The Great Turning (a metaphor)

Crossposted at Street Prophets

I just saw Armando's diary at My Left Wing, entitled "I'm Tired". I clicked, thinking, "Well, I don't know if I can be much good, given that I'm having what he's having." He started with Hi everybody. Mind if I sit a spell with you folks over here? I promise I won't yell at anybody.

Well, it's a reassuring opener. ;-) As I read on, the words were all too familiar. I'm just tired. Tired of losing. Tired of fighting. Tired of blog fights and internal conflicts and all of it.

I'm spent. I've lost my righteousness. I've lost my fight.

Yep. Me too. I'm full. Couldn't eat another bite. Check, please!

He ended with this plea: Give me some words of encouragement. Please. Awww--he even said please. Well, I shared what came to mind, and since I know that this tired thing has reached epidemic levels of late, I thought I'd share it here too, for what it's worth.

I'm tired too. I have things I need to do for my family, my pets, my students, and then I have the activist stuff, which is theoretically optional but sure doesn't feel that way. For one of the "big names" on the blogs, I imagine it feels even less optional.

Side note--if Godde, in her infinite whimsy, ever chooses to cast me in a role where I am seen as a movement leader, I am going to have a giant disclaimer sign put up. It will warn people that they are following me at their own risk, because I really am just making this up as I go along.

Anyway, a notion I have found useful as a metaphor is that of The Great Turning. I imagine most people on the left wing blogs would find the writings that address this rather nutty, but it has become second nature for me to "take what I can use, and leave the rest". For what it's worth, I find this passage to be helpful, especially the part about falling back from lead position when necessary...

Yet we can certainly see the great turning happening now, and most clearly if we look at three particular dimensions of it. These three are interdependent and mutually supportive.

The first I call "holding actions." These are the many forms of legal, political, legislative, and regulatory activities by which we are slowing down the destruction caused by the industrial growth society. To be included also are the many kinds of direct action "blockades, boycotts, civil disobedience, tree sitting. Through these we are managing to save some species and some ecosystems, save some lives, save some genetic material for the life-sustaining society that's coming.

These holding actions can be exhausting, though. It's good to know that it's OK to step back. Many of us, if we step back when we feel bruised and bent out of shape from being there in point position on issue after issue, feel as if we are abandoning ship. We feel guilty about it. But we need to know that the great turning is vast,

 and if we step back, it's like the lead goose dropping back from point position to fly in the windstream of the others. We're not abandoning anything. We don't cease being who we are, and we don't stop being deeply allied with the ongoingness of life.