How did we arrive here? A planet on the brink of collapse due to the greed of a few and the plundering of the Earth. As the network of resistances Futuros Indigenas states: “the 12th October of 1492 disembarked from Europe the illness that we know today as the climatic and civilizational catastrophe.” Between the fifteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth century, the number of death reached 56 million, 90% of the population prior to colonization in Abya Yala (also known as America) was exterminated by enslavement, hunger and pandemics used as a strategy of war. If that wasn’t enough, 15 million people were traded like commodities and forced to leave their homes in Africa to be enslaved in the new colonies. In the modern era, between 1970 and 2020, 94% of the animal population has been exterminated in Abya Yala. In those same years the wealth of the 1% has literally, rocket launched. |
COP26 is around the corner. Nation States and Corporations will gather together to negotiate the future. But what makes us think that those who prioritize profit over people and the planet will be willing to make the structural changes that our present needs? It is upon genocide and ecocide that the western civilization was imposed: colonialism, capitalism and racism are the building blocks of what we know today as climate crisis. Climate solutions need social justice. That is why today we honor those who have resisted for 529 years. Those who with their diverse ways of knowing and being have cared for what matters the most: life. Those who survived and with their actions are showing us the path. As of 2021, 80% of the remaining biodiversity exists and resist in indigenous territories around the world. Land defenders are living alternatives to the climate crisis. |
In preparation for the upcoming Culture Hack Content Labs we share with you this briefing document to set the context for our webinar. Culture Hack Labs has been tracking an emerging narrative space that looks at the relationship between Indigenous custodianship and climate collapse. During the briefing on Oct 15 at 11am CST, we will share what narratives can be amplified in defense of cultural and ecological life in times of climate crisis, pandemics and war. This is a call to journalists, artists, media hackers, community organizers, content creators, and funders. We need your support to help create more awareness around the role of Indigenous stewardship of land as a critical solution to the climate emergency. We invite you to be part of the resistance. We invite you to take action and amplify the stories and voices of those who are on the front lines defending the future.
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Author Archives → Brian
hexagram 6 ☯️ sung / conflict
The proper response
to conflict, whether it lies within or
without us, is disengagement.
Whenever we allow ourselves to be drawn off balance, away from the strength of quiet integrity, we are in conflict. It matters not whether the confrontation is between competing values in one’s own mind or with another person: it is the inner departure from clarity and equanimity that leaves us with feelings of despair and vulnerability. The only remedy is to disengage from the problem and return to quiet contemplation of what is correct.
Conflict provokes strong feelings of doubt, fear, anxiety, and impatience to resolve the situation. If you act under the influence of these inferior emotions, you will severely complicate the misfortune. By following the prescription of the Sage and returning to a position of neutrality, acceptance, and detachment, you are able to meet opposing forces halfway: not recoiling in anger and condemnation, not pressing forward for some unnatural change in things, but waiting calmly in the center until the Higher Power provides the correct solution.
The I Ching teaches us that all conflict is, in the end, inner conflict. When you see it beginning, you are obliged not to pursue it, for this only compounds your own misfortune. If you cannot regain your equanimity on your own, then seek the assistance of a just and impartial person in resolving the difficulty. The only way to live free of conflict is to hold steadfastly to proper principles in all things. Through balance, patience, and devotion to inner truth we rise above every challenge.
from The I Ching, or Book of Changes
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quiet emptiness, drifting without direction
Learning the way means not wasting time;
diligent practice, over and over, is required.
We never know what we’re after at first —
just an abstract idea.
Step by step, we get a handle on things,
we learn to bear all kinds of burdens,
even worry.
When our heart is empty the light of Tao shines within us,
yet this radiance should not be displayed.
The sublime has all manner of power;
acknowledging this allows us to enlighten the lost.
A slim and willowy lady is what the gentleman sought,
but not all women are submissive.
In the end they walk their own different ways.
Clouds and mud divide our lonely boats.
Quiet emptiness,
drifting like clouds without direction:
coming and going without hindrance.
This is the true Way.
Real power is empty, without image.
Like buddha-nature, its blessings are sublime:
no sound, no form, no color.
that’s my life and the world owes me nothing
Yes, I am
truly a dunce. Living
among the trees and plants,
don’t question me about illusion and
enlightenment. This old fellow just likes to smile to
himself. I wade across streams with bony legs,
and I carry a bag about in fine spring
weather. That’s my life, and
the world owes me
nothing.
tend the health of your heart-donkey
Do the careful,
donkey-tending work.
Don’t trust that to anyone else.
There are hypocrites who will praise you,
but who do not care about the health
of your heart-donkey.
Be concentrated
and leonine in the hunt for what is
your true nourishment. Don’t be distracted
by blandishment-noises,
of any sort.