In the Business as Usual culture of industrialized economies, it is considered normal to consume thirty-two times the quantity of resources and to produce thirty-two times as much waste as those living in nonindustrialized societies. What is not being seen is how little fuel we have left and how much harm we are causing. Because our culture is not looking at where it is going, we are like the Titanic: moving very quickly but heading for a crash.
The facts of climate change, habitat loss, mass extinction of species, and mass starvation of people are hugely discouraging. When we're working for causes that seem to be getting nowhere, that suffer setbacks and reversals, that face well-funded obstruction and deeply entrenched resistance, it is hard to sustain the belief that what we hope for is possible. Yet without this, without the spark of conviction that our actions can really make a difference, it is difficult to keep going.
Within the story of Business as Usual, a commonplace saying is "you can't change human nature." But when we look at the breathtaking span of our planetary history, the idea that "we'll never change" seems absurd. We are part of the most extraordinary unfolding. Where will it go next?
If we're only interested in "facts," we limit ourselves to looking at what has already happened, which is a bit like trying to drive a car by looking only in the rearview mirror... If land-based mammals can return to oceans and evolve into dolphins, then it is not such a stretch to think that modern human beings could return to a state of connectedness with the land and evolve into a wiser form of life.
This is a dark time, filled with suffering and uncertainty. Like living cells in a larger body, it is natural that we feel the trauma of our world. So don’t be afraid of the anguish you feel, or the anger or fear, because these responses arise from the depth of your caring and the truth of your interconnectedness with all beings.
Because the relationship between self and world is reciprocal, it is not a matter of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the Earth, the Earth heals us. No need to wait. As we care enough to take risks, we loosen the grip of ego and begin to come home to our true nature.
Out of this darkness a new world can arise, not to be constructed by our minds so much as to emerge from our dreams. Even though we cannot see clearly how it's going to turn out, we are still called to let the future into our imagination. We will never be able to build what we have not first cherished in our hearts.
You don't need to do everything. Do what calls your heart; effective action comes from love. It is unstoppable, and it is enough.
While we face the very real danger of catastrophic collapse, we can also be poised on the edge of a major evolutionary leap.
We can't know how things will unfold. What we can do is make a choice about what we'd like to have happen, and then put ourselves fully behind that possibility. An inspiring wave of change is spreading through our world. The Great Turning is happening in our time, and we may already be participating in many ways. If we want this change to catch on more thoroughly, deeply, and rapidly, how can we let it do so in our own lives? What thresholds do we need to cross? When we step over the line form one state to another, we take part in this shift.
We can school ourselves to be aware, now and then, of the hosts of ancestral and future beings surrounding us like a cloud of witnesses. We can remember the vaster story of our planet and let it imbue the most ordinary acts with meaning and purpose. Each of us is an intrinsic part of that story, like a cell in a larger organism. And in this story, each of us has a role to play.
Five Vows
I vow to myself and to each of you:
- To commit myself daily to the healing of our world and the welfare of all beings.
- To live on Earth more lightly and less violently in the food, products, and energy I consume.
- To draw strength and guidance from the living Earth, the ancestors, the future generations, and my brothers and sisters of all species.
- To support others in our work for the world and to ask for help when I need it.
- To pursue a daily practice that clarifies my mind, strengthens my heart, and supports me in observing these vows.
Grace happens when we act with others on behalf of our world.
— Joanna Macy
Excerpts mostly from Active Hope: How to Face
the Mess We're In Without Going Crazy
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