The time has come…

COP26 is over. Have a few tiny positive steps been taken (is there any possibility whatsoever that that might be an underestimate?): most people throughout the world would probably characterise present progress as “too little, too late”.

Yet – we’re looking in the wrong direction if we measure change only by government commitments, technological progress, support for hard hit underdeveloped nations or of indigenous people – nor even the eventual phasing out coal and oil and gas.

Something more fundamental is necessary – we need to recognise that we are grappling here with issues of life and death, not of humanity, biodiversity or, still less, the planet but our own very individual existences. Our fears, even our hopes, are at the root of the destructions we see all around us. The rot begins within ourselves.

There is nothing new here. Wisdom of the ages, mindfulness, Buddhism & Sikhism all have much to contribute. Change begins with ourselves, with how we value our lives = but the deepest changes occur through discussion amongst friends, making commitments (within ourselves) and learning with and from one another.

David Holt was a highly unusual Jungian analyst, who died on Easter Sunday 2002 – unusual because independent, critical, polymath and christian (with, deliberately, a small ‘c’). His final book, The Clermont Story, is subtitled ‘arguing christian responsability’ (there’s that deliberate mis-spelling again).

The intention of the book’, wrote Holt, ‘is to start fresh argument between christian and non christian.

http://davidholtonline.com/

‘According to my story,’ writes Holt again, about a story which he wrote long ago and which has reverberated throughout his life, ‘something has gone missing between christian and non christian… It is about time. To take it up christian and non christian have to enquire together into their differences’.

So, he asked me, Jeffrey Newman, a rabbi, to write an Introduction.

Symbols and meaningful coincidences – synchronicities, to use the neologism Jung coined – reverberate throughout Holt’s work, though he seldom uses the word. It was on September 11th 2001, that the proofs arrived, about 9.00 a.m. I left them untouched, as my wife, Bracha, and I went to see our financial advisor. As we returned, about 1.00, we turned on the radio and heard how a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers. We arrived home early enough to watch the second plane crash into the other.

Why ‘The Clermont Story?’

The Clermont story’ writes Holt, ‘originates in a dream which I had in the early spring of 1948. Clermont is a town in central France, where I had spent a week in the previous summer. The love affair which took me there had subsequently ended, and the ending precipitated my going into analysis. I was also reading history at the university at the time, and my imagination was caught by the fact that the first crusade had been preached by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095. My story originated in this coincidence of place.

Holt’s short book is divided into two parts – the first, entitled Caught Between Nature and History, is an autobiographical retrospective introducing the Six Papers of the second half, what they are about, how their themes changed and developed.

Why is all this worth studying and discussing? Holt’s conclusion, at the age of seventy-five is that:

The Clermont story has left me with the thought that I have seen, and am therefore in some way responsible for, an epochal development in the history of christianity which is not spoken of in the history books. I have witnessed, and in some sense taken part in, the killing of the Third Person of the christian Trinity, and the ingestion of its blood into the life of humanity.

What kind of a thought is this?

It is inflated, a madness, it isolates.

Of all this, Holt writes as he asks us to join him in a new understanding of the words ‘responsible, responsibility – to get them turning on (not in) time. Onto past, onto future’.

He explains:

We say “You are responsible for it”, meaning that it is your doing, perhaps with a sense of fault, perhaps with a sense of achievement. And we say “You are responsible for it”, meaning that you have to do something about it, it is up to you to respond, to make a response, with a hint that it had better be effective or you’ll be in trouble. I want to keep reminding us of both timings.Which is why I shall occasionally spell the word with an ‘a’, as in my subtitle. Spelt as responsibility, the word tends to emphasise the past. Spelt as responsability it emphasises more the future, an ability to respond to what’s now.

That is our task, our respons-ability, to take upon ourselves the future.

Nothing less is called for than a complete reorientation – a re-birth.

In this play on responsibility I am trying to make what I believe to be a very important point about time: that the present is when beginning and ending come together. The present is constantly a beginning as well as an ending, an ending as well as a beginning. Now is all the time we ever have. Without it, there is no future, no past. ‘Now’ is time making itself felt as responsibility.

Or, should that be respons-ability? With a strong sense that it is all too much, too big, that is where we must begin.

Beginnings of the DollisBrookers…

DollisBrookers were born initially from three coincidences: a move from North Finchley (where a walk to the Brook was an occasional outing) to Finchley Central – where it could easily take place every day; watching a short video on Rivers as Teachers https://vimeo.com/501219183 (there are also longer versions) and a meeting of the Barnet Climate Action group, which supported the idea.

Surely, however, such a ‘friends of’ already existed? It seemed not. There is the well, long established (1997) Friends of Windsor Open Space (https://fowos.wordpress.com/about/) and the more recent https://darlandsconservationtrust.org.uk, but no group cares for the whole length of the stream, from its source in Moat Mount until it merges with Mutton Brook to become the River Brent.

As an inveterate Twitterer, the place to begin was with tweets and quickly others followed (100 now). A note in NextDoor also caught people’s attention and another 60 joined. But what were we actually going to do?

Litter and dog fouling were obviously immediate concerns and a group of us, with Tony Sarchet in the forefront, began to plan when and how our first litter-pick might take place. But there were obviously immediate issues: where do the tools come from – bin bags, litter-pickers, ring holders? And though such an expedition should be relatively simple, perhaps a little experience would help. How could we learn?

Three groups appeared almost instantaneously when they ‘followed’ in the Twitter feed: the SilkStreamers, who had been doing exactly that work on the other side of the Borough (Edgware, Colindale) for two years; the WelshHarpies, who’d been working on the giant and sometimes beautiful (but rubbish infested) reservoir by the North Circular for a similar length of time and Thames21 https://www.thames21.org.uk.

Why 21? The first UN Earth Summit of 1992, set up Agenda21 and Thames21 was born then to support the river catchments which fed into the Thames and so help cleanse London’s river. “Leading Action for Healthy Rivers: Thames21’s flagship training course” provides all the necessary theoretical knowledge and, once accredited, insurance cover is provided for all registered ‘litter-picks’.

But litter-pick is only the start.

Really our concern is the living health of the river and all dependent upon it – plants, insects, birds, and wild-life as well as us human beings, since we are made up of around 60% water ourselves and need it every day for our lives.

Almost instantaneously, one contact led to another. The third group (mentioned earlier – you may by now have forgotten!) was Barnet Borough Council. Matt Gunyon, its open spaces and leisure officer, was extremely helpful and supportive and agreed to provide all necessary equipment.

Of course, even from the beginning there were challenges – a particularly disturbing one was the understandable distress of a family whose neighbour in Hendon was renting out a large strip of land that he owned bordering the Brook and behind their house as a car, caravan and children’s party double decker bus park – entirely unsuitable for the area and an eyesore. Would we assist in the interests of nature preservation? At this stage, it seemed a worthy cause but one that could sap all our energy, however sympathetic we might be. First, we needed to build our strength.

In this regard, Feargal Sharkey, once lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Undertones and a keen angler, played a key role. He had long been a fervent national advocate of cleaning our rivers and lived locally. Walking with him along the Brook and meeting together at Darlands with the chair of https://darlandsconservationtrust.org.uk made it clear that this was an exciting long term project – ten years, just as a start!

Fortunately, generous help was all around! Andy Savage, once Chair of Stephen’s House and Gardens, knew all about funding and revenue. He’d raised a substantial amount from the Heritage Lottery fund but warned we’d need a proper business plan. It became obvious that a small steering group with a variety of skills would be essential, from looking after social media, to PR and leaflets, admin and finance, as well as botany and biology teachers who could spark our enthusiasms to learn more and more about every aspect of this wonderful world of Dollis Brook which the lockdown was bringing to the forefront of attention of so many of us for the first time. And so we began to put together what we hoped might be the beginnings of a group.

Jeffrey Newman

12 April 2021

Barnet’s Streams – Deep Clean

From Matt Gunyon:

Good afternoon all,

Barnet Council plans some targeted deep clean days along stretches of the Dollis Brook, the Silk Stream and down to the Welsh Harp. We will have teams working Friday-Monday from the afternoon in to the early evening.

If you would like to coordinate any volunteer sessions or resources for when the teams will be in the area please do let us know.

Kind regards

Matthew.Gunyon@barnet.gov.Uk or @matgunyon

Site	Dates
Brook Farm OS	4-Jun
Whetstone Strays	7-Jun
Laurel Way OS	11-Jun
Riverside Walk	7-Jun
Oakdene Park	12-Jun
Windsor OS	14-Jun
Brookside Walk	12 & 13 June
Brent Park	12 & 13 June
Lyndhurst Park	19 & 20 June
The Meads	19 & 20 June
Watling Park	19 & 20 June
Silkstream Park (section north of Silkstream Road)	19 & 20 June
Silkstream Park	26 & 27 June
Montrose PF	26 & 27 June
Rushgrove Park	26 & 27 June
A5-Cool Oak Lane	2-5 July
West Hendon PF Border	2-5 July
Woods around Cool Oak Lane Allotment	2-5 July
Cool Oak Lane Boundaries	2-5 July
Eastern Marsh	2-5 July
Woodfield Park Area	2-5 July

Alan Dean z’l

To me, Alan was peculiar, unique, an enigma or, maybe, more of a catalyst than anyone I have ever met. Recognising that how we perceive a person says more about us than them, nevertheless, I have to pursue my thinking and feeling in these somewhat strange directions without having any idea where they will lead.

I would like, please, to have a photo of Alan to keep by me and to remember him. That face, those eyes with their twinkle, their eagerness and intelligence. But – why has he died? His work was not complete, and never will be. He embodied ‘appreciative enquiry’. Every now and then he would phone to ask ‘how was I doing’ and, more often than not would end by telling me to look after myself. And I took his words very seriously and so have, in appearance, withdrawn (at least for the time being) from PivotProjects.

So much always appeared to be going on within him at every moment. His brain whirred and worked at incredible speed so that he would listen carefully and ask the simplest of questions, which always ensured that a whole new raft or slew of material would be forthcoming.

It seemed that his appetite and capacity were endless. His ability to formulate and draw upon his experience to illustrate was formidable. Like Puck, he was a will o’ the wisp, popping up here, there and everywhere and wherever he appeared, he would stimulate growth, understanding, engagement. 

We had one long drive together, a few years ago and it was the foundation for all I am writing here because it was then, in some depth, that we got to know one another. I have no idea, no memory of what was revealed and it is entirely unimportant. As Wittgenstein said, in the Tractatus, ‘Not how the world is, is the mystical but that it is.’ That was and will remain, for me, the essence, of Alan. He was a manifestation of Wittgenstein, which is high praise indeed.

It is worth reading this short and entirely comprehensible article about Wittgenstein https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/was-wittgenstein-a-mystic/ because it also describes my Alan. 

‘My’ Alan? He did not belong to me; maybe he belonged to no-one, or to the world, the spirit of the world. Recently, I quoted another phrase from the same book by Wittgenstein, ‘The world of the happy man is a different one from the world of the unhappy man.’ Alan always appeared the same, immutable, unchanging.

But – that surely was me and my limitations, unable to see below the surface. It makes Alan seem inhuman, less than human when he was the very expression of the human, human in its best, very highest form. Inexpressible, inexhaustible, the tsimtzum of being – that was Alan, the mystic withdrawal that allowed and encouraged everyone around, everyone he met, to be in his or her own, particular, peculiar form. 

To say ‘he will be missed’ is the supreme understatement.

Extinction Rebellion Solemn Intention

Let us take a moment, this moment, to consider why we are here.

Let us remember our love for this beautiful planet that feeds, nourishes and sustains us.

Let’s remember our love for the whole of humanity, in all corners of the world.

Let’s recollect our sincere desire to protect all this, for ourselves, for all living beings, and for generations to come.

As we act today, may we find the courage to bring this sense of peace, love and appreciation to everyone we encounter, to every word we speak and to every action we make.

We are here for all of us. So may it be.

DollisBrookers – Beginnings

DollisBrookers were born initially from three coincidences: a move from North Finchley (where a walk to the Brook was an occasional outing) to Finchley Central – where it could easily take place every day; watching a short video on Rivers as Teachers https://vimeo.com/501219183 (there are also longer versions) and a meeting of the Barnet Climate Action group, which supported the idea.

Surely, however, such a ‘friends of’ already existed? It seemed not. There is the well, long established (1997) Friends of Windsor Open Space (https://fowos.wordpress.com/about/) and the more recent https://darlandsconservationtrust.org.uk, but no group cares for the whole length of the stream, from its source in Moat Mount until it merges with Mutton Brook to become the River Brent.

As an inveterate Twitterer, the place to begin was with tweets and quickly others followed (100 now). A note in NextDoor also caught people’s attention and another 60 joined. But what were we actually going to do? 

Litter and dog fouling were obviously immediate concerns and a group of us, with Tony Sarchet in the forefront, began to plan when and how our first litter-pick might take place. But there were obviously immediate issues: where do the tools come from – bin bags, litter-pickers, ring holders? And though such an expedition should be relatively simple, perhaps a little experience would help. How could we learn? 

Three groups appeared almost instantaneously when they ‘followed’ in the Twitter feed: the SilkStreamers, who had been doing exactly that work on the other side of the Borough (Edgware, Colindale) for two years; the WelshHarpies, who’d been working on the giant and sometimes beautiful (but rubbish infested) reservoir by the North Circular for a similar length of time and https://www.thames21.org.uk. 

This latter charity emerged out of the first UN Earth Summit of 1992, which set up Agenda21 (hence the name) and its aim was to support the river catchments which fed into the Thames and so help cleanse London’s river. The knowledge and experience of Thames21 was invaluable especially as it ran training courses “Leading Action for Healthy Rivers: Thames21’s flagship training course”. This provides all the necessary theoretical knowledge and once accredited insurance cover is provided for all registered ‘litter-picks’.

But the training also ensures that the litter-pick is transformed. It becomes, for those who are seeking it, a way into the life and health of the river and the life dependent upon it – plants, insects, birds, and wild-life as well as human beings, since we are made up of around 60% water ourselves and depend upon it every day for our lives.

Almost instantaneously, one contact led to another. Barnet Borough Council’ Matt Gunyon, Open Spaces and Leisure Officer, was extremely helpful and supportive and agreed to provide all necessary equipment.

Of course, even from the beginning there were challenges – a particularly disturbing one was the understandable distress of a family whose neighbour in Hendon was renting out a large strip of land that he owned bordering the Brook and behind their house as a car, caravan and children’s party double decker bus park – entirely unsuitable for the area and an eyesore. Would we assist in the interests of nature preservation? At this stage, it seemed a worthy cause but one that could sap all our energy, however sympathetic we might be. First, we needed to build our strength.

In this regard, Feargal Sharkey, once lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Undertones and a keen angler, played a key role. He had long been a fervent national advocate of cleaning our rivers and lived locally. Walking with him along the Brook and meeting together at Darlands with the chair of  https://darlandsconservationtrust.org.uk made it clear that this was an exciting long term project – ten years, just as a start! 

Fortunately, generous help was all around! Andy Savage, once Chair of Stephen’s House and Gardens, knew all about funding and revenue. He’d raised a substantial amount from the Heritage Lottery fund but warned we’d need a proper business plan. It became obvious that a small steering group with a variety of skills would be essential, from looking after social media, to PR and leaflets, admin and finance, as well as botany and biology teachers who could spark our enthusiasms to learn more and more about every aspect of this wonderful world of Dollis Brook which the lockdown was bringing to the forefront of attention of so many of us for the first time. And so we began to put together what we hoped might be the beginnings of a group.

Jeffrey Newman

12 April 2021

Good News from COVID-19 by Kristin Flyntz

Stop. Just stop.

It is no longer a request. It is a mandate.

We will help you.

We will bring the supersonic, high speed merry-go-round to a halt

We will stop

the planes

the trains

the schools

the malls

the meetings

the frenetic, furied rush of illusions and “obligations” that keep you from hearing our

single and shared beating heart,

the way we breathe together, in unison.

Our obligation is to each other,

As it has always been, even if, even though, you have forgotten.

We will interrupt this broadcast, the endless cacophonous broadcast of divisions and distractions,

to bring you this long-breaking news:

We are not well.

None of us; all of us are suffering.

Last year, the firestorms that scorched the lungs of the earth.

did not give you pause.

Nor the typhoons in Africa,China, Japan.

Nor the fevered climates in Japan and India.

You have not been listening.

It is hard to listen when you are so busy all the time, hustling to uphold the comforts and conveniences that scaffold your lives.

But the foundation is giving way,

buckling under the weight of your needs and desires.

We will help you.

We will bring the firestorms to your body

We will bring the fever to your body

We will bring the burning, searing, and flooding to your lungs

that you might hear:

We are not well.

Despite what you might think or feel, we are not the enemy.

We are Messenger. We are Ally. We are a balancing force.

We are asking you:

To stop, to be still, to listen;

To move beyond your individual concerns and consider the concerns of all;

To be with your ignorance, to find your humility, to relinquish your thinking minds and travel deep into the mind of the heart;

To look up into the sky, streaked with fewer planes, and see it, to notice its condition: clear, smoky, smoggy, rainy? How much do you need it to be healthy so that you may also be healthy?

To look at a tree, and see it, to notice its condition: how does its health contribute to the health of the sky, to the air you need to be healthy?

To visit a river, and see it, to notice its condition: clear, clean, murky, polluted? How much do you need it to be healthy so that you may also be healthy? How does its health contribute to the health of the tree, who contributes to the health of the sky, so that you may also be healthy?

Many are afraid now.

Do not demonize your fear, and also, do not let it rule you. Instead, let it speak to you—in your stillness,

listen for its wisdom.

What might it be telling you about what is at work, at issue, at risk, beyond the threats of personal inconvenience and illness?

As the health of a tree, a river, the sky tells you about quality of your own health, what might the quality of your health tell you about the health of the rivers, the trees, the sky, and all of us who share this planet with you?

Stop.

Notice if you are resisting.

Notice what you are resisting.

Ask why.

Stop. Just stop.

Be still.

Listen.

Ask us what we might teach you about illness and healing, about what might be required so that all may be well.

We will help you, if you listen.

-Kristin Flyntz

Message from the Mamos to the younger brothers and sisters

MESSAGE FROM THE MAMOS OF THE ARHUACO PEOPLEOF THE SIERRA NEVADA DE SANTA MARTA, COLOMBIA, TO THE YOUNGER BROTHERS

From Kanuteti, a Sacred Site

 

Dear Little Brothers and Sisters:

Blessings from the Heart of the World, The Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, Colombia. We the Mamos, the priests and spiritual leaders of the Arhuaco people, one of the four indigenous groups that take care of this part of the world, salute you from this majestic golden pyramid together with the vibrational energy of Unconditional Love.

The Arhuaco people along with our other three original group sisters, the Wiwa, Kankuamo, and Kogi live and take care of the heart of the world as we call this monumental coastal mountain that stands majestically on the shore of the Caribbean Sea.

We are the guardians of Mother Earth, and of the hundreds of species of animals and plants and of the human beings that live on it. This is what we have practiced since time immemorial through the connection with the Divine Source guided by the Spiritual Fathers and Mothers. It is through this connection that we Mamos are able to interpret the messages of the universe, the stars, Mother Earth and nature.

One of these messages announces a crucial change in the destiny of humanity. In this change we are all participants, these are changes that include absolutely every human being begotten, to be begotten, already transmuted or present among us. It is a change that includes nine generations including the last in the form of an embryo.

We the Mamos understand that the Universe is aligned and that it is this alignment that maintains the perfect balance of everything that exists in it. Without exception, Mother Earth, together with the moon and the sun are part of this alignment and this balance. Mother Earth is likewise aligned with the Great Central Sun from which come subtle frequencies of change that are affecting what you call the genetic code. For us, that genetic code is the “bonuriwa“, the invisible origin of the manifested. The changes in this “bonuriwa” also affects plants and animals. These new changes bring a glorious future for humanity.

We have come to this conclusion through the connection we have with Mother Earth day by day and therefore with the cosmos. Thus, we can perceive the suffering inside and outside the planet, in the moon, the stars, the sun or in any part of the universe. We know how to travel through the dimensions and bring the energies that cause imbalance, disharmony or suffering to their original place of existence and that is how we bring balance to that alignment. When we achieve that balance, we are complying with the most sacred law for the Sierra Nevada and for the Heart of the World and from there for the entire universe. We Mamos call it The Law of Origin, that refers to harmony with the Divine Source, with the cosmos and with our inner self.

As Mamos and as Arhuaco people we proclaim the gratitude that is so strongly connected with that Law of Origin. Gratitude to animals, plants, water, mountain, breeze, people and life itself.

In this sense, the Mamos demonstrate that gratitude with offerings that we call pagamentos (payments) and that serve to return the elementals of nature and Mother Earth for all that we receive from them. We pay for the sun, for the water, for life, for the challenges, for the teachings, for the children, for the rain, for our people and for the younger brothers and sisters.

We raise that gratitude to the Creator, and we give it to him at the point of connection where Perfect Love is present. It is at that point where the Law of Perfection dwells, and where it is impossible to do divination, because what manifests there does not require any explanation since everything is explicitly manifested in its maximum exquisiteness and totality. There live the laws of creation and existence that explain to us why we have reached this state of evolution in which we find ourselves as humanity and as a species. At that point of perfection is perfect harmony and we take it as the point of reference to balance the world.

We Mamos do not judge, because everything in the universe is purity and innocence. In the insignificant and tiny things we can see the great and the impossible. Also, in a small puddle of water we see the ocean, in a tree we perceive the forest and in a cloud we see the firmament and the sidereal space.

Little brothers, you also know about this when you talk about the subatomic configuration mirroring the configuration of the solar system. Therefore, we are all learning to discover and live this connection consciously or unconsciously. No human being at this moment in the history of our humanity can be outside of this reality. That is the knowledge and the understanding of the Mamo. The Mamos know that the human being reflects the Sierra. The Sierra reflects the planet and this in turn reflects the cosmos. Thus healing the individual we heal the planet and healing the planet we heal the cosmos.

That is why the Mamos want to invite you to search with us and to find us at the point of Perfect Love. From there, we will visualize together the future we want for humanity and for Mother Earth. Let’s focus on the small, the insignificant, the negative to balance, to reach the positive, the most sacred, even the Chundwas as we call the snowy peaks where the Mamos live in spirit, the Masters of Light and wisdom. Everything is connected, we are a hologram.

Let us work on ourselves, from our spiritual offices, the sacred sites where we find the alignment with the divine and with the totality. That Totality is the universal matrix that unites us as an umbilical cord with the divine source. We live in a Matrix of connection.

We have accepted the invitation of the organizers of London College to participate in the FDS conference (Flourishing Diversity Series), and a delegation of our people will be in London to co-create together and thank the universe for all that we receive. Blessings and Reverent Peace.

The Mamos of The Arhuaco Resguardo.

14 de Julio 2019,

 

The story of Extinction Rebellion

                                 Extinction Rebellion’s Vision: Why We Rebel

Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, said Mandela.  History is calling from the future, a hundred years from now.  Half a hundred years.  Ten.  Today.  Calling the conscience of humanity to act with the fierce urgency of now.  This is the time.  Wherever we are standing is the place.  We have just this one flickering instant to hold the winds of worlds in our hands, to vouchsafe the future.  This is what destiny feels like.  We have to be greater than we have ever been, dedicated, selfless, self-sacrificial. 

The third world war — of profit versus life — is already underway.  Humanity itself is on the brink of the abyss: our potential extinction. We face a breakdown of all life, the tragedy wof tragedies: the unhallowed horror.  Time is broken and buckled, and seasons are out of step so even the plants are confused.  Ancient wisdoms are being betrayed: to every thing there was a season, a time to be born and a time to be a child, protected and cared for, but the young are facing a world of chaos and harrowing cruelty.  In the delicate web of life, everything depends on everything else: we are nature and it is us, and the extinction of the living world is our suicide.  Not one sparrow can now be beneath notice, not one bee. 

Something in the human spirit, too, is threatened with extinction.  Many feel exhausted, ignored, lonely and anxious.  Humiliated by poverty and inequality, crushed by debt, powerless, controlled and trapped, many feel defrauded of what should rightly be theirs.  Societies are polarised, people estranged from each other and sundered from the living world. 

Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars, and they are lining up now to write rebellion across the skies.  There is no choice.

This is a rebellion for the young people and for the ancestors.

This is for the turtle and the salamander, the dugong and the dove.  It is for the finned, furry and feathered ones, the ones who scamper and swim, the chattering, chirping and hooting ones.

This is for the forests and the forest medicines, for the trees of wisdom, the trees of life and the living waters of the Nile and the Yangtze, the Tigris and the Ganges.  This is for the seven seas, in seven directions, down to the seventh generation.

This is for the Great Song that runs underneath all the melodies, the rhythms of rain and sun, the rhymes of polar ice.  We humans sang before we spoke, and we still know the song, though the harmonies are jangled and the melodies flung out of tune.

Each generation is given two things: one is the gift of the world, and the other is the duty of keeping it safe for those to come.  The generations of yesterday trust those of today not to take more than their share, and those of tomorrow trust their elders to care for it.

The contract is broken, and it is happening on our watch.  A pathological obsession with money and profit is engineering this breakdown.  Warped and spiritually desolate, this system is contemptuous of humanity and the living world, and held in place by a toxic media (power without truth); by toxic finance (power without compassion); and toxic politics (power without principle).  

The world’s resources are being seized faster than the natural world can replenish them.  Children can do the maths on this, and know they are being sent the bill.  And the young are in rebellion now.  This is their time, their fire.  The flame is theirs and they are lighting the way.  Why?

Because they are the touchstone of nations, carrying the moral authority of innocence.  Because they have not lived long enough to have their clear vision dimmed: this is not a game — it is about life and death and they know it.  Because they are young enough to know cheating is wrong and old enough to see they have been cheated of their safety, their dreams and their future.  Because they are young enough to be awed by the magic of living creatures and old enough to be heartbroken by their slaughter.  Because they are young enough to know it is wrong to lie and old enough to use the right words: this is an emergency.

Worldwide, the heaviest emissions have been produced by the richest nations, while the heaviest consequences are being felt by the poorest.  The few have sown the wind, and are forcing the many to reap the whirlwind.  Reparation is needed.  So is recognition: that Europe stole its wealth through its imperialism, colonialism and slavery.  So is respect: that the global South has resisted for hundreds of years, knowing that a shining kind of courage can end centuries of wrong.      

Indigenous cultures have suffered the devastations of their lands, the extinction of their languages, knowledge and wisdom.  And in their rebellions they have long evoked an Earth manifesto, saying we are the land: as earth-guardians, we are nature defending itself; land is alive, unfathomably deep, and there is intelligence within nature, thinking, spirited and alive.

Extinction Rebellion is young, old, black, white, indigenous, of all abilities and vulnerabilities, of all faiths and none, of all genders and sexualities and none: being alive on earth now is all the qualification required.

It is a rebellion against the heartless, loveless and lifeless delusion of seeing Earth as dead matter; against patriarchy’s domination and control of women and the Earth, against heterosexism that condemns the beauty of diverse love, against the militarism that destroys living lands, wages war for oil and kills those who protect the green world.  This rebellion uses the finest weapons: peace, truth and love.  It is strictly non-violent as an active stance — Ahimsa — preventing violence.  For this, it is willing to take disruptive, loving and effective direct action, thinking big.  Take the planet off the stock market.  Make ecocide law.  Rebel with cause.  Rebel with creativity.  Rebel with compassion.  Rebel together because together we are irresistible. 

Tell the Truth is the first demand of Extinction Rebellion, using fearless speech, Gandhi’s ‘truth-force’ which creates a change of heart.  People are not stupid: people feel a pervasive uneasiness at the extremes of weather, the floods, droughts and hurricanes, but they have the legal and moral right to be fully informed of the speed and scale of the crisis.

Extinction Rebellion’s vision is a politics of kindness rendered consistently and unapologetically. Its vision depends on values that are the most ordinary and therefore the most precious: human decency, dignity, responsibility, fairness, duty, honesty, morality and care.  With Citizens’ Assemblies, it believes that when people are given good information, they make good decisions.   

This rebellion is regenerative, arriving with armfuls of cake and olives, bread and oranges.  It reconfigures older and wiser ways of living while voicing the grief and fear of these times.  It creates communities of belonging, with mentoring and eldership, where everyone’s contribution is welcome.  Rooted in radical compassion, trust, reverence and respect, the finest technology we have is love.  

With serious, clear-eyed urgency, we have to mobilise now for deep adaptation for what is inevitable.  Humans are by nature cooperative, and times of crisis can be times when life is lived transcendently, for a purpose beyond the self.  No individual alone is fully human, as the African concept Ubuntu shows: our humanity results from being in connection with each other.  Believing that there is no Them and Us, only all of us together, Extinction Rebellion seeks alliances wherever they can be found.  We are fighting for our lives and if we do not link arms, we will fail because the forces we are up against are simply too powerful.  We need you.  

Extinction Rebellion seeks an economy that maximises happiness and minimises harm; that restores soil health and the honourable harvest, taking only what is freely given from the wind, sun and tides.  In a decarbonised and relocalised system, it embraces frugality for the sake of fairness.  It seeks to restore a sacred rightness to the world, to everything its season, the beauty of its steady balance.  It restores the right to dream, relentlessly, gracefully, wildly.  As trenchant as it is effervescent, this rebellion beckons the conscience, quickens the pulse and galvanizes the heart.  For our deepest longings are magnificent: to live a meaningful life, to be in unity with each other and with the life-source, call it the spirit, call it the divine, call it the still small voice, it doesn’t matter what it is called or how it is spelled if it guides us in service to life.

This vision has a map. It is the map of the human heart.  Believing in unflinching truth, reckless beauty and audacious love, knowing that life is worth more than money and that there is nothing greater, nothing more important, nothing more sacred than protecting the spirit deep within all life.  This is life in rebellion for life.

 

Compiled by Jay  Griffiths

 

 

 

Why Extinction Rebellion?

What’s gone wrong and who’s to blame? Shops boarded up, food banks, gangs and drugs, prices rising, wages static – if you can get a job! And don’t get ill or old. The multi-nationals are out-of-control and so’s the climate. Where to start? Only by joining together. Food, health, housing, education – Extinction Rebellion is working on new approaches. The answers are there and working together locally, nationally, globally is the only way. Who’s to trust: not politics or politicians, not bankers nor profiteers. We begin with ourselves – what we know and feel and need. We know we’re angry and sometimes desperate. That when we think of our children and their lives we sometimes feel despair. We need help, we need each other and then we need to rebuild. We know more than those who govern us. As we step back we become more aware of how everything is connected and of each other and we grow in power. More than ever, we are one world and need to care for one another and for all life – even for the bees. Join Extinction Rebellion and help us to help each other.