Wow, beautifully written. I will look up that Eisler book - coming from my own authoritarian background I can say that sometimes it makes the survivor allergic to authoritarians! The book sounds very interesting. I’m also reading terry tempest Williams book (Erosion) this week and I’ve thought of you and your writing as she talks passionately about nature and public land in the American west. 💛
Another beautiful column on this rainy day in Colorado, thanks for being a ray of sunshine. To move with lightness in the world, yes, one of my eternal goals. Practice, practice, practice.. try for 10,000 years..
While your essay is about much more than eagles, vultures, and crows, they are such amazing birds! It is interesting, at some level, that our latest essays intersected although mine of course was not really as reflective. We are fortunate to have some nesting eagles near our place and it is always a joy to watch them.
While it is a recent opinion that needs more consideration, I fear that the pivot of politics in the US/Britain with Reagan/Thatcher in the late 70s and early 80s have a long tail of consequence. At some level the embrace of neooliberalism has disconnected democracy and degraded it at the expense of capitalism. I am not sure where it leads but it is a disturbing pattern.
Thank you for writing this. Sometimes I practically get lost in almost meditative thought about the trauma-informed coaching and how, when we really release ourselves from judgement, we can see more clearly the humanity in us all.
I get that eagle feeling in a car - I was rolling along Tuesday afternoon windows down, roof open, blasting the stereo and barely aware I was driving (in the sense that it just felt like an extension of my body), never mind the tons of fast-moving traffic. La la la la, la la la la. Although I can get that feeling in the grocery store when I need to move in a hurry.
I don´t get any eagles around here, I get turkey vultures. But I did look out into the yard one day and damn if a sparrowhawk didn´t come flying in doing maybe 70 mph. flattened out its trajectory about five feet above the ground, and zoomed across the yard straight for the purple burberry bush the sparrows like to hang out in. The sparrows scattered in all directions except for one that took off at full speed the opposite way from the hawk. The sparrowhawk flew through the bush (thorny!) and was hot on the sparrow´s tail for another 150 yards or so before they disappeared behind another house. The whole thing was a blur, took maybe ... 4 seconds for the whole scene to play out.
¨ On psychologist Else Frenkel-Brunswick’s “F scale” that measures an individual’s compatibility with fascist rule¨
I had forgotten what I scored before, took both versions of that test I found on the web: 24% & 25% fascist. 13% less authoritarian than the average person. Woo. I spent 6 years in an authoritarian household, or maybe 6 years living under brutal authoritarian rule (not much rule of law going on there & then); it seems to have acted as inoculation against that kind of crap. 🤷🏻♂ Or I´m an American of an older school.
elm
the real problem is that then i want to fight these guys all the time
The Washington Post had a fascinating article about how some folks who grew up homeschooled in very fundamentalist Christian families are now refusing to raise their own children that way because of what they now see was often an abusive, stunting system. What struck me about those parents was their ability to overcome their own trauma and somehow see outside the little box that they'd been raised. Seems like it takes pretty extraordinary people to do that.
This really resonated with me. I experienced authoritarianism at home, at school, and incorporate life, and my rejection of it defines me and informs my work. But I fear for every one who defines themself in opposition to it, there are ten who don't question it. I feel another essay!
Thanks for mentioning Riane Eisler. I meant to read her work some ten years ago and never did. Added to my list!
Thank you for bringing Riane Eisler to my attention - I just checked out the book you mentioned and it looks amazing. Congratulations on starting yours! Starting is no small accomplishment.
I have often wondered if there is an inverse relationship between our grasping need to own and possess stuff (the culture of "mine"), and our blind spots and disavowal of ownership when it comes to our own trauma and unresolved baggage. It seems like the one thing we don't reliably want to possess is our buried pain and personal truth.
Lighthearted enough to fly
Wow, beautifully written. I will look up that Eisler book - coming from my own authoritarian background I can say that sometimes it makes the survivor allergic to authoritarians! The book sounds very interesting. I’m also reading terry tempest Williams book (Erosion) this week and I’ve thought of you and your writing as she talks passionately about nature and public land in the American west. 💛
Another beautiful column on this rainy day in Colorado, thanks for being a ray of sunshine. To move with lightness in the world, yes, one of my eternal goals. Practice, practice, practice.. try for 10,000 years..
While your essay is about much more than eagles, vultures, and crows, they are such amazing birds! It is interesting, at some level, that our latest essays intersected although mine of course was not really as reflective. We are fortunate to have some nesting eagles near our place and it is always a joy to watch them.
While it is a recent opinion that needs more consideration, I fear that the pivot of politics in the US/Britain with Reagan/Thatcher in the late 70s and early 80s have a long tail of consequence. At some level the embrace of neooliberalism has disconnected democracy and degraded it at the expense of capitalism. I am not sure where it leads but it is a disturbing pattern.
I'm about half way through this, which is also much concerned with questions of how we got to this place of grabbiness and greed being seen as not only socially acceptable but inevitable. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374157357/thedawnofeverything
Thank you for writing this. Sometimes I practically get lost in almost meditative thought about the trauma-informed coaching and how, when we really release ourselves from judgement, we can see more clearly the humanity in us all.
Hi Nia! I'm going to request a copy of Riane Eisler's book today. This piece resonated, as yours always do, in so many ways. Thank you.
I get that eagle feeling in a car - I was rolling along Tuesday afternoon windows down, roof open, blasting the stereo and barely aware I was driving (in the sense that it just felt like an extension of my body), never mind the tons of fast-moving traffic. La la la la, la la la la. Although I can get that feeling in the grocery store when I need to move in a hurry.
I don´t get any eagles around here, I get turkey vultures. But I did look out into the yard one day and damn if a sparrowhawk didn´t come flying in doing maybe 70 mph. flattened out its trajectory about five feet above the ground, and zoomed across the yard straight for the purple burberry bush the sparrows like to hang out in. The sparrows scattered in all directions except for one that took off at full speed the opposite way from the hawk. The sparrowhawk flew through the bush (thorny!) and was hot on the sparrow´s tail for another 150 yards or so before they disappeared behind another house. The whole thing was a blur, took maybe ... 4 seconds for the whole scene to play out.
¨ On psychologist Else Frenkel-Brunswick’s “F scale” that measures an individual’s compatibility with fascist rule¨
I had forgotten what I scored before, took both versions of that test I found on the web: 24% & 25% fascist. 13% less authoritarian than the average person. Woo. I spent 6 years in an authoritarian household, or maybe 6 years living under brutal authoritarian rule (not much rule of law going on there & then); it seems to have acted as inoculation against that kind of crap. 🤷🏻♂ Or I´m an American of an older school.
elm
the real problem is that then i want to fight these guys all the time
The Washington Post had a fascinating article about how some folks who grew up homeschooled in very fundamentalist Christian families are now refusing to raise their own children that way because of what they now see was often an abusive, stunting system. What struck me about those parents was their ability to overcome their own trauma and somehow see outside the little box that they'd been raised. Seems like it takes pretty extraordinary people to do that.
This really resonated with me. I experienced authoritarianism at home, at school, and incorporate life, and my rejection of it defines me and informs my work. But I fear for every one who defines themself in opposition to it, there are ten who don't question it. I feel another essay!
Thanks for mentioning Riane Eisler. I meant to read her work some ten years ago and never did. Added to my list!
Thank you for bringing Riane Eisler to my attention - I just checked out the book you mentioned and it looks amazing. Congratulations on starting yours! Starting is no small accomplishment.
I have often wondered if there is an inverse relationship between our grasping need to own and possess stuff (the culture of "mine"), and our blind spots and disavowal of ownership when it comes to our own trauma and unresolved baggage. It seems like the one thing we don't reliably want to possess is our buried pain and personal truth.
Nia you are such an amazing soul! We are all better because of your words we get to see thru your writing! ❤️❤️
Hi Antonia- Is No Trespassing going to be published, and if so, do you have an approximate publish date?
These are valuable thoughts to examine again and again. Thank you.