Face The Light
We just passed the winter solstice, & it’s the darkest time of the year. It’s a time for rest, reflection, & gathering our resources for the upcoming return of the light. I want to share some wisdom I’ve gathered recently.
First of all, Borderlands: La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa is a foundational text for me. I need to reread the whole thing because it’s been many years, but one quote comes up regularly throughout my studies, & it’s time to share it here:
“But it is not enough to stand on the opposite river bank, shouting questions, challenging patriarchal, white conventions. A counterstance locks one into a duel of oppressor & oppressed; locked in mortal combat, like the cop & the criminal, both are reduced to a common denominator of violence. The counterstance refutes the dominant culture’s views & beliefs, & for this is proudly defiant. All reaction is limited by, & dependent on, what it is reacting against. Because the counterstance stems from a problem with authority — outer as well as inner — it’s a step towards liberation from cultural domination. But it is not a way of life. At some point, on our way to a new consciousness, we will have to leave the opposite bank, the split between the two mortal combatants somehow healed so that we are on both shores at once &, at once, see through serpent & eagle eyes. Or perhaps, we will decide to disengage from the dominant culture, write it off altogether as a lost cause, & cross the border into a wholly new & separate territory. Or we might go another route. The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act & not react.”
I often yell ‘ACT NOT REACT!’ to myself while reading or listening to people talk about organizing & imagining a better world.
How to Survive the End of the World podcast interview with Norma Wong 11/12/24
Norma: ‘I believe that as long as our purpose is about fighting the conditions that we’re in, we will remain in despair. But if our purpose is about the purpose of our shared humanity…We have to determinately place the darkness at our back & keep the warmth & the light in full view.”
ACT NOT REACT!
Kristianna Smith has convinced me that imagination is essential to resistance - we must face the light of our imagined future & resist centering the darkness of our current apocalypse.
“We have to be able to imagine beyond the limits that currently exist, because if we don’t imagine beyond, we bake in all of the oppression that exists within our society into whatever society we’re imagining.”
“Stop debating & start verbally imagining. Start building the world you want to see. Start saying out loud, ‘I want to live in a place where everyone is fed, housed, & clothed. How do we make that happen on my block, in my city, in my town or state or region?’ Name what you want & keep it on repeat.”
“I can’t know how far I can fly if I tie myself to a rock - If you only define your politic as being in opposition to someone else, there is no opportunity for you to come closer to them. People don’t understand what their politic is, they’re just defining themselves as not something.”
ACT NOT REACT!
We Are Generations: Building Endurance for Liberation 11/15/24 Hosted by AORTA with Autumn Brown, Ricardo Levins Morales, Arianna Genis Click here to watch the recording if you would like (Passcode: iV!fcX&5)
Re: People ‘voting against their interests’ - Ricardo said: “Maybe the most important political lesson I’ve learned in my life: all organisms, humans included, gravitate towards the best available option - what appears within their frame of perception to be the best available option. When people gravitate towards destructive options [aka ‘The Right’], to me it’s on us [aka ‘The Left’] for not putting a better alternative on the table.”
Those of us who hold visions of liberation - a world where everyone is fed, housed, clothed, & cared for - need to share our imagined futures & orient others towards those visions so more people can see the better alternatives that exist
Re: Building coalitions - Ricardo said: “We are not making coalitions with ideological categories, but with human beings. One of the deepest hungers of human beings is to feel recognized, respected, & heard. You don’t have to be scared that just because you build a genuine relationship with somebody with very shallow politics that you’re gonna become shallow. No, what you do is you model depth.”
It’s going to become increasingly difficult to hold onto the depth of my political analysis & my vision for liberation as we move into a period of apocalypse where there will constantly be attacks to react to & resist against. Apocalypse Musings is a practice of modeling depth, gathering wisdom, & making connections so more people can turn away from the darkness & work together to face the light.
