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Lee Pope's avatar

It's heartening to know that you are officially extending to your community this invitation to help organize toward a solution. You might be feeling like a "lone voice crying in the wilderness", but that is rarely as true as it seems. Meanwhile, think it's important that you are taking first steps. As many others have pointed out, we are in an "all hands on deck" moment, where each of us is called to take whatever action fits our circumstances, our perspective, our unique gifts. It all adds up.

There is a quote that has been often attributed to Goethe (but apparently actually from William Hutchinson Murray) that has borne out in my experience: "the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way...Begin it now.”

I loved your referencing of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Story of the Peacemaker (the mythology behind the Iroquois Confederacy) is a powerful narrative filled with spiritual wisdom. Are you familiar with it? It tells how Deganiwidah has the vision for peace, but he is afflicted with a stammer. Hiawatha is a brilliant orator who, due to intense emotional suffering, has temporarily lost connection with his own noble nature and is living in a degraded state of cannabilism. When he sees Deganiwidah's beautiful face looking down from the smoke hole of his lodge, reflected in the water of his cook pot, he mistakes it for his own and immediately awakens to his true higher nature. He agrees to join forces with Deganiwidah so as to convince the 5 tribes that have been warring with each other to stop fighting and unite for the common good. Ultimately, they are able to "comb the snakes" out of the hair of the evil sorcerer Tadadeo and found the Iroquois Nation. It's a brilliant story, highly recommended to anyone who seeks wisdom in mythology.

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captkrk's avatar

You might look at Unangan culture…..10,000 years old. Basically an anarchist tribal culture in the Aleutian Chain. Genetically most closely related to people from Hokkaido. Nikolski is said to be the oldest continuously occupied village on Earth, 9000 years old…something like that.

Pretty tough people. There’s nothing out there but wind, rocks, and grass. No mast, no nuts, no trees, no nothing. They survived on marine mammals. Their food, clothes, tools, boats, and housing all came from the sea.

And they did it all with consensus and cooperation. No dominator archetype required. People think you gotta have a strong man who plays terrible golf and wears makeup and a wig to run everything. It just ain’t so.

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