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Four Arrows                                                        and                          R. Michael Fisher 

This interview (FearTalk #27) has some interesting words of wisdom from the Indigenous scholar Four Arrows (Dr. D. T. Jacobs). 

"We would all be a lot better off letting go of hope and doing so because we are imbued with truth and the sparkling spirit of the path of Fearlessness."  It is more important to get to really deep--really real--to get to know and understand 'who we are', than to try to be more hopeful.  -rmf

And Mother Earth would also be a lot better off. We require in the midst of the severe cascading crises and extinctions of the 21st century, something 'way beyond' hope. The sooner we learn that lesson the better, for the time is drawing nigh for the Reconciliation. 

From the BEGINNING of my thinking and writing seriously about "In Search of Fearlessness Project" (since late-1989), I always had this mystical awareness of the work I was doing, more a calling and vocation, and that it was going to be a full-on assault of the notion of, and the discourses of, HOPE (and, what I see is an addictive and toxic form, too often a process of hope-mongering). Fear-mongering as it turns out and hope-mongering are two-sides of the same coin. 

Over the 30+ years since, I have refined this problem of hopeism that pervades the legacies of virtues ethics, developmental theories, moralism, and of just about the entire W. Dominant worldview's way of communicating. Our very modern 'self' is soaked in the rhetoric of "hope".... and, it's turning out to "failing" us all--and, consequences are severe.

I won't go into the depths of my original critique here [1], rather, I merely wanted to share a few recent things that have come across my desk, that reflect my own work on developing a "replacement therapia" (or call it a philosophical and collective cultural therapy) needed to re-vision and re-inform us all 'about who we are.' My first triggering moment in the last day on this issue came from a masters' students, in their 20s, writing a draft of their experience of joining the climate activists in our local community and then finding out what that really involved--that is, more than anything, a whole lot of "climate grief" and, yes, some healing too. Listening to this piece of writing of this nascent activist and their 'calling' to help the world, it was so good to hear the consciousness they brought to the problem of trying to solve wicked problems like global warming, and to change and transform politics--but also, I was so aware of how this young person (like so many) has just begun to take the lid off of a can of worms of immense 'Darkness' upon the earth right now, and which will get a whole lot worse before it gets better. I was thinking of this young person, reminded of myself at that age and becoming an environmental activist, and the myth of Pandora's Box. You know, its the ancient Greek myth (or earlier) historically that told of what happened to the world when one took the lid off--lifted the repression--tried to come awake--and, then was bombarded with all the great horrors of the world (individually and collectively)--all at once--and, of course it is overwhelming, but then so the myth goes (as I vaguely recall), IF one sticks in there and faces all the 'demons' and 'horror' --that is, all the fear and terror--then, there was one last thing to come out of the box, and it was HOPE. The question was then perhaps, and it is certain my question now--based on doubt, is there anything that HOPE can offer to solve the real issues of the day--in the 21st century? Is hope even useful anymore... once the world has slipped by, and passed over, the 'path of return' from the massive ecological devastation that has been wrought by millenia of not caring enough for this planet's sources of life--and gifts. We have abused Her too long. Her Box, like Pandora's Box, is now all coming out--the immense horrors of climate change and all related phenomenon--psychically and sociologically-- you name it. We are in the decline of civilization as we know it and there is no turning back. Oh, but wait, so the myth goes, there is still hope? Right? 

Now, to my next story, just came in an email this morning, as my colleague Four Arrows [2], an activist and Indigenous-based educator and transformer, shared with me his letter to a group of young people trying to transform higher education via their movement for "ecoversities" (i.e., universities with near total emphasis in their philosophy and curriculum geared toward solving the ecological problems on the planet). My colleague of course was admiring of this overall cause, but was critical that their latest conference theme was "HOPE." Hmmm... how interesting, and how troubling too. I won't cite the email letter here that my colleague wrote to them respectfully, but quite upfront a challenge for them to consider, as I paraphrase, he really said there is no evidence overall that "hope" as a virtue will be effective to the great transformation we require, and quite likely the same has been true of much of human history. He argues (and see his new book below) that the great activism that has arisen in spirit and in action, has been more or less always moved forward into the world because of something well 'beyond' hope--and, I see Four Arrows is articulating the basis of his critique of much of activism, and of traditional Enlightenment virtues, etc. His postcolonialist critical lens, like mine, sees through--and sees that "hope" is a side-tracking venture hooked to fear-based ways of thinking and identities. Hope is an illusion, he wrote. Okay, that's enough... I'm trusting this blog today will add to the current re-thinking so needed on the role of hope (and fear)--and, to replace hope with fearless(ness) or more accurately, what I call a "fearless standpoint" (e.g., see my writing on Four Arrows, in Fisher, 2018). Note, that Margaret Wheatley has written the Foreword for my colleagues book, and this doesn't surprise me one bit as she is a strong advocate of 'beyond hope' and towards a "fearless" perspective (and, yes, she is a Buddhist as well). 

The "replacement therapia" is a concept that still needs work, and yet, I thank my colleague for raising this issue again, as to a direction 'beyond hope'--and, to end this missive, it is worth repeating something in his email today, and that is, what he sees the Indigenous perspective (I situate as a fearlessness paradigm) has to offer as a great alternative--and, and it is the idea that we ought not be distracted by our need for hope (if not, our addiction to it)--and, rather focus on the process of "recovery" of our sanity which will involve our coming inquiry, our critique, our healing, and our re-visioning of our very nature here on this planet and beyond this planet--in the total Mystery. The more we do that work, the far less dependence we'll have on "hope" or "fear" or .... okay, you get the picture. Let's proceed with that deep quest of knowing... and, from my point of view, the "path of fearlessness" is as good a way to go as anything else, it may even be "better" because it has long ago left the dependency on hope, and even on courage.  

p.s. another who has rejected American "hope" pretty much, is the political journalist, Chris Hedges [3]

Notes

1. See my developed critique of the "hope-courage" discourses (in first-tier Fear Management Systems) in Fisher, R. M. (2010). The world's fearlessness teachings: A critical integral approach to fear management/education for the 21st century. Lanham, MD: University Press of America/Rowman & Littlefield.

2. See Fisher, R. M. (2018). Fearless engagement of Four Arrows: The true story of an Indigenous-based social transformer. NY: Peter Lang.

3. E.g., see "The Dangerous Fantasy of Hope Rooted in Self-Delusion." (2020)

To Listen to this 40 min. interview go to: https://noliesradio.org/archives/172012

Mike Tyson said, "Fear is like fire, you can burn your house

down and kill yourself-or cook food and warm yourself."

Fearless Engagement of Four Arrows is the true story of Four Arrows (Dr. Don T. Jacobs) since his child years to his life at 71. He is an internationally recognized important indigenous scholar and mixed-blood American. Four Arrow is an activist of fearless. He has been advocating his own kind of fearless movement since 1970s.

How to be fearless moving beyond fears is the primary teaching Four Arrows shares in his real-life teaching stories as practical advice in the book. This intellectual biography is written by the educator-fearologist R. Michael Fisher. CAT-FAWN model is introduced to readers as Four Arrows’ discovery of a radical approach to de-hypnotize ourselves from negative fear. Four Arrows knows fear deeply, for example when he was challenged: "I must have felt enough fear after the March 2008 diagnosis of non- Hodgkins lymphoma..." (p.246) He uses CAT-FAWN as an inspiring means plus other tools to keep the disease from killing him.   

Four Arrows says, " [my] Near-death-experience (NDE) while white-water kayaking on the Rio Urique in 1983 is one of the real experiences of fear." It is real fear experience, the kind that transforms one’s life completely.

I enjoyed other stimulating quotes, like Mike Tyson said, "Fear is like fire, you can burn your house down and kill yourself-or cook food and warm yourself." (p. 244) Four Arrows trained wild horses and learned a great deal about fear and how to manage it. A beautiful sentence by Fisher says, "If fear is the horse, courage is the rider." During the reading, I think readers will feel like they are together with Four Arrows in his activities described in detail of risking while swimming, playing, horse riding, teaching and kayaking.

The integrative conversation approach of the book between the author and subject Four Arrows and Fear—multiple characters—is  fascinating. It helps readers to make more clear most all things about fear and fearless. I hope this book is good for those readers who are experiencing fear and willing to know real fear. 

Here is the 5th (last) of the series on ecocriticism as related to my work on Fear and Fearlessness. It is entitled: "Ecocriticism, Ecophobia and Indigenous Criticism" - Technical Paper No. 70. 

Below is the abstract for this paper:

R. Michael Fisher

Technical Paper No. 70

Abstract – The author addresses some of the ways he has come into the field environmental education and the study of perceptions of humans towards nature, noting that fear of Nature is paradoxically situated with love of Nature in most people. He summarizes, using a brief fearanalysis, the Indigenous perspectives on ecocriticism and then proceeds to show the great influence of Four Arrows’ provocative de-hypnotizing method to help us get beyond the worst aspects of “ecophobia” (Estok’s hypothesis). He makes a few cautionary recommendations in the Conclusion as to how we can reclaim “indigeneity” by listening to and studying the more than human being (Nature) as guides to becoming “connoisseurs of Fear.”

There are many ways to walk the path of Fearlessness, and one way, more or less, is that of art, artworking, arting, and becoming an artist in your own way. Four Arrows', from an Indgenous worldivew perspective wrote, one of the best ways to stay in touch with Nature, especially when you don't always have a lot of access to natural areas, is to "Become an artist. It is taken for granted among primal peoples that creativity is everyone's birthright. Art should not be the prize of the wealthy or the exclusive domain of a few 'gifted' individuals" (Jacobs, 1998, p. 240).

I have mentioned on the FM ning a few times, Bracha L. Ettinger, my favorite artist/theorist these days, and with Barbara, we are always learning from her work which I think is going to some day be seen with the equivalent impact Sigmund Freud had on the world. Matrixial theory, is Ettinger's main contribution, and there is an excellent new interview from Dec. 16, 2016 in the New York Times (if you can believe it)... wow, this is great to have reach the shores of North America, as she is best known in Europe so far. The title of the interview is "Art in a Time of Atrocity: Ettinger and Evans".

I see Ettinger's deep analysis essential to guiding a sanity path of Fearlessness through a world more and more dominated by Fear.

Reference

Jacobs, D. T. (1998). Primal awareness: A true story of survival, transformation, and awakening with the Raramuri shamans of Mexico. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions.