Joanna Macy

“You live inside us, beings of the future. In the spiral ribbons of our cells, you are here… You who come after, help us remember: we are your ancestors. Fill us with gladness for the work that must be done.” From Joanna Macy, World as Lover, World as Self (in Stanley and Loy, 2020) Joanna Macy’s environmental advocacy occupies a unique niche in the domains of science, policy, psychology, and technology. Before each of us can respond to these different domains, we need to appreciate how we experience life around us emotionally and to see how I we manage the emotions attached to our thoughts.

This practice of self-awareness is the genius of Joanna Macy in The Work That Reconnects, which came out of Macy’s academic work on Buddhism and Complex Systems. Her perspective became translated into both practices for personal development and workshop rituals that reinforce social support. Kathleen Schomaker, Director of Gray Is Green, the National Senior Conservation Corp, came to appreciate Joanna Macy’s work in very personal terms. As Schomaker says: “When I found myself mired in grief, despair and cynicism, Joanna’s guidance, teachings and group processes were my way through.” Schomaker stresses that Macy’s approach does not promise a “way out.” Instead, Macy teaches process skills of “going through,” thus avoiding the pitfall of pretending we to emerge from despair and cynicism. To engage with Joanna Macy’s work is to take up gratitude– to start there, over and over again.

As Kathleen Schomaker puts it: We begin to notice how grief and despair arise from witnessing what we have done to that for which I feel deep gratitude–air, waters, plants, soils, other species, and other humans. In noticing, if we pay close attention, we may see how grief and despair reveal deep love and reverence for that world now suffering from many wounds inflicted by human beings. Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects leads us to a positive question: How can I not be devoted to caring for that which I love so deeply? It is essential not to be overwhelmed or to become cynical. Instead, we hope to grow in awareness of the human communities devoted to deeper ways of understanding and healing. To follow Joanna Macy’s path can lead to a “Going Forth” with an awakened heart and mind. This shift in awareness can send us out into the world of change, where each of us acts from a small corner of the planet but with the joy and peace needed to stay with the practical work each has been given. (Thanks to Kathleen Schomaker, Gray Is Green, for this reflections on Joanna Macy) From “Reflections on Climate, Empathy, and Intergenerational Justice” by John Stanley and David Loy, at: https://bit.ly/3oJRcyY