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Political Spirituality in an Age of Eco-Apocalypse: Communication and Struggle Across Species, Cultures, and Religions
This book 'hunts and gathers' across different historical epochs and situations, juxtaposing biblical materials and hip-hop, Christian colonialism and vodou, personal experience and racial politics, poetics and high theory, in order to challenge the current crisis of sustainability from the perspective indigenous communities and deep ancestry.
238 pages, Paperback
First published July 23, 2015
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32 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 21, 2022
Civilization: That word does not mean what you think it means.
Or at least that is a core presumption of the author of this book.
Yes, he careens through history and categories like a nomadic/digital hunter/gatherer, but his reigning assumption is the same; what we call civilization is the greatest menace and destroyer of every form and category of life – including all that is human.
Here are some of assertions;
Colonialism, imperialism, white supremacy – they all find common purpose in “taming” (as in subduing and conquering) every force and principle of nature.
From suburban weeds to indigenous peoples (and faiths) civilization, like a tsunami, overwhelms, domesticates and consumes every shred or expression of life.
Landed agriculture, from the Genesis story of Cain killing Abel, has been one of exploitation and subjection (literally – as in making every living thing an object) as civilization feeds on music, art and of course every other expression of the inherently holy and free world.
Indigenous peoples survived with nature as much as we live (or at least attempt to live) opposed, or at least independent of it.
Nature will always win, of course.
Our daily news in the 21st Century has been a running tally of the battles – and costs of assuming human control over nature.
How many fires and droughts and hurricanes will it take for us to acknowledge the obvious?
We can learn from those few indigenous people who have survived our cultural – and often literal – assaults.
And we could, if we had the will, cope with the catastrophes we have nurtured so carefully.
This is a book clearly not intended for everyone.
Its ragged, hip-hop style rings true of the necessity of the fierce prophet crying in the wilderness – in this case, on behalf of the wilderness.
Wilderness, unlike civilization, is inherently self-renewing.
We modern humans may talk about “freedom” but we don’t have the slightest grasp what it is.
Freedom is NOT dependence on outside support – from grocery stores to corporate owned fuel sources.
Independence is, by necessity, freedom from anyone else – especially those who would hold our basic needs and appetites essentially hostage in a (not-terribly-human-centered) market economy.
There are outposts of those dissatisfied, if not appalled by, a culture that presumes superiority in every realm from food to faith to military control.
What we call civilization is not our friend; it leaves us alienated form nature and each other – and like those colonizers of a few centuries ago – leaves us with trinkets and distractions.
And in many nations, there are outposts of the disaffected.
Find one. And find this book.
This is one of those books that will emerge for those ready for it.
I found my copy via Speakeasy (https://thespeakeasy.info/)
Or at least that is a core presumption of the author of this book.
Yes, he careens through history and categories like a nomadic/digital hunter/gatherer, but his reigning assumption is the same; what we call civilization is the greatest menace and destroyer of every form and category of life – including all that is human.
Here are some of assertions;
Colonialism, imperialism, white supremacy – they all find common purpose in “taming” (as in subduing and conquering) every force and principle of nature.
From suburban weeds to indigenous peoples (and faiths) civilization, like a tsunami, overwhelms, domesticates and consumes every shred or expression of life.
Landed agriculture, from the Genesis story of Cain killing Abel, has been one of exploitation and subjection (literally – as in making every living thing an object) as civilization feeds on music, art and of course every other expression of the inherently holy and free world.
Indigenous peoples survived with nature as much as we live (or at least attempt to live) opposed, or at least independent of it.
Nature will always win, of course.
Our daily news in the 21st Century has been a running tally of the battles – and costs of assuming human control over nature.
How many fires and droughts and hurricanes will it take for us to acknowledge the obvious?
We can learn from those few indigenous people who have survived our cultural – and often literal – assaults.
And we could, if we had the will, cope with the catastrophes we have nurtured so carefully.
This is a book clearly not intended for everyone.
Its ragged, hip-hop style rings true of the necessity of the fierce prophet crying in the wilderness – in this case, on behalf of the wilderness.
Wilderness, unlike civilization, is inherently self-renewing.
We modern humans may talk about “freedom” but we don’t have the slightest grasp what it is.
Freedom is NOT dependence on outside support – from grocery stores to corporate owned fuel sources.
Independence is, by necessity, freedom from anyone else – especially those who would hold our basic needs and appetites essentially hostage in a (not-terribly-human-centered) market economy.
There are outposts of those dissatisfied, if not appalled by, a culture that presumes superiority in every realm from food to faith to military control.
What we call civilization is not our friend; it leaves us alienated form nature and each other – and like those colonizers of a few centuries ago – leaves us with trinkets and distractions.
And in many nations, there are outposts of the disaffected.
Find one. And find this book.
This is one of those books that will emerge for those ready for it.
I found my copy via Speakeasy (https://thespeakeasy.info/)
May 18, 2022
Wow. This book is sorta intense. I'll be returning to this one to read more slowly in the near future I'm sure.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews