentle, 'kay?
Ooooops! I didn't intend to natter on so long, and I hope that you will
find it generates useful thoughts, albeit somewhat off the ecofem path.
I must say, as a long-time list member, that I've enjoyed the past
month's posts more than any other time period in my tenure, at least!
Faith
