Sharing Knowledge, acrylic on canvas
24" x 72" -  Shaktima Brien

E C O F E M I N I S M
the nature of women

by Shaktima   

In 1987, I went to an Ecofeminism conference at USC. I was curious to hear other women’s experiences: how they lived, made a living, felt about themselves, the world, their participation in it, their work, responsibilities, relationships and visions of the future.  Most of all, I was concerned with the extinction of the animals, AIDS, war, hunger and poverty. If tow to I wanted to see how they integrate spiritual consciousness into their daily life. If two to three species are disappearing every day, how can we think that humanity will survive? 

     I read about the "celebration of girlieness" in "A Look at the New Feminism” in the January 18, 2001 issue of the Desert Post WEEKLY.  Being “girlie” may be cute at twenty years old, but when Elizabeth Taylor pouts like a doll at seventy-five years old, it looks infantile, if not ridiculous.

     Women have a responsibility to educate their peers, younger generations, elders, children and men in the cycles of Nature: the yearly seasons as well as the seasons of life. This is Nature’s basic ecology. Living things – humans and animals - are not separated from Nature but dependant on it for survival. We rather live in the earth rather than on it. We ARE Nature. We cannot live without her.

     Our tendency toward self-destruction comes from ignoring that we are organisms living in a larger body than our individual ones. The idea of having lots of toys is fun when you are young, but eventually we realize that we have to put a lot of hours to afford this pair of boots or pants designed to make us feel better. And for what? To be approved by a clan? Should we care if we are not accepted for whom we really are, but only for the façade we erect?

     As Theresa Heredia puts it on the Ecofeminism – UCS Internet site, “It may be time to re-evaluate the meaning of the American dream”… whether they “are homeless or own an expensive house, (they) are struggling alike to survive... in both scenarios, the people lead lives filled with fear and stress."

     The return of Goddess consciousness is just that: putting things in perspective according to their degree of importance. It means respect of the subtle, the fragile equilibrium of happiness, the feminine aspect of Nature, the human body cycles, the power to conserve rather than reproduce or consume.

     Here I am, some thirteen years after the Conference, surfing the ‘Net in search of ecofeminism pages. This leads me to the USC site once again, where Gloria Orenstein and her students give their views on earth fertility, conscious participation, reproductive technology, effects of wars, saving trees, etc. Human beings can choose to do good or to do wrong. We can choose to restore original eco-balance for survival and maintenance of all.

     My grand-mother taught me long ago how intentions affect the environment and the future; how our actions nurture or destroy the world, restore or compromise its balance. This understanding made me more aware that the planet was dependent on me, you – us – to keep its fragile ecological balance.

     If life would be a big “Survivor” show, who would you let go of at first and who would you create alliances with for the survival of the tribe? Which products would you vote out that compromise human health?

     Start with the products we feed babies that are loaded with sugar, yeast and starch. Talk about ignorance! But is it ignorance or irresponsibility? Who knows? One think I do know is that we cannot afford to ignore that these foods set us on a sugar addiction, an emotional and mental roller-coaster.

     The earth is a living body in which we take physical nourishment, spiritual sustenance, emotional fulfillment, warmth, cold, and energy.

     To refine your perceptions, fast and meditate for a day once in a while. Spend some time with Nature. As for myself, I recently joined a spiritual woman named Vijali in Malibu to help create a Medicine Wheel. She uses her art served as a public ritual for social transformation. We danced all night to the spirit of the drums, our hearts pulsating in unison.

     "Draw me a picture! Show me an image! Give me Paradise!" scream thirsty souls in search of inspiration.

     “If I cannot feel Heaven, give me at least a sample of it!" I subliminally hear through movies, commercials, TV and magazines. "Give me illusions - even artificial ones - but keep the dream alive" shout our hearts. Having lost touch with the soil, we are starving for meaning (the real thing). We are good at playing "make believe" - from Disneyland to Monopoly. Everybody finds ways to sell you smiles and happiness in exchange for your dollars. Spend, buy, consume! Fake for reality! "Knowledge is a commodity," says artist Jamie Hardt, who sculpts the Great Mother Earth in sacred rocks and boulders all over the world.

     Food is not real anymore. Carrots and tomatoes don't taste like real carrots and tomatoes. You just have to take a trip to France or Italy to remember. Our crops are boosted with artificial chemicals like our inflated heads are with artificial values.

     We dream of being rich, but in reality, most of us will simply live simply all our life. There is enough for everyone, if we don’t take more than what we need. What is this obsession we have with possessions and accumulations? We feed ourselves with images      that equate happiness with money, so we try to look happy, showing off our acquisitions, pretending. It looks funny, if not pathetic, when observed from a distance. At different periods of our life, we sometimes act like we are above the situation. The reality is that we may be hiding the truth, living above our means, on credit, feeling like clowns, a clones and fools.

     There is a current idea that pushes us to acquire "the most and as soon as possible" to retire afterwards. The abominable truth is that by age 65, one doesn't know how to live and what to do anymore. Zest for life disappears, when you feel like a looser. If the experience and wisdom you have accumulated in a lifetime is not transmitted to younger generations, like becomes stale.

     Life is a fleeting gift, - a learning and a growing process that may be forgotten as soon as the first paid job comes along. Beware of getting caught up in the wheel of fortune, because when questioning disappears, so do the dreams we cherished as children. 

     To grow into responsible individuals, couples, families and communities, each and every one’s creativity must be supported, encouraged and nurtured, so that we can live on the model of the Medicine Wheel and deep ecology.

     Continuous education for all results in a healthy productive beehive.

     As each of us unfolds his or her blueprint, so flourishes an abundance of skills, products and information that are beneficial to the whole of humanity. Imagine a world that doesn't engender cancer.

     Why are we still producing or consuming health-threatening foods or beverages? Are there no other choices? There are. Some companies are already coming up with Colas that boost your immune system, rather than degenerate your cells. What a difference it will make when we will be able to brush elbows with people who feel good about themselves, rather than feeling helpless, depressed and wasted! People are the most precious raw resource energy we have.

     I believe that each and every one of us holds in his and her heart a vision of love and light for all human beings. I believe this why we are here: to learn what the Mother has to say.

  DESERT POST WEEKLY - January 2001