(Notes from a short course taught by Atossa Soltani and Louis Fox at Schumacher College from 16 - 20 Nov 2015. Atossa is a rainforest activist and founder of Amazon Watch. Louis is a film-maker, producer and messenger.)
How do we tell our own indigenous story?
The Maori people have a tradition, upon meeting someone they tell them the story of their lineage. In so doing they tell you where they are from, where they are at and what their name means.
Its estimated that 4% of the worlds population is indigenous, this means living in traditional ways, and these indigenous peoples are guardians to 80% of the world's known biodiversity. If we had an aspiration to be good ancestors our world view would be very different from that put forward in the dominant paradigm of the West.
To be able to tell our stories we first needed to know where we are at - our stepping off point is what's known as the dominant paradigm, called by some the industrial growth society. This is not a palatable story for many; how might we go about changing this story? Or at least subverting it in an attempt to wake up to what is happening about us in the world today.
Some say, if we want to change the narrative we live in and to understand the source of our current challenges go upstream of the story. If our values and cultural beliefs are not aligned then our behaviours will be off centre and out of balance. The way to intervene in the system and to change the stories and narratives we live by is to make visible the unintended consequences of these stories and to wake up to the unstated assumptions they are founded upon.
To go upstream allows us to see beyond the veil - to see beyond the visible to the invisible realms.
How do fish become aware of water?
Story-tellers seeking to tell a more balanced, kind, equal, healing and regenerative story than the one we are currently living go upstream and find the deeper need being met by dominant stories told today. By identifying and connecting to the deeper need it is possible to replace the current story with a new story that is socially and ecologically healthy and removes the toxic mimic being fed to us. By locating and naming the toxic mimics and swopping them for something healing and healthy, balanced and harmonious we slowly begin to change the world we inhabit.
It is suggested that modern life is meeting our genuine needs for safety, creativity, play, intimacy, love, friendship, food ... in unhealthy ways that often unknown to us are toxic. These toxic mimics being fed through the modern story can be changed. For example - war is a toxic mimic in response to the need for play; pornography is a toxic mimic for intimacy; social media is a toxic mimic for meeting with friends around a fire. Toxic mimics become addictive, we keep going back to them for more because they don't fulfil our need quite as we want them to. Thus creating an emptiness due to the unmet need.
As story tellers, educators and activists we can help people find the true nourishment they are seeking rather than the toxic mimic being sold to them. First by helping people to identify the true need behind the surface story or behaviours they are acting out and then to create stories by which they can better and more truly meet their need in a regenerative way.
Language, vocabulary, culture, story are so important in framing the world we live in. They can all be changed to better match the world we want to participate in and be a part of shaping and influencing. What we think, say and do matters.
