Rain Vol VIII_No 2

We Spend Most Time Is The One We Get -Joel Schatz leaders in each "school" of their approach to inner space exploration. In reading them I found less contrast than similarity and welcomed a sense of camaraderie over competition. It seems to me (and this is why I grouped this with these other books) that this body/mind separation is a critical factor in our more total separation: human beings from the rest of nature. The Western way of operating in the world has always been forward-moving forward, going toward a distant goal, never looking back-especially in American society. People in Western societies in general are especially unaware of the back half of the body . . .. While forward energy has led to high achievement, it actually is a very weak stance. It's off balance. The forwardleaning individual or culture can easily fall on its face.'·' I think that the certainly noble and often self-righteous struggle to keep us from destroying virtually everything we're conscious of must begin, like charity, at homein the body. It is at once an intimate and universal task. Learning from within and building a society that "could tolerate gentleness and pleasure in life, that would shun violence and to whom war would be anachronistic . .. has never been fully tried yet. Only by allowing human character structure to become healthy will we at last actualize healthy human and political institutions." Grf!en Paradise Lost, (formerly Why the Green Nigger) by Elizabeth Dodson Gray, 1981(1979),166 pp., $7.95 from: Roundtable Press Four Linden Square Wellesley, MA 02181 In Gre·en Paradise Lost, Elizabeth Dodson Gray takes on cultural and scientific rhetoric that puts "man" (not women or children) at the top of a hierarchy which is seen as structured to serve man. She suggests, "It is difficult for us, trained as we have been in the male culture, to understand the order there is in a diversified system which is non-hierarchical." In a fascinating survey of religion, philosophy, physics, biology, and psychology, she outlines new theories to refute this anthropocentric perspective. FroII1 Lewis Thomas' The Lives of a Cell (New York: Viking Press; 1974) through Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics (Berkeley: Shambhala Publications; 1975), from poetry and her own journal-like narrative of a summer at the ocean, she outlines a world view that is part quantum physics, part transcendentalism, and part something several steps beyond christian stewardship. '"Why,' some will ask, 'is responsible stewardship over nature not an adequate safeguard?' Because so long as stewardship carries with it the illusion of superiority or noblesse oblige· (as it does now), it is simply benign paternalism." The book is a montage of diverse perspectives made all the more interesting by their coming into contact with each other. From: Your Body Works. November 1981 RAIN Page 9 - - ------- FUNDRAISING ------------ -·---- The Grantseekers Guide: A Directory of s.ocial and Economic Justice Projects, by Jill R. Shellow, 1981, 313 pp., $5.00 from: National Network of Grantmakers 919 N. Michigan Ave., 5th Floor Chicago, IL 60611 Community-based organizations have always had a difficult time finding funding sources for their projects. But the funding picture has never seemed so bleak for social change groups now that established agencies-many of which are being forcibly weaned off the government grant spoutare also madly scrambling fqr private sources of bucks. Don't give up trying yet! The 1981 Grantseekers Guide contains over 100 foundationand corporate--giving programs particularly interested in funding change-oriented projects from grassroots groups. The Guide is the successor to the Directory of Change-_ oriented Foundations published by the Playboy Foundation. An in-depth profile of each national or regional grantmaker is provided as well as a useful index broken down by stat~s . A variety of shor.t introductory chapters are also included on topics such as "Proposal Writing Tips," "Gaining Tax-Exempt Status" and the "Potential of Corporate Giving." Finally there's a good annotated bibliography and listing of1fundraising and tech1 nical assistance resources. The National Network of Grantmakers-a voluntary association of individuals involved in organized grant-making and sharing a commitment to social and economic justice projects-plans to update the Guide in 1982 based upon com- . ments from their grantseeking constituency. My fear is that too many of the too few ·responsive funding sources listed will be inundated with good proposals they'll be unable to fund. There still is a great need for community, self-help groups to gain entry into the traditional private ~ector. Given the new federal tax incentives, corporations can now give up to 10 percent of their pre-tax net income to non-profit organizations. Nevertheless, the Grantseekers Guide is a highly recommended research tool for any serious community-based fundraiser. -SR

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz