QUOTES
I
was privileged to participate in the great humanizing movements of the last century,
but I can’t recall a time when the issues were so basic, so interconnected.
I
believe that we are at the point now, in the United States, where a movement is
beginning to emerge.
I believe that we are at the point now, in the United States, where a movement
is beginning to emerge. I think that the calamity, the quagmire of the Iraq war,
the outsourcing of jobs, the drop-out of young people from the education system,
the monstrous growth of the prison-industrial complex, the planetary emergency,
which we are engulfed at the present moment, is demanding that instead of just
complaining about these things, instead of just protesting about these things,
we begin to look for, and hope for, another way of living. And I think that--
that's where the movement-- I-- I see a movement beginning to emerge, 'cause I
see hope beginning to trump despair.
"The
struggle we're dealing with these days, which, I think, is part of what the 60s
represented, is how do we define our humanity?"
In
order to grapple with the interacting and seemingly intractable questions of today’s
society, we need to see ourselves not mainly as victims but as new men and women
who, recognizing the sacredness in ourselves and in others, can view love and
compassion not as some “sentimental weakness but as the key that somehow unlocks
the door which leads to ultimate reality.” (Martin Luther King)
How
are we going to make our livings in a society becoming increasingly jobless because
of hi-tech and outsourcing? Where will we get the imagination to recognize that
for most of human history the concept of Jobs didn’t even exist? Work, as distinguished
from Labor, was done to produce needed goods and services, develop skills and
artistry, and nurture cooperation.
What
will move us to care for our biosphere instead of using our technological mastery
to increase the speed at which we are making it uninhabitable?
How
do we redefine education so that 30-50 percent of inner-city children do not drop
out of school, thus ensuring that millions will end up in prison?
Can
we build an America in which people of all races and ethnicities live together
in harmony, and Euro-Americans, in particular, celebrate their role as one among
many minorities constituting the multiethnic majority?
how
do we achieve reconciliation with the two-thirds of the world that increasingly
resents our economic, military, and cultural domination?
These
are the times to grow our souls. Each of us is called upon to embrace the conviction
that despite the powers and principalities bent on commodifying all our human
relationships, we have the power within us to create the world anew.
We
can begin by doing small things at the local level, like planting community gardens
or looking out for our neighbors. That is how change takes place in living systems,
not from above but from within, from many local actions occurring simultaneously.
We never
know how our small activities will affect others through the invisible fabric
of our connectedness. In this exquisitely connected world, it’s never a question
of ‘critical mass.’ It’s always about critical connections.
"People
are aware that they cannot continue in the same old way but are immobilized because
they cannot imagine an alternative. We need a vision that recognizes that we are
at one of the great turning points in human history when the survival of our planet
and the restoration of our humanity require a great sea change in our ecological,
economic, political, and spiritual values."
"Rebellions
tend to be negative, to denounce and expose the enemy without providing a positive
vision of a new future...A revolution is not just for the purpose of correcting
past injustices, a revolution involves a projection of man/woman into the future...It
begins with projecting the notion of a more human human being, i.e. a human being
who is more advanced in the specific qualities which only human beings have -
creativity, consciousness and self-consciousness, a sense of political and social
responsibility."
"I
think we're not looking sufficiently at what is happening at the grassroots in
the country. We have not emphasized sufficiently the cultural revolution that
we have to make among ourselves in order to force the government to do differently.
Things do not start with governments."
...people
think of evolution mainly in terms of anatomical changes. I think that we have
to think of evolution in terms of-- very elemental human changes. and so, we're
evolving both through our knowledge and through our experiences to another a stage
of human-- humankind. So, revolution and evolution are no longer so separate.
do something
local. Do something real, however, small. And don't-- don't diss the political
things, but understand their limitations.
it
takes a whole lot of things. It takes people doing things. It takes people talking
about things. It takes dialogue. It takes changing the whole lot of ways by which
we think.
I
think we have to rethink the concept of "leader." 'Cause "leader" implies "follower."
And, so many-- not so many, but I think we need to appropriate, embrace the idea
that we are the leaders we've been looking for.
“you
cannot change any society unless you take responsibility for it, unless you see
yourself as belonging to it and responsible for changing it.”
