NPR Bio and photos http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/06/27/417175523/grace-lee-boggs-... === Short quote about living with philosophy As I've grown older, I've realized that philosophy has to do with how we value ourselves as human beings, and how we look at ourselves, and how we relate to reality. === Medium quote about the cultural revolution we make among ourselves "I think we're not looking sufficiently at what is happening at the grassroots in the country. We have not emphasized sufficiently the cultural revolution that we have to make among ourselves in order to force the government to do differently. Things do not start with governments." ...people think of evolution mainly in terms of anatomical changes. I think that we have to think of evolution in terms of-- very elemental human changes. and so, we're evolving both through our knowledge and through our experiences to another a stage of human-- humankind. So, revolution and evolution are no longer so separate. do something local. Do something real, however, small. And don't-- don't diss the political things, but understand their limitations. it takes a whole lot of things. It takes people doing things. It takes people talking about things. It takes dialogue. It takes changing the whole lot of ways by which we think. I think we have to rethink the concept of "leader." 'Cause "leader" implies "follower." And, so many-- not so many, but I think we need to appropriate, embrace the idea that we are the leaders we've been looking for. “you cannot change any society unless you take responsibility for it, unless you see yourself as belonging to it and responsible for changing it.” === Longer quote about the times we live in I was privileged to participate in the great humanizing movements of the last century, but I can’t recall a time when the issues were so basic, so interconnected. I believe that we are at the point now, in the United States, where a movement is beginning to emerge. I believe that we are at the point now, in the United States, where a movement is beginning to emerge. I think that the calamity, the quagmire of the Iraq war, the outsourcing of jobs, the drop-out of young people from the education system, the monstrous growth of the prison-industrial complex, the planetary emergency, which we are engulfed at the present moment, is demanding that instead of just complaining about these things, instead of just protesting about these things, we begin to look for, and hope for, another way of living. And I think that-- that's where the movement-- I-- I see a movement beginning to emerge, 'cause I see hope beginning to trump despair. "The struggle we're dealing with these days, which, I think, is part of what the 60s represented, is how do we define our humanity?" In order to grapple with the interacting and seemingly intractable questions of today’s society, we need to see ourselves not mainly as victims but as new men and women who, recognizing the sacredness in ourselves and in others, can view love and compassion not as some “sentimental weakness but as the key that somehow unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality.” (Martin Luther King) How are we going to make our livings in a society becoming increasingly jobless because of hi-tech and outsourcing? Where will we get the imagination to recognize that for most of human history the concept of Jobs didn’t even exist? Work, as distinguished from Labor, was done to produce needed goods and services, develop skills and artistry, and nurture cooperation. What will move us to care for our biosphere instead of using our technological mastery to increase the speed at which we are making it uninhabitable? How do we redefine education so that 30-50 percent of inner-city children do not drop out of school, thus ensuring that millions will end up in prison? Can we build an America in which people of all races and ethnicities live together in harmony, and Euro-Americans, in particular, celebrate their role as one among many minorities constituting the multiethnic majority? how do we achieve reconciliation with the two-thirds of the world that increasingly resents our economic, military, and cultural domination? Grace Lee Boggs Message from: Steve Skype: consultharrington Social Media: LinkedIn, FaceBook, Google + Hangouts Message from: Steve Skype: consultharrington Social Media: LinkedIn, FaceBook, Google + Hangouts