Nurete Brenner – Feminism and Religion

From the Archives: Storytelling as a Spiritual Practice by Nurete Brenner

This was originally posted on April 10, 2019

“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” Audre Lorde

Question: What tools do we have that are powerful enough to dismantle the Master’s house?

Answer: Storytelling.

Storytelling does not belong to the “master.” Storytelling is subversive because it belongs to the collective and not to the individual; it gives agency to the powerless; it is not dependent on time or money, and it makes visible those who are overlooked and ignored in our globalized industrialized system.

We are not seeking to overthrow the patriarchy or “master,” and replace him with a queen. We are seeking something which Riane Eisler (2002) would call a partnership society or a society in which polarities are well balanced, in which the masculine and feminine values which we all hold are given equal weight. We have become so indoctrinated in the patriarchal master’s way of thinking that we think we need some show of force, some violence, some upheaval to create the more beautiful world. But – truthfully – it won’t look like that. It might actually look like a group of women and men gathering together in a circle, in community, to tell stories. Storytelling is subversive because it belongs to the community; it is a medicine to transmute the toxins of industrialized society; it is a spiritual practice. Storytelling is the antidote to empire.

Climate Change as a Socio-Spiritual Feminist Issue (Or 10 ways to be a leader in the era of climate change) by Nurete Brenner

Authorities have observed that climate change is a feminist issue because it disproportionately affects women. Among these, the United Nations has gone further to acknowledge that climate change is a feminist issue because women are on the forefront of adopting climate-change mitigating techniques and technologies. A recent UN report states that “women are key actors in building resilience and responding to climate-related disasters…” But overarching these admittedly important issues is the greater understanding – not mentioned by the UN report – that climate change is a feminist issue on the socio-spiritual level. This side of the issue is often overlooked because the institutions who compile reports are immersed in a masculine way of thinking.

What do I mean by a masculine way of thinking and why do I label it in this seemingly gendered way? Masculine values are those of winning, achieving, proving, succeeding, counting, controlling. pursuit of achievement and status; individual self-reliance; strength and aggression. The UN climate report cited above goes on to say that “Enacting good policies requires quality data, so that we can quantify the issue and measure improvement…” Reports such as this make their points by tabulating numbers and citing statistics, not seeing that these are already masculine ways of expressions and that numbers can only ever tell part of the story. These masculine traits and values are social constructs and not necessarily to be associated with the male biological sex. Both men and women and other-gendered can display masculine values and attributes but they are labeled masculine because society typically associates them with the male gender. Continue reading “Climate Change as a Socio-Spiritual Feminist Issue (Or 10 ways to be a leader in the era of climate change) by Nurete Brenner”

Storytelling as a Spiritual Practice by Nurete Brenner

“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” Audre Lorde

Question: What tools do we have that are powerful enough to dismantle the Master’s house?

Answer: Storytelling.

Leading by Mandala by Nurete Brenner and Elizabeth Meacham

Lake Erie Institute

The old myths and images that sustained us in earlier periods are no longer serving us during this time of breakdown of the old and the uncertainty about the future. The lone wolf, the frontiersman, the all-powerful superhero – these tropes fade into irrelevance as it becomes clear that no messianic figure is going to step forward and part the sea for us. We need to find new stories to accompany us and new images to illuminate the path as we shift from a patriarchal-hierarchical structure to a collective, relational, participatory one born in partnership rather than domination. Women’s leadership is the emergent idea that leadership is about co-creating a new story for the world during a time of radical transformation in Earth history.

The word “leadership” stems from the Indo-European root leith which means to cross a threshold. How does a society cross the threshold from the myth of the strong leader to a new story of collective leadership? One answer is by telling new stories. Traditionally women have been the storytellers of our culture, relaying and relating the fairy tales, the bedtime stories, the family-history narratives and cultural myths. The men who share in this story-telling role are those who are at one with their feminine aspect and we recognize that this activity is not at all new for Indigenous cultures which have maintained an ongoing tradition of participatory story-telling leadership. Continue reading “Leading by Mandala by Nurete Brenner and Elizabeth Meacham”

Fourth Wave Feminism By Nurete Brenner

Nurete Many of us have a growing sense that we are at a crucial inflection point in our civilization and at a crossroads for the future of our planet. I’m not sure if that point needs to be defended, explained or expounded upon. To me it seems completely transparent, glaringly and frighteningly obvious. I live with that knowledge constantly, which translates into grief for the biodiversity that has already been lost and is accelerating; fear for the turmoil and human-made ecological catastrophes that will cause more and more people to lose their land and homes, leading to increased acts of violence towards the vulnerable; and anger towards the elites of the world who siphon up the resources of our planet for themselves and then barricade themselves behind their wealth.

Grief, fear, and anger. These are the emotions of the shadow lands and these are the emotions that we usually try to deny and deflect. These are the dark places of the soul. But, if we continue to reject these negative emotions rather than acknowledge and address them, they will return to confront us over and over again. We, as a society, have gone off course, have created a machine that is trampling all that is beautiful on our bountiful and giving, blue and green planet. Continue reading “Fourth Wave Feminism By Nurete Brenner”