ISH-RFS: What can WE, as individuals, DO?
"The cure is changing the vision of these six billion people from one that is destructive and unsustainable to one that is life-fostering for the whole community of life." Daniel Quinn
Vision follows from lifestyle. Here are suggestions from readers of Ishmael of practical steps to take towards fostering a new vision and new lifestyle.
Give Ishmael to as many people as you can financially afford. Since the books cost money it would probably be better to give them to people you think will actually read it.
Run Ishmael's ad--Wanted, student with earnest desire to save the world... Give a copy of Ishmael to those who respond.
Live below your means as much as possible.
Everytime you hear someone speaking with the voice of "mother culture" point it out. Don't smile and nod. Say something. Ask them why they think that. Question.
Write, write, write. Write letters to the editor, to magazines, to television programs and question, question, question. Lots of people will dismiss us, but some won't.
Get connected with the earth again. Open your eyes and notice everything around you. Do you know what phase the moon is in? We must become aware of our connection with the web of life. Then we can encourage others to recognize their connection as well.
Read extensively. Learn about Leaver cultures. Learn what others are saying about our culture.
Encourage your power company to use sustainable sources of fuel.
Eat food that grows naturally in your geographic area. Grow much of your own food.
Compost.
Insist on minimal packaging for products you must purchase. Write to corporations to tell them you approve or don't approve of their packaging.
Insist on recycled paper wherever you can.
Shop at second-hand stores.
Carry Ishmael around to read in waiting rooms, etc. This gives you the opportunity to tell folks about it.
Learn skills for living with less technology. Learn about preserving food, making clothing, digging wells, etc.
Go out into the woods for six months. Let go of civilization; get back in touch with being an animal.
Buy used. Buy local.
Be gentle with yourself.
Don't throw food away---use it up.
"I live as lightly as I can without feeling pissed of and deprived. If I feel pissed of and deprived, I will inspire no one."
This is my intention and plan--
1. change my life so that I live in a way that does not harm the earth.
2. teach my children to live in a way that does not harm the earth.
3. share my knowledge with others, verbally, internet, writing books, etc.
4. encourage others to live in a way that does not harm the earth.
5. show, by demonstration, that it is possible and comforting to live this way.
Start a new mythology and nurse it along--a mythology that regards the EArth as a sacred place and all the lives on Her as sacred.
"Activism about, or even only passive resistance to, the current mindset prevalent in western culture, is a very good way to bring about change over time, but doing nothing will not bring the change about."
"I had already been thinking of All Soul's Day. In that moment I decided that this day will be a celebration in our family. I will teach my children that this is the day to celebrate all who lived before us. Those whose living made our lives possible. We literally breathe the breath of others. Our bodies are made of what we eat. Our food is made of earth. The earth is made of the bodies of those who came before us.
"I think we each have to stop consuming. Individually. Autonomously."
Try living without electricity.
Unschool/homeschool your children.
Turn off your tv.
Take responsibility for as many of your basic needs as you can. The most important is food, followed by energy.
Heat with wood. If you can't do that, heat with point source gas heaters.
Stay away from the doctor. When you must go, find out what they are doing to you and why.
Have children.
Build with local materials.
Form an intentional community.
Pass on to your children everything that is NOT civilized in you, everything that is WILD in you, every last remnant of ancient sacred wisdom that has miraculously managed to survive through these long and turbulent chains of terrible centuries. Pass on what is ALIVE in you, what is GOOD in you -- the things tha tbring tears of joy to your eyes -- the things that inspire you to burst into song and prayer and thanksgiving. Pass on what is sacred. Pass on the love.
Recycle everything you can, from glass and plastics to steel and aluminum cans to paper to old computers. Don't throw away anything that is recyclable or reusable.
Buy organic produce and other organic products as much as possible.
Use canvas bags, or reuse paper bags.
Becoming Leavers Ishmael
Email: ishmael@angelfire.com
