September 2014
Men need to speak out more about
violence against women. We also need to speak out more about violence against Mother Earth. For, as Grandpa Sequoia
recently reminded me, they are both absolutely a part of the same illness. Show
me a traditional Earth-reverent society and I will show you one where violence
against women simply does not exist. Men need to recognize and challenge the
many forms that this violence takes in this mad modern world: it’s not only physical
and sexual, but psychological and spiritual as well – all plagues upon all of
our sisters… but also upon all men. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of how racism
not only destroyed black people but white people as well (take a look at the current
state of middle America – and many police forces – after generations of
refusing to ever seriously deal with racism.) It is the same with sexism. It cripples
men too; it destroys our spirits too. Most obviously in the inability of many
of our brothers to ever have meaningful, egalitarian relationships with women. We’ve
all lost a part of ourselves because of this false patriarchy. Men created the
illness, and so it is all of our responsibility to help cure it. It has bred such
fear and distrust and shallow understandings of each other… what kind of world
is this?! How utterly out of balance we are with Mother Earth and her profound lessons about living together and
real power. How is it that we refuse to listen to the wisdom of the greatest
feminine power any of us can ever know? Doesn’t it follow that if men truly
loved, honored, and respected Mother
Earth it would be impossible for those same men to inflict this plague of violence
upon women?
So
what to do?
