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It is time for the Great Paradigm Shift to begin. What am I talking about?
I am talking about the great cosmic shift beginning to touch our planet as all around us we see THE OLD WORLD DYING: erosion, corrosion, degeneration and decomposition of the current world systems that are proving to be more and more inimical to life on every front, social, political, economic, environmental, theological.
We are living in a biosphere that is dying. Species are disappearing in droves; the oceans are inundated with plastics, phosphates and fishing fleet bottom trawls that are wiping out fish populations; the soil is depleted and decimated, inundated with chemicals while barren of minerals. The air and drinking water are polluted, sometimes so much so that entire communities now have toxic nicknames like Cancer Alley in Louisiana.
Meanwhile, socially and politically speaking, there is epidemic war, violence and/or chaos in a world awash with billions and billions of dollars worth of brutal weapons, while predator capitalism threatens to hurl all of humanity into the greatest depression ever, even as delusional economists frantically attempt to inflate yet another paper-thin bubble, even as the sound of escaping air penetrates our ears.
To linear-thinking fatalists whose energies are trapped in sterile mythologies disconnected from Nature, this truly does look like the end of the world, the yawning pit of Armaggedon and grim finality for all but the Saved. To those more attuned to the rhythms and cycles of Nature and the Cosmos though, the death and decay all around us actually signal the Fall and Winter of yet another spiral in the history of humankind. For there to be new growth, they realize, first there must be brown and falling leaves that mulch into fertilizer for the resurrection of Spring, in this case a new Springtime for the living. Life in the cosmos never ends, it only transforms.
One such latter, cyclical thinker is Russell Means, a Lakota Sioux, perhaps the greatest and most articulate spokesman for indigenous peoples on the planet today. He gets it, gets how in the broadest terms, the eon of the last six thousand or so years is coming to its inevitable traumatic end, the eon of PATRIARCHY, an eon of imbalance, an eon witness to all the extremes of testosterone gone wild, an imbalance that has become increasingly destructive in its final stages.
Self-destructive is perhaps a better word, as hierarchical, exploitative, alienated and egomaniac Patriarchs have now begun to eat themselves as well as the rest of us, making it debatable as to whether the planet will even be inhabitable in another hundred years.
But also in the broadest terms, Russell sees that there is a clear way out of this handbasket to Hell: RESTORE THE BALANCE, ride the pendulum swing to the other side: embrace the paradigm shift that promises resurrection and renewal, in a word, MATRIARCHY.
But what exactly does he mean? To answer that, beginning with this article, I am going to post some of the wise teachings and lectures of Russell Means. He has, actually, begun an eight-part series of YouTube videos on Matriarchy versus Patriarchy, Parts 1 and 2 of which I have posted at the end of this article.
I actually attended a lecture by Means at Old Dominion University earlier this year where he presented these same ideas. I came away deeply convinced that his understanding and analysis are correct.
For those of you who don't really know who Russell is, I have inserted some of the very apt biographical write-up by Vamsi Manne of the ODU Student Activities Council below advertising his lecture on January 28, 2010:
Russell Means rose to prominence as a leader of the American Indian Movement, and participated in the 1969 takeover of Alcatraz that lasted 19 months. He also participated in AIM's takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs office in Washington, DC, and was one of the leaders in the famous standoff between Native Americans and the government at Wounded Knee in 1973. In recent years, he has directed Indian youth programs and worked vigorously to improve the conditions for his people in Pine Ridge, SD.
In addition to his lifelong commitment to Indian rights,
Means has sought the governorship of New
Mexico and battled Ron Paul for the Libertarian
Party's presidential nomination in 1987. Many probably know him best as a
talented actor who has appeared in numerous films and my personal favorite t.v
show "Curb Your Enthusiasm" as Wandering Bear, most notably, Last
of the Mohicans and Natural Born Killers. In all his dealings, Means
says that he strives "to speak from the heart." That forthrightness
has sometimes caused controversy, but Means remains a vital presence in the
American Indian community.
.......the message he delivers is consistent with the philosophy he lives by,
which states:
The Universe which controls all life, has a female and male balance that is
prevalent throughout our Sacred Grandmother, the Earth.
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