Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World

Joanna Rogers Macy · Molly Young Brown

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Religion, Ecology, and Ethics Environmental Philosophy and Ethics Environmental, Ecological, and Cultural Studies

Abstract

Many of us feel called to respond to ecological destruction of our planet, yet we feel overwhelmed, immobilized, and unable to deal realistically with threats to life on Earth. Noted spiritual and environmental thinkers Joanna Macy and Molly Young Brown contend that this crippling response to world crisis is a psychological defense mechanism that has been endemic since years of Cold War arms race, when we had to adapt within a single generation to horrific possibility of nuclear holocaust. Since its publication in 1983, Joanna Macy's book, Despair and Personal Power in Nuclear Age has sold nearly 30,000 copies and has been primary resource for groups of men and women confronting challenging realities of our time without succumbing to paralysis or panic. Coming Back to Life provides a much needed update and expansion of this pioneering work. At interface between spiritual breakthrough and social action, Coming Back to Life is eloquent and compelling as well as being an inspiring and practical guide. The first third of book discusses with extraordinary insight angst of our era, and pain, fear, guilt and inaction it has engendered; it then points forward to way out of apathy, tio the work that reconnects. The rest of book offers both personal counsel and easy-to-use methods for working with groups in a number of ways to profoundly affect peoples' outlook and ability to act in world. Table of Contents Foreword by Mathew Fox 1. To Choose Life 2. The Greatest Danger: Apatheia, The Deadening of Mind & Heart 3. The Basic Miracle: Our True Nature & Power 4. The Work that Reconnects 5. Guiding Group Work 6. Affirmation: Coming from Gratitude 7. Despair Work: Owning & Honoring Our Pain for World 8. The Shift: Seeing with New Eyes 9. Deep Time: Drawing on Past & Future Generations 10. The Council of All Beings: Rejoining Natural World 11. Going Forth 12. Meditations for Coming Back to Life Joanna Macy has developed an international following over course of 40 years as a speaker and workshop leader on Buddhist philosophy and deep ecology movement

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