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---AFTER WORD---
N
ol i11 His Image is an extraordinary and profound book. It lays bare
the foundation of much of \vhat pas.scs for rclit,rion in this culture.
In so doing ic lays bare much of the foundation of the destructiveness
that characterizes- that i.\'- this culture.
That would of course be more than sufficient to n1ake this book
worth while, but 1Vot in 11 i< Image docs more: it points the way toward a
religion that existed long before Christianity, coward a religion noc based
on control, rigid hierarchy, and separation fro111 the earth and from the
body but inscead coward a rel igion based on ecstatic immersion in the
mysterious and beautiful processes of life itself.
l o ocher words, chis book points the way home.
A few years ago l read John Lamb Lash's book The Hero: iVa11hood and
Potver. It's 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 this
book. I said yes. Having read his work, I thought I was prepared for
this book.
I \vas \\
1
rong.
John told me he was sending the typescript to several colleagues, many
of whom were, he said, eager to provide robust criticism. I told him I
didn't see that as my role, because I rarely find that sort of feedback
helpful, or in fact anything but harmful: my job as his colleague is not co
attempc co impose myself onto his book, but rather to help him say what
he \\':l.ncs co say in d1e "'ay he "'ancs co say it.
John agreed, sent the cypescript.
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Before it arrived I wkl him also that I wasn't sure I'd have the time to
make a lot of co11l11lcnts anyway. I 'd co111 mcnt '''hen I could, but ....
He understood.
I got the typescript, opened it, started reading.
\Vhen I'd told him that I wasn "t going to offer "robust criticism" I'd
been right, but noi for the reason I thought: I offered ''cry few sugges-
tions, less from a desire not to impo..:, but because the work was already
very powerful.
\Vhen I told him I wasn't going to comment. however, I was wrong. I
did, page after page.
I found so many remarkable passag<:s-Jl"ssages that gave me gifts of
understanding, cl:.rity, courage to carry on '''ith my O\\'O '''ork in oppo-
sition to this deathly culture--that I stopped sending them all for fear [
would bore even John.
My comments were along the lines of"Stunning analysis. Amazing."
This \Vas in response to this .. Columbus noted that the Taino
Indians of the Dominican Republic were as happy as human beings can
Ix, open to the strnngcrs, cager to sho''' their \vay of life and share it. His
response was typical of rhc irrnrional violence of'the emotional plague,'
as \Vilhclm Reich called the pathological revulsion manifested by people
who arc alienated from their own bodies. Columbus' men burned the
Indians nlivc in their huts. This reaction spread like a contagion,
infecting all the following woves of invaders. Such is the mad, blind, and
perverted behavior that .sprini,"S from 'a p1ior \Vounding."'
Or "Beautiful. Unbelievably well put. This goes right to the heart of
the problem." This was my response to: "Pleasure (Greek hedonia) is an
essential isst1c in any discussion of l'ag'3nis1n, but discussior1s of pleast1re
often veer away from deeper underst."U1ding of Pagan sensibility. It is
rarely observed chat fondness for sensual and sexual pleasure mjght be a
spontaneous expression of the jO)' of living in the natural world, rather
than a symptom of evil, all-<c>nsuming lust."
And so it goes. page after extraordinary page.
I liked NOi ill His Image for many reasons, no< the least of which is that
it eradicated for me the last tiny shreds of respect or e\'Cn tolerance I had
for Christinity.
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:\F'T'ER\VORD
Raised a fundamentalist Christian, I was a true believer as a child.
Gradually, through my te<:ns and early twenties, I sloughed off those
beliefs. (\Vhy, I remember wondering, would Jesus care if I mastur-
ba1cd? I low could something that feds good and harms no one be a
sin?) Later I shed more of these beliefs as I grew to understand the cen-
trn l role Christianity has played in the systematic destruction of indige-
nous peoples, the systema tic oppression of women, the systematic
clcstr,1ctior1 of the na tural world: the systcn1ntic: expansion of a deathly
cn11'>i re.
For the longest time- for as long as I could- I made excuses for the
rclii:ion: .. Oh, that's only how Christianity ha been used, and doesn't
represent what it really ir." I said this for years despite the damning fact
1ha1 what some theoretical Christianity might or might not be like is
infini1cly less important than '''hat it is, and clcspitc the far more
damning evidence of Christianity's texts them.elves. I said this despite
the obvious body- and earth-hatred inherent in Christianity and any
other religion that posits the body and the earth as places of sin, sorrow,
SL1fTcring, and shame, places \\hich must be trnnsccnclcd, or escaped
after dc"rh to some distant heaven. l finall y came to unclcrsta ncl that sic-
ting in the cluff beneath a redwood tree, listening to the 'vrcntits, is
heaven cr1ough for 111e.
Ok"Y so I'd given up on Christianity, but siill , I thought, Jesus- the
Son of Cod, born through divine intervencion and wi1hout recourse to
messy sex-surely he had some good things 10 say, if only we silly,
monal humans would Jjscen to them.
\Veil, Lash rid me of this belief, and for chat I am thankful. He wrote:
-There ore just three sayings of Jesus chat epitomize what is truly unjque
in the message of Christianity." They are, from Matthew 5: "But I say
unco you that ye resisc not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy
right turn to him che other also," and "Love your enemies, bless
them rha r curse you, ancl clo good to chem that hate you," and "Blessed
arc ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, :rnd shall say all
manner of evil against you fa lsely, for my sake.
\Vi th the unique teachings of Jesus gathered t0gcthcr like this, sud-
denl y I understood. As John writes, "The inner logic of the pathology
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becomes evident., as can be seen by a comprehensive paraphrase of the
verses: \ Tictims \\l l'lo do not resist: J>crpctrators should even invite further
harm from them, and if they love and do good to those who harm them
they will be rccogni7.c:d in 1hdr suffering by the redeemer."
Lash's powerful analisis follow>: "The proposition guarantees that
victims will triumph spirirually, all lhe while allowing total liberty to
lhose who harm, persecute, and slander them- an extremely good deal
for the perpetrators, it \vould seem." I le says, .. Upon scrutin)r, redeemer
ethics [that is, the 1e:achings of Jesus) read as if they were wriuen by the
perpetrator< for their own benefit."
\'llith that sentence I finally understood: Jesus as soft-spoken agent of
the oppressors, \\hispcring to us that \Ve must nc\
1
cr resist.
L1sh also \Vritc s,
14
jCSLIS commancls you to love your neighbor as yourself
but tells you nothing about how to love yourself, so the advice is virru-
ally useless. Self-love is t he natural side of effect of loving life. Jesus docs
not say, 'You shall love your own life in t he same way you love another
person, freely a11cl sr,onll1ncously, asking nothing in rctt1rn.' The \VOrds
attribuced to Jesus do not say nnyl'hing like t his been use t he message of
love they a rc snicJ tc> contnin is no t \Vhnt it is put up to be ."
Ninety percent of t he lnrgc fish in the oceans a rc gone, taken by this cul-
ture. Native forests nrc gone, rnkcn by rhis culture. Native human beings
arc gone, rnkcr'I by this culture. 1\ spontaneous and free love of our own
bodies and our own li ves is gone, taken by this culture. The culture is
systematicall y destroying the planet, our only home. It is systematically
destroying us. It is time 1ha1 we 1>ut a s1op to it. But before we can put a
scop ro iL, \\le 1nt1sL sec it for what it is.
John L.1mb L.:ish's book is a blessing, and a warning that we must
cease taking the terrible advice of Christianity that we not resist evil, and
that we must on the 01hcr hand reinhabit our own joyful, painful,
mortal, beautiful bodies and light for our li"es and for the ~ e s of those
've love.
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DERRICK )ESEN
May2006