I recall a Buddhist parable involving a stick that appears from a distance to be a snake, causing fear to rise in the perceiver. As the perception shifts upon closer examination, the fear subsides and the relieved hiker continues down the path. Understanding and awareness have a lot to do with how we feel and how we act. As hosts to the dominant cultural mindset (our collective understanding of who we are in the universe), our minds play a critical part in both perpetuating our dominant way of life and also in shifting away from it. ... Continue reading →
Recently walking up Main Street in Park City, Utah, I saw in the Visitor’s Center doorway what looked like a man holding a great-horned owl surrounded by children. As his voice carried across the street, I heard the man explain that this owl had been found with an injured wing after being struck by a car.
I love owls. I love the haunting sound of their hoots in the darkest hours before dawn. I love the joy that accompanies the lucky sight of a splash of brown feathers against newly-fallen snow when an owl makes the rare decision to reveal herself in winter daylight. I love how owls’ mysterious nature have made them omens in so many cultures’ imaginations. So, when I saw what I thought was a great-horned owl, I automatically crossed the street with a feeling of anticipation. ... Continue reading →
by Will Falk / Deep Green Resistance This first appeared on Jason Howell’s Howlarium. Special thanks to Jason for his graphics. From Jason: “Where it’s not uncommon for contemporary writers to root their work in mining—lived experience, the depth of the canon, the cultural moment, whatever—Will Falk, poet, lawyer, and environmental activist from Park … Continue reading Listening to The Land Saves My Life→
How our cognitive defence mechanisms are condemning us to death By Sebastien Carew-Reid / Deep Green Resistance Australia Most rational people with even a basic understanding of the scientific process will acknowledge that something is seriously wrong. From climate change and the mass extinction of species, to factory farming and the global violations of human … Continue reading Optimism and the Apocalypse→
by Will Falk / Deep Green Resistance If fear is the mind killer, guilt is the heart killer. Experiencing guilt creates a wound. The wound is healed when the behavior producing the guilt is rectified. The scar that forms over the wound serves as a reminder to guide future behavior. Living in a … Continue reading Direct Action Journal: The Wound of Perpetual Guilt→
By Will Falk / Deep Green Resistance Another episode with anxiety knocks me to my bedroom floor. Rational thought forsakes me. My body shakes with the strangled sobs of a man ashamed of his tears. Alicia bends over me. Her dark brown eyes – normally calm with the consistent rationality characterizing her personality – are … Continue reading Direct Action Journal: Overcoming Fear→
Featured image: An indigenous youth from Kwalikum First Nation sings. Photo: VIUDeepBay @flickr. Some Rights Reserved. By Courtney Parker and John Ahni Schertow / Intercontinental Cry The spiraling rate of suicide among Canada’s First Nations became a state of crisis in Attawapiskat this week after 11 people in the northern Ontario community attempted to take their … Continue reading Preserving Language Key To Overcoming Native Suicide Epidemic→
By Will Falk / Deep Green Resistance Great Basin Featured image: Utah snow by Max Wilbert Sitting on the patio at the Park City Library on a crisp September afternoon, I admire the beauty of this season’s new dusting of snow on mountains awash in the golds, reds, and greens of fall. I arrived in … Continue reading Snow vs. Suicide: A Homecoming→
Michael Regenfuss / Deep Green Resistance Bay Area Michael gave a talk at this year’s annual DGR conference on the subject of overcoming alienation, quoting some pertinent passages from The Sorcerer of Bolinas Reef by Charles Reich. He elaborates on those thoughts here. What is alienation, how did we become afflicted with it, and how … Continue reading Unlearning alienation: a crucial component of a revolutionary movement→
