Over many years now I have been blessed with coming to know the work of many deeply loving, compassionate, courageous, conscious and wise human beings. I have adopted them as my teachers. The list of those who inform and inspire me continues to grow and will likely expand as long as there is breath in my body. Among them is Riane Eisler, who is among the great Elders of our time. I am drawn to those who demonstrate a pattern of consciousness and fierce caring for life, those who emanate and embody the best in our human nature. These are the teachers who inspire the best in me. And they help me to envision a larger picture of what is possible in our human evolution and how it is that we can effectively work together to create a more caring, just, and sustainable world. May we all seek new cultural stories to live by, ones which value rather than harm life. May we all choose our teachers wisely. - Molly
Many cultural stories worldwide present the domination system as the only human alternative. Fairy tales romanticize the rule of kings and queens over “common people.” Classics such as Homers Illiad and Shakespeare’s kings trilogy romanticize “Heroic violence.” Many religious stories present men’s control, even ownership, of women as normal and moral.
These stories came out of the times that oriented much more closely to a “pure” domination system. Along with newer stories that perpetuate these limited beliefs about human nature, they play a major role in how we view our world and how we live in it. But precisely because stories are so important in shaping values, new narratives can help change unhealthy values.
Of particular importance are new stories about human nature. We need new narratives that give us a more complete and accurate picture of who we are and who we can be - stories that show that our enormous capacities for consciousness, creativity and caring are integral to human evolution, that these capacities are what make us distinctively human.
― Riane Eisler
From The Real Wealth of Nations:
Creating a Caring Economics
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