8/13/2019 Derrick Jensen's Afterword to Not in His Image by John Lamb Lash

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FTER W R

N ol His mage is an extraordinary and profound book. It lays barethe foundation ofmuch of \vhat pas.scs for rclit,rion in this cultureIn so doing ic lays bare much of the foundation of the destructivenessthat charac ter izes- that i. - this cultu reT hat wou ld of course be more than sufficient to n ake this book

worth while, but Vot in < Image docs more: it poin ts the way toward areligion that existed long before Ch ristianity, coward a religion noc basedo n control, rigid hierarchy, and separation r 1 the earth and from thebody but inscead cowa rd a rel igion based on ecstatic im mersion in themyste rious and beautiful processes of life itself.

l o ocher words, chis book points the way home.A few years ago l read Joh n Lam b Lash s book The Hero: iVa hood andotv r Its an important book, with its discussion of 'hat it means and

whac it is co be a man, historically, mythologically, artistically, emocion-ally, physically. \Ve corresponded.

And then he asked ifl d like to see the typescript of what became thisbook. I sa id yes. Having read his work, I thought I was prepared forthis book.

I \vas \\1rong John told me he was sending the typescript to several colleagues, many

of whom we re, he said, eager to provide robust criticism. I to ld him Ididn t see that as my role, because I rarely find that sort of feedbackhelpful, or in fact anything but harmful: my job as his colleague is not coattempc co impose myself onto his book, but rather to help him say whathe \\':l.ncs o say in d e 'ay he 'ancs co say it.

John ag reed, sent the cypescript.

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Before it arrived I wkl h im also thatIwasn' t sureI'd have the time tomake a ot of o11l11l nts anyway. I d o mnt 'hen I could, but

H e understood.I got the typescript, opened it, started reading.\V henI'd told him that I w asn t going tooffer robust criticism I'd

been right,but noi for the reason I thought: Ioffered ' 'cryfew suggestion s, less from a desirenot to im po..:, but because the work was alreadyvery powerfu l.

\Vh en I to ld him I w asn't going to c o mme n t. however, Iwas wro ng . Idid,page after page.I found so many remarkable passag

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:\FT E VORD

Raised a fundam entalist C hristian , I was a true believer as a child.G radually,through my te

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becomes ev id e nt. as ca n eseen by acomprehens ive paraphrase of th everses: \ Tct ims l ll o do not resist: J>crpctrato rs shouldeven invite furtherharmfrom them ,and if theylove and dogood to those whoharmthemthey will be rccogni7 c:d in 1hdrsuffer ing bythe redeem er.

Lash's powerful analisis follow>: Theproposi t ion guarantees thatvictims w il ltriumph spi rirually all lhe w hi lea l lowing total libertytolhose whoharm, persecute, a nd slander them- an ex trem ely good dealforthe perpetrators, it \v ould seem. I le says , ..Upon scrutin)r, redeemerethics [that is, the 1e:achings of Jesus) read as ifthey were wriuen by theperpetrator< fortheir own benefit.\'llith that sente n ce finally understood: Jesu sas soft -spoken agent ofthe oppressors, \\hispcring to us that \V e m ust nc\c r resist.

L1sh also\Vritc s jC SLIS comman clsyou to love your neighbor as yourselfbut te lls you nothing about h o w to love you rse lf so th e ad v ice is virru ally useless. Self-love is t he natura l side ofe ffec t of lovingli fe . Jesus docsnot say, 'Y o u s h a ll lov e you r own life in t hes a m e wayyou love an otherperson , free lya11cl sr,onll1ncous ly, ask ing no th ing in rctt1rn. T he \VOrds a ttribuced to Jesus d o not say nny l'h in g like t his bee n uset he messageoflovethey a rc sni c tc> contnin is no t \ hnt it is pu t up to be .

N in e ty percent of he lnrgc fish in th e ocea ns a rc gone, ta ken bythis cul ture. N a t ive fo rests n rc go ne, rnkc n byrhis cu lture.N ative human beingsarc gone rnkc r I by t h is cultu re. \ spontaneous a nd free love o ou r ownbodiesand our own lives is gone, ta k e nby this cul tu re . The c ulture issystematica lly des troying the p lanet , o u r only home. Itis sys tematicallyd es troy ing u s. It is tim e 1ha1 we1>ut a s1op toi t. Butbefore we canput ascop ro iL le1nt1sL ec it for what it is .

John L 1mb L:ish'sbook is a blessi ng, and a warning that we mustcease taking th e te rr ible advice ofC hrist iani ty that we not res ist evil, andthat we must on the 01hcrhand reinhabit our own jo yful, painfu l,m ortal , beautifu l bodies andlight for our l i es andfor the ~ e s ofthose'velove

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DERRICK ESENMay2006