drew dellinger - planetize the movement

Holloway on Africanisms

"Even the African concept of time found its way into southern 'timelessness" and slow pace of life, explaining in part a southern interpretation of time that is strongly rooted in the African concept of time. We can conclude that much which is 'American' was at one time 'African.'

--Joseph E. Holloway, Africanisms in American Culture" (2005)

Quote of the Day: We Are Stories

"It is hard to imagine what human life would be like without oral narrative, for it is chiefly through storytelling that people possess a past. It is through prized stories, often enshrined in a ritual context, that a complex religious dimension is added to life."

--John D. Niles,
"Homo Narrans: The Poetics and Anthropology of Oral Literature" (1999)

 

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Luminous Library: MLK on "Segregation Justice"

“I could mention just one more thing… I have talked about it a great deal in the last few days: the administration of justice. Something is wrong with a society where, in the last four years, since 1960, twenty-six Negro and white Civil Rights workers have been murdered. In most cases, nothing has been done about it. Only one person has been convicted of murder. The others were not even convicted for murder, but, as in Montgomery the other day, the conviction was for conspiring to violate civil rights. The accused murderers of Rev. Reeb were released. We have got to go all out to deal with the question of segregation justice. We still have a long, long, way to go.”

--Martin Luther King Jr. (December 15, 1965)

 

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MLK: April 3, 1968

"We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles, we don't need any Molotov cocktails. We just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, 'God sent us by here to say that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you.'"

--MLK Jr. (April 3, 1968)

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On That Day -- MLK from "The Drum Major Instinct"

"If  any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize, that isn't important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards, that's not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school.

I'd like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day, that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try to feed the hungry. And I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say, on that day, that I did try, in my life, to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity."

--Martin Luther King Jr., "The Drum Major Instinct" (February 1968)

 

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Dissertation Abstract -- The Mountaintop Vision

You're Invited to Drew Dellinger's Ph.D. Dissertation Defense!

 

(This is the abstract for my doctoral dissertation. I am finishing a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Religion, with a concentration in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness, at CIIS -- the California Institute of Integral Studies.)

 

The Mountaintop Vision:

Martin Luther King’s Cosmology of Connection

 

This dissertation asserts that Martin Luther King Jr.’s social justice vision was based on a worldview of interconnection. This work examines cosmological and ecological dimensions of King’s thought that have been largely overlooked in previous King scholarship.

King’s vision connected racism with war and poverty, stressed the unity of peoples and movements around the planet, and recognized the interwoven nature of the universe, which he described as, “the interrelated structure of all reality.” His holistic view of the cosmos and society is the hallmark of what I call his Mountaintop Vision.

In the last years of his life, which I call his Mountaintop Period (1966-68), King identified systemic links between social justice issues that were largely viewed as separate, fusing them into a unified critique that fundamentally challenged the modern system. This work articulates six aspects of King’s Mountaintop Vision: (1) connecting justice to the cosmos, (2) emphasizing economic justice, (3) confronting systemic racism, (4) challenging U. S. militarism, (5) exemplifying the prophetic path, and (6) building a global movement.

King’s worldview constituted a cosmology of justice in which interdependence and compassion are woven into the fabric of the cosmos itself. In King’s view, “the universe is on the side of justice.”

This dissertation examines King’s speeches, sermons, and writings to demonstrate his vision of radical connection. I argue that King’s view of existence as a “network of mutuality,” in which “all life is interrelated,” should be recognized as an early expression of systems thinking and ecological consciousness. King’s Mountaintop Vision linked social justice, cosmology, and ecology in a way that may yet provide guidance for our future.

 

Drew Dellinger

©2012

Luminous Library: Climate Change Warning from 1968

"A realization of the inter-relationships within an ecosystem is essential for man's continued occupancy on earth. We cannot go on polluting our air or our rivers without affecting all life. We cannot, for example, continue with impunity to increase the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere at the rate it has been increased over the past fifty years. The consequences of such interference with the biosphere, the world ecosystem, would be disastrous climatic change."

--Raymond F. Dasmann, A Different Kind of Country (1968)
 

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Mystic Coolness in Yoruba Culture

"Coolness, then, is a part of character, and character objectifies proper custom. To the degree that we live generously and discreetly, exhibiting grace under pressure, our appearance and our acts gradually assume virtual royal power. As we become noble, fully realizing the spark of creative goodness God endowed us with... we find the confidence to cope with all kinds of situations. This is ashe. This is character. This is mystic coolness."

--Robert Farris Thompson, Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philososphy (1983)

Luminous Library: Robert Farris Thompson

 "The Yoruba assess everything aesthetically--from the taste and color of a yam to the qualities of a dye, to the dress and deportment of a woman or a man. An entry in one of the earliest dictionaries of their language, published in 1858, was amewa, literally "knower-of-beauty," "connoisseur," one who looks for the manifestation of pure artistry."

--Robert Farris Thompson, Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy (1983)

FREE BOOKS (with Fromm quote)

So I'm driving down San Pablo in El Cerrito yesterday with just twenty minutes to spare before the Big Game, and there's a sign on the sidewalk that says "FREE BOOKS."

For me, this is like being submerged and seeing a sign that says "Free Air."

I make a u-turn, park, and walk into this storefront that is apparently a free book exchange. This is literary Shagri-La, but I've got to case the place before tip-off.

And damned if there aren't some cool old books in there. I start to gather a little stack. As it grows I wonder if I'm being greedy, so I take a closer look at the flyers posted on the wall: "Limit is 100 per person, per day." Wow. So I'm cool with my 10. By the time I left it was 16. Watching the game with friends, I gave some away. The Portable Aquinas to Snider. Marcus Borg to William & Danielle, plus a funny early-80s book on NFL Running Backs that I got for Will as a gag.

Here's quote from one of the books: The Revolution of Hope, by Erich Fromm:

 

"This book is written as a response to America's situation in the year 1968. It is born out of the conviction that we are at the crossroads: one road leads to a completely mechanized society with man as a helpless cog in the machine--if not to destruction by thermonuclear war; the other to a renaissance of humanism and hope--to a society that puts technique in the service of man's well-being."

--Erich Fromm, The Revolution of Hope: Toward a Humanized Technology (1968)