This past weekend, the world lost a luminary: Joanna Macy. Though “lost” isn’t quite the right word. As a Buddhist scholar, teacher, and deep ecologist, she spoke often of a spirituality that prompted people to see themselves as more richly entangled with the Earth, and to understand the world itself as something we can never really be separate from—in life, and in death.
Throughout the course of her 96 years, her legacy is “The Work That Reconnects,” an evolving body of work that has helped people connect their own healing potential to that of the web of life, empowering people to be better stewards of this planet. Her concept of “The Great Turning” refers to the much-needed transition to a life-sustaining human civilization. It’s also the name of a podcast she co-created with Jess Serrante, which chronicles her lasting wisdom and impact.
I never got to meet Macy personally, but her teachings have been a steady guide for me. I was reading World As Lover, World As Self when we were starting Atmos; it’s a part of our soil and soul. I have referenced her words often in this newsletter. As such, this week, I thought I would honor her legacy with a few passages that she wrote or spoke over the years.
On active hope:
“The biggest gift you can give is to be absolutely present, and when you’re worrying about whether you’re hopeful or hopeless or pessimistic or optimistic, who cares? The main thing is that you’re showing up, that you’re here and that you’re finding ever more capacity to love this world because it will not be healed without that. That was what is going to unleash our intelligence and our ingenuity and our solidarity for the healing of our world.”
On the Earth as sacred:
“To see all life as holy rescues us from loneliness and the sense of futility that comes with isolation. The sacred becomes part of every encounter when you open to it and let it receive your full attention. I don’t have to go to Chartres Cathedral to be in the presence of the Divine. It is right here. This understanding is essential for facing collapse and living in this time. This means that our sorrow is sacred, too. Within us all is grief for what is happening to our world…That’s because I belong. That’s because I am part of the sacred living body of Earth.”
On feeling everything:
“The refusal to feel takes a heavy toll. Not only is there an impoverishment of our emotional and sensory life, flowers are dimmer and less fragrant, our loves less ecstaticâ but this psychic numbing also impedes our capacity to process and respond to information. The energy expended in pushing down despair is diverted from more creative uses, depleting the resilience and imagination needed for fresh visions and strategies.”
On tuning into magic:
“There’s a song that wants to sing itself through us. We just got to be available. Maybe the song that is to be sung through us is the most beautiful requiem for an irreplaceable planet or maybe it’s a song of joyous rebirth as we create a new culture that doesn’t destroy its world. But in any case, there’s absolutely no excuse for our making our passionate love for our world dependent on what we think of its degree of health, whether we think it’s going to go on forever. Those are just thoughts anyway. But this moment you’re alive, so you can just dial up the magic of that at any time.”
On thinking globally:
“It is no longer appropriate to think only in terms of even my nation or my country, let alone my village. If we are to overcome the problems we face, we need what I have called a sense of universal responsibility rooted in love and kindness for our human brothers and sisters. In our present state of affairs, the very survival of humankind depends on people developing concern for the whole of humanity, not just their own community or nation.”
On choosing our story:
“In choosing our story, we not only cast our vote of influence over the kind of world future generations inherit, but we also affect our own lives in the here and now. When we find a good story and fully give ourselves to it, that story can act through us, breathing new life into everything we do. When we move in a direction that touches our heart, we add to the momentum of deeper purpose that makes us feel more alive. A great story and a satisfying life share a vital element: a compelling plot that moves toward meaningful goals, where what is at stake is far larger than our personal gains and losses.”
On recognizing ourselves as part of nature:
“Having gained distance and sophistication of perception, we can turn and recognize who we have been all along. Now it can dawn on us: we are our world knowing itself. We can relinquish our separateness. We can come home again—and participate in our world in a richer, more responsible and poignantly beautiful way than before, in our infancy.”
Biome
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