Rabbi Phyllis Berman and I have just finished a book of searching examination of the wisdom of that story. (Freedom Journeys: The Tale of Exodus and Wilderness Across Millennia, by Jewish Lights Publishing -- available February 25. )
Our book applies the ancient wisdom to today, on a global scale. Today we face Pharaohs. Big Oil, Big Coal, the Military-Corporate Complex, and Big Banking are chief among those pharaohs, bringing plagues upon the Earth and all humanity. It is clear that after a certain point, these Pharaohs become so addicted to their own power that only their utter ruin -" and that of their society --can undo it.
But it is also true that these "Pharaohs" have many opportunities to turn their path around. And that the people have many opportunities to make the turning happen.
Our official political system is paralyzed. Creative direct action -" people power in the tradition of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Gandhi, the Flint Michigan auto sit-down strikes of 1937, the sit-in movement of 1960, King, Mandela -- is not paralyzed. Indeed, Tunisia showed us that one spark can free the imagination into utterly unexpected action.
Time to light our nonviolent sparks. Which one will illuminate the world, we cannot know in advance. But we do know that if we refuse to light the sparks, we will be condemned to live -" and die -- in darkness.
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