As an eco-lesbian who is deeply concerned about the state of the world, I write this invitation to my GLBT friends. I imagine many of you are concerned about the state of the world. I’m here to say that I want us all to step out of the eco-closet and talk about what we are seeing and feeling. Facing into the world situation is a huge task – truly daunting. Saying how we experience what we see and know about that situation may be frightening because we risk being misunderstood and possibly even ridiculed. And if we speak about it perhaps we will feel it all the more deeply.
Today I want to take that risk and tell you how it is for me. Surely, we in the GLBT community understand the power and importance of coming out and taking a stand for who we are and what’s important to us.
So let me tell you how it is for me. Everyday I read articles about peak oil, global climate change, species extinction, dying oceans, population explosion, teetering global economies, unstable political climates and much more. Over the last five years I have gone outside mainstream/corporate media to study what is really going on in the world. I have looked the devil dead in his eyes and sunk to my knees in despair. I have been overwhelmed and paralyzed by what I have discovered…what anyone can discover if only they will look. It’s not pretty. It’s downright devastating. And going to that place of despair and paralysis, allowing myself to be there and feel that for long periods of time, ultimately led to a sort of liberation. Now I am moving into a place of empowerment. There is a big, big story here and I have a role in it. Some talk of apocalypse. Some talk of the end of the world as we know it. Our culture keeps us dumbed down and numbed out. But you know, don’t you? You feel it deep in your bones at times. It can’t help but bubble to the surface in you. Something’s up in the world and it’s big. Bigger than you and bigger than me. It’s so big that we want to turn away and pretend we can carry on as we always have, but that is getting more difficult. Isn’t it? What would happen if we stared it dead in the eyes? If ALL of us stared it dead in the eyes?
I write this to you because I believe you know something about staring down the frightening, difficult and painful. Being Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgender in this culture isn’t easy. Yet many of you are finding your way in that. And as you take a stand, are you not finding empowerment and perhaps even excitement at times? I invite you to do the same regarding the state of the world. I believe we are at a pivotal point in our history as homo sapiens and homosexuals. Did you know that in primitive cultures homosexuals were often revered? “In most ancient and ‘primitive’ tribal cultures boys and girls who had homosexual inclinations as children were singled out to be taught the arts of the shaman, visionary, priest(ess) and healer. They were revered as chosen ones by the gods because their special ability to integrate the masculine and feminine polarities of the self gave them powers of insight and spiritual wisdom. Gays were integrated into the cultures in respected roles” (Stuart Norman, 1997). Not surprising to me! What will your role be as we face into the truth of what’s going on in the world?
I invite you to look at these things clearly and deeply so that you may be able to consider how to best prepare in the face of them and what your role will be. I invite you to talk about them with others in our community. On my resources page you can find information regarding the state of the world. Look if you will. Feel. Talk.
The planet needs you. Will you once again step into that place of Visionary, Healer, Priest(ess), Shaman or Wise One?
