“Soft rebellion is not retreat—it is a return. A return to the slow intelligence of forests and fungi, of root and rock, to the cyclical wisdom of the moon, the spirits of the Earth and the ancestors of kith and kin, to the understanding that nothing in nature rushes toward its own destruction.

In every unhurried breath, every shared moment of rest, every act of care that refuses to be monetized, we weave ourselves back into the great, animate web of the world. This is resistance.”.

Shannon Willis

I chanced on some writings on soft rebellion by animist Shannon Willis, a term I haven’t  come across before. This resonated strongly with me and I felt an urge to give voice to my own expression of soft rebellion:

As many of us know, merely fighting against the multitude of things that are wrong in our world, can so easily lead to yet more polarisation and entrenchment of views, and can unintentionally stoke more of the same ignorance and destructiveness we are trying to change. 

In contrast, soft rebellion comes from a place of belonging and the quiet strength of water which is patiently insistent; deflecting like a supple branch which springs back. Soft rebellion knows we are all inextricably interconnected and entangled in the mycelium of Life. It knows deeply that our kin are the forests, rivers and soil and draws strength from the wondrous diversity of living beings. We share breath with wild swans, oak trees and bees, in the life-giving exchange of the atmosphere. In touch with our creaturely senses, our feet are rooted in the earth, the breeze caresses the pores of our skin; we imbibe the fragrance of the smell of rain on dry soil and hearken to the song of the blackbird, delighting in sunlight on rippled waters.

Just getting our hands in the soil and planting a few seeds with care is a revolutionary act outside of and not beholden to the juggernaut of vulture capitalism.

Soft rebellion refuses to buy into alienation and hopelessness. We are sovereign beings. Soft rebellion is vulnerable, meeting hardness with yielding and holding the many contradictions gently with love. It sees through and refuses scapegoating and narrow blame. Keeping our feet firmly on the ground and our awareness undistracted and open, helps us to not be manipulated by or ensnared by false narratives.

The Machine distracts us, capturing our attention and leading us on with vacuous promises. Soft rebellion doesn’t need these promises, knowing we are already full; replete in the plenitude of Life; rich with natural wonder and awe. Soft rebellion comes out of belonging and the sacred mystery of place and being deeply at home.

It refuses to be seduced into regarding ourselves as homo superior, knowing that our humanity is only complete in our non separation from all living beings, whether feathered, furred, leaved or rocky, earthy or riverine.

Soft rebellion knows we live in the era of the Humilocene rather than the Holocene or the Anthropocene. The true heart response at this point in the Earth cycle is to feel humiliation at what we have collectively done to our all-providing Mother Earth in our ignorance and avariciousness. The term, “The Anthropocene”, inadvertently conveys a sense of human domination and the inevitability of humanity uber alles. All beings are our family and soft rebellion refuses to be drawn into the species-ist elevation of human animals to the throne of exclusive dominion and rights. This is the Great Humbling. Yet grief at the tragedy of the Humilocene is empowering rather than disempowering and is a direct reflection of the love we feel for this wondrous existence we share together. 

Ignorance and greed keep the whole machine clunking along, chasing illusory fulfillment, constantly bombarding us with shiny images of what latest stuff we must buy in order to be happy. Knowing that craving is the root cause of suffering, as the Buddha pointed out so long ago, soft rebellion is not easily fooled. Consumerism can start to wither away in the self sufficiency of full being. 

Soft rebellion doesn’t buy into the manipulated sense that we’re lacking or need to keep up with anyone else. Soft rebellion doesn’t need or want loads of stuff; just enough decent food to  be healthy, to have deep relationships and a roof over our heads. 

We need very little. Of course, there are  many people suffering terribly from not having the basic necessities for living. At the same time, it’s problematic that many who are affluent try to keep hold of so much. Soft rebellion ignores the likes of the Borg-like Amazon as this rapacious monster radiates out, smothering small businesses and sucking them dry. We don’t need anything by tomorrow and let’s enjoy purchasing from smaller more ethical companies. Soft rebellion is not austere or self denying and delights at all beings having what they need.

Soft rebellion is viscerally connected to the effects of our actions; our ethics touch everything we do and the threads radiate out around the world with our purchases. Soft rebellion supports organic and sustainable produce for ethical reasons. We’re more intimately and swiftly connected than ever and our choices are ethical ones. To grasp at more than my share or act by ignoring the cost to far off producers becomes distasteful, knowing the consequences will be that other human and non-human beings will be deprived. Soft rebellion values deep connection, interbeing and empathy. 

Soft rebellion knows in our flesh and bones that we are intrinsically a living part of Mother Earth and could never be separated or sundered. Resist the cultural pull to be hypnotised by digital fantasy. There’s nothing in there; smartphones are very useful little gadgets but terrible masters. Cherish our attention and save it for the real: to be bodily present with all senses alive, hearing and seeing freshly, liberates awe and wonder. Soft rebellion is drawn to beauty, goodness and truth.

Digital rudeness and rage can grow in this bubble domain, like it does in the cocooned bubbles of driving in our cars, seemingly enabling hurtful action beyond what we would countenance in person. 

The craziness of being sucked in by spams and get-rich-quick schemes only have juice because of a sense of psychic lack. If we fundamentally don’t want anything – wealth, possessions – they have no power.

Soft rebellion knows that common sense isn’t common sense;  instead, it cultivates good sense grounded in interbeing instead of the prevalent Matrix version of common sense that tells us that it makes sense to destroy the living world in order to keep the Market growing; a crazy notion which we’ve been drummed into accepting. 

Soft rebellion is not distracted by the noise and churn of the hyperactive Machine. Deeply relaxing and smiling at the incessant “growth, growth, growth” mantra, which pulls at and hooks into any sense of emptiness in ourselves. Instead let’s have growth of care, kindness, connection and nurturing without end.

Nothing in the world is weaker than water

but against the hard and the strong

nothing outdoes it

for nothing can change it

the soft overcomes the hard

the weak overcomes the strong

― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching