The Work that Reconnects - Pendle Hill - A Quaker study, retreat, and conference center near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Work that Reconnects - Pendle Hill - A Quaker study, retreat, and conference center near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania





The Work that Reconnects

Mar 29-31, 2019
A weekend with Lynne Iser and Rabbi Mordechai Liebling facilitating the work of Joanna Macy
$495/private room; $430/shared room; $300/commuter.

If you are seeking financial assistance to participate in this program, please click on the link for our Financial Assistance Application form, below. Do NOT register online.

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610-566-4507, ext. 137


Financial aid may be available. If you are seeking funds to participate in this program, click to review and complete our Financial Assistance Application and a Pendle Hill staff member will follow-up with you shortly (please do NOT register online). Thank you for your interest.

We are at a moment in history when many of us feel both the great love that we have for our amazing, beautiful world – and our profound despair about the state of this same precious world.

This dynamic, interactive workshop is based on the teachings of Joanna Macy, who has inspired many thousands of people to engage wholeheartedly in working for a life-sustaining society, turning despair in the face of social and ecological crises into constructive, collaborative action. We will use exercises and practices drawn from deep ecology and systems theory to explore our gratitude, grief, and curiosity along with our own unique gifts. We will look at what separates us and rediscover our connectivity with all life as we develop a new way of seeing the world—as our larger living body.

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Leader(s)

Lynne Iser, MPH, is a local activist, organizer, and founder of Elder-Activists.org, which educates, supports, and organizes others—primarily on issues concerning climate change and social justice. She was the founding director of the Spiritual Eldering Institute and now teaches in ALEPH Sage-ing Mentorship Program. Lynne teaches deep ecology, conscious aging, and community building as she works with others to create a thriving and just world for future generations utilizing the work of Joanna Macy and The Pachamama Alliance.

Rabbi Mordechai Liebling is founder and director of the Social Justice Organizing Program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Prior to this he was the Executive Vice-President of Jewish Funds for Justice. He was trained by Joanna Macy in “The Work That Reconnects.” He leads workshops and retreats on the intersection of sustainability, social justice, and spirituality. He responded to clergy calls to come to Ferguson, Standing Rock, and Charlottesville.

Travel directions to Pendle Hill. FAQs about Short-Term Education Programs (please read before calling). Click to view the flyer.

Joanna Macy - Choosing Life | Bioneers

Joanna Macy - Choosing Life | Bioneers

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Deep Ecology extends an inalienable right to life to all beings. A systems theorist, author and lifelong activist, Joanna Macy describes how healing the world and healing your heart and soul go hand in hand.

This talk took place at the 2013 Bioneers National Conference and is part of the Protecting and Restoring Nature Collection, Vol. 1.

Since 1990, Bioneers has acted as a fertile hub of social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world's most pressing environmental and social challenges. 

To experience talks like this, please join us at the Bioneers National Conference each October, and regional Bioneers Resilient Community Network gatherings held nationwide throughout the year.

For more information on Bioneers, please visit http://www.bioneers.org and stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Bioneers.org) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/bioneers).

The Great Turning | ecoliteracy.org

The Great Turning | ecoliteracy.org



THE GREAT TURNING
Joanna Macy


Joanna Macy: The Great Turning is a shift from the Industrial Growth Society to a life-sustaining civilization.



The Great Turning is a name for the essential adventure of our time: the shift from the Industrial Growth Society to a life-sustaining civilization.

The ecological and social crises we face are caused by an economic system dependent on accelerating growth. This self-destructing political economy sets its goals and measures its performance in terms of ever-increasing corporate profits—in other words by how fast materials can be extracted from Earth and turned into consumer products, weapons, and waste.

A revolution is under way because people are realizing that our needs can be met without destroying our world. We have the technical knowledge, the communication tools, and material resources to grow enough food, ensure clean air and water, and meet rational energy needs. Future generations, if there is a livable world for them, will look back at the epochal transition we are making to a life-sustaining society. And they may well call this the time of the Great Turning. It is happening now.

Whether or not it is recognized by corporate-controlled media, the Great Turning is a reality. Although we cannot know yet if it will take hold in time for humans and other complex life forms to survive, we can know that it is under way. And it is gaining momentum, through the actions of countless individuals and groups around the world. To see this as the larger context of our lives clears our vision and summons our courage.

The Three Dimensions of the Great Turning:

1. Actions to slow the damage to Earth and its beings

Perhaps the most visible dimension of the Great Turning, these activities include all the political, legislative, and legal work required to reduce the destruction, as well as direct actions—blockades, boycotts, civil disobedience, and other forms of refusal. A few examples:
Documenting the ecological and health effects of the Industrial Growth Society;
Lobbying or protesting against the World Trade Organization and the international trade agreements that endanger ecosystems and undermine social and economic justice;
Blowing the whistle on illegal and unethical corporate practices;
Blockading and conducting vigils at places of ecological destruction, such as old-growth forests under threat of clear-cutting or at nuclear dumping grounds.

Work of this kind buys time. It saves some lives, and some ecosystems, species, and cultures, as well as some of the gene pool, for the sustainable society to come. But it is insufficient to bring that society about.

2. Analysis of structural causes and the creation of structural alternatives

The second dimension of the Great Turning is equally crucial. To free ourselves and our planet from the damage being inflicted by the Industrial Growth Society, we must understand its dynamics. What are the tacit agreements that create obscene wealth for a few, while progressively impoverishing the rest of humanity? What interlocking causes indenture us to an insatiable economy that uses our Earth as supply house and sewer? It is not a pretty picture, and it takes courage and confidence in our own common sense to look at it with realism; but we are demystifying the workings of the global economy. When we see how this system operates, we are less tempted to demonize the politicians and corporate CEOs who are in bondage to it. And for all the apparent might of the Industrial Growth Society, we can also see its fragility—how dependent it is on our obedience, and how doomed it is to devour itself. In addition to learning how the present system works, we are also creating structural alternatives. In countless localities, like green shoots pushing up through the rubble, new social and economic arrangements are sprouting. Not waiting for our national or state politicos to catch up with us, we are banding together, taking action in our own communities. Flowing from our creativity and collaboration on behalf of life, these actions may look marginal, but they hold the seeds for the future.

Some of the initiatives in this dimension:
Teach-ins and study groups on the Industrial Growth Society;
Strategies and programs for nonviolent, citizen-based defense;
Reduction of reliance on fossil and nuclear fuels and conversion to renewable energy sources;
Collaborative living arrangements such as co-housing and eco-villages;
Community gardens, consumer cooperatives, community-supported agriculture, watershed restoration, local currencies....

3. Shift in Consciousness

These structural alternatives cannot take root and survive without deeply ingrained values to sustain them. They must mirror what we want and how we relate to Earth and each other. They require, in other words, a profound shift in our perception of reality—and that shift is happening now, both as cognitive revolution and spiritual awakening.

The insights and experiences that enable us to make this shift are accelerating, and they take many forms. They arise as grief for our world, giving the lie to old paradigm notions of rugged individualism, the essential separateness of the self. They arise as glad response to breakthroughs in scientific thought, as reductionism and materialism give way to evidence of a living universe. And they arise in the resurgence of wisdom traditions, reminding us again that our world is a sacred whole, worthy of adoration and service.

The many forms and ingredients of this dimension include:
General living systems theory;
Deep ecology and the deep, long-range ecology movement;
Creation spirituality and liberation theology;
Engaged Buddhism and similar currents in other traditions;
The resurgence of shamanic traditions;
Ecofeminism;
Ecopsychology;
The simple living movement.

The realizations we make in the third dimension of the Great Turning save us from succumbing to either panic or paralysis. They help us resist the temptation to stick our heads in the sand, or to turn on each other, for scapegoats on whom to vent our fear and rage.
June 29 2009

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Origin of the Term

Home/Home/A Great Turning: The Process/Origin of the Term

https://davidkorten.org/home/great-turning/origin-of-the-term/

The term The Great Turning has come into widespread use to describe the awakening of a higher level of human consciousness and a human turn from an era of violence against people and nature to a new era of peace, justice and environmental restoration. Most people are not aware that this awakening is underway, because positive change rarely reaches the level of front page – or even back-page – news! YES! magazine is one of the few publications that is in the business of bringing these stories to public attention.

The underlying idea of a epic human turning is discussed by a many writers who refer to it by a variety of names. The Institute for Noetic Sciences refers to it as The Shift, which is also the name of its monthly publication.

“The Great Turning” was first used by Craig Schindler and Gary Lapid to describe the framing idea underlying the work of Project Victory, which they founded in 1985. Their work focused on reducing the risks of nuclear war and conflict transformation. They report that they trained 10,000 leaders in conflict transformation and led a national dialogue on dismantling nuclear weapons. More recently they sponsored what they describe as “the largest dialogue on race relations ever conducted in the U.S.” They used the term in their talks, dialogues, and articles.

In 1989, Schindler and Lapid published The Great Turning: Personal Peace – Global Victory, with a marketing endorsement from Joanna Macy who expanded and deepened the concept and introduced the term and its underlying frame to hundreds of thousands of people through her writing, lectures, and workshops. See YES! magazine editor Sarah van Gelder’s interview with Macy on “The Great Turning” in the Spring 2000 issue. Macy’s webpage on The Great Turning provides many useful tools.

From Empire to Earth Community

Joanna was a regular and influential participant in a series of State of the Possible retreats for progressive leaders organized by YES! magazine. She introduced the Great Turning into the retreat discussions as an integrating framework to connect the work of the various participants. These conversations in turn shaped the framework presented in The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, which argues that the human species is in the midst of an epic passage from a 5.000 year Era of Empire to a new Era of Earth Community. Empire organizes human relationships by dominator hierarchy. Earth Community organizes relationships on a model of partnership characterized by mutual caring and accountability.

Throughout the now dying Era of Empire, dominator relations created a dynamic of ruthless competition, violence, and misuse of environmental resources that now drives an accelerating process of environmental and social collapse. This collapse creates a collective imperative to navigate the Great Turning. The communications revolution, which provides the means for humans to function as a collective intelligence, creates the opportunity.. .

When it came time to name the book, the Great Turning seemed to be the perfect title. Because I knew it as her term, I asked Joanna’s permission to use it. She responded with her usual generous spirit that her intention is that the Great Turning should be a public term that is used by everyone and owned by no one. I share that intention.

My argument that the key to the human future centers on relationships, not technology, is inspired by Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade. My argument that the key to transforming our relationships is to awaken a cultural consciousness and change the stories that frame mainstream culture, is inspired by Thomas Berry, Dream of the Earth, and Nicanor Perlas, Shaping Globalization: Civil Society, Cultural Power, and Threefolding.

 

A review of 'Active Hope'

A review of ‘Active Hope’

November 28, 2016 | Sister Ellen Cunningham | 3 Comments

The front cover of “Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy.”

The main title of this valuable resource, “Active Hope,” is cheerful, but gives little information about the contents. The subtitle, however, provides a succinct summary: “How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy.” Co-authors are Joanna Macy, a respected and prolific writer and activist in the areas of ecology and spirituality, and Chris Johnstone, a long-term collaborator of hers.

The book begins by laying out three “stories of our time,” i.e., ways we make sense of events. 

1. The first story is “Business as Usual,” and 
2. the second story, “The Great Unraveling,” is of course a consequence of the first. Readers can probably guess many details of both stories, but the authors provide a clear analysis and compelling statistics of consumerism and overconsumption on the one hand and climate change, species extinction and starvation on the other. 
3. The third story is “The Great Turning,” which recognizes a “multi-faceted transition to a life-sustaining civilization.”

“Active Hope,” say the authors, “involves identifying the outcomes we hope for and then playing an active part in bringing them about.” We can respond in various ways to world crises. We may rise to the occasion with wisdom, courage and care, or we may decide the situation is hopeless and try to look away. To help us to make our best response, the authors present a process for inspiration and empowerment to which we can return over and over. They name this process “The Spiral of the Work that Reconnects,” and proceed to elaborate on its various steps with practical and encouraging exercises and reflections.

Picture a spiral staircase with four steps: 

1. “Coming from Gratitude,” on the first level, and then on subsequent levels 
2. “Honoring our Pain,” 
3. “Seeing with New Eyes,” and 
4. “Going Forth.” 

We are invited to experience these four stations and then return to the spiral whenever we need it. (It is a spiral, not a cycle, since each time we go through the steps, we are starting in a new place).

Macy and Johnstone devote a chapter to each of the first two steps. Chapter 3 describes several simple exercises for cultivating gratitude, plus abundant evidence of its benefits. 

Chapter 4 discusses the various reasons why we tend to ignore painful situations or pretend that nothing is wrong, and the beneficial effects of acknowledging our pain for the world and realizing we are not alone with it. Various exercises to attain this acknowledgement and realization, involving such elements as breathing, writing, and ritual, are helpfully described.

The third and fourth steps on the spiral are developed at even greater length – four chapters on “Seeing with New Eyes,” and five on “Going Forth.” 

In the third step, the titles for Chapters 5 through 8 read like enticing promises:

1. A wider sense of self, 
2. a different kind of power, 
3. a richer experience of community,
4. a larger view of time.

 And indeed, by thoughtful discussions, stories and simple exercises, the authors do help us to see the realities of our interconnectedness, the resulting power-with, and the dire need for lengthening our view of time “to the seventh generation.”

In the final section of the book, Chapters 9 through 13 offer a realistic yet hopeful view of what we might experience if we take that fourth step on the spiral: Catching an inspiring vision, daring to believe it is possible, building support, maintaining energy and enthusiasm (certainly a challenge!), and – intriguingly – being strengthened by uncertainty. 

I will not reveal the mystery of that last chapter, but I can assure you that its lengthy contemplation/exercise, 

1. The Bodhisattva Perspective, as well as the one in Chapter 12, 
2. The Great Ball of Merit, 

offer a great deal of strength and encouragement to the faltering seeker of justice.

In summary, I highly recommend this book to anyone involved in work for justice and particularly eco-justice. It is useful as a reference (although the statistics will of course need updating), but its principal value is the believable context and practical steps toward becoming persons of active hope!

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https://www.ourhenhouse.org/2014/02/book-review-active-hope-how-to-face-the-mess-were-in-without-going-crazy-by-joanna-macy-and-chris-johnstone/

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Book Review: Active Hope by Macy and Johnstone
Resilient Futures Blog

https://www.naturalhappiness.net/book-review-active-hope-by-macy-and-johnstone/


An excellent guide to personal resilience

I have taken part in workshops led by both Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone, and regard them as two of the best teachers on personal resilience in a full sense of the phrase. Working in depth with this book could be a good start to exploring super-resilience. This book is a clear, concise guide to their approach, and has the authority and richness that comes from their many years of teaching.


Their work is known by various names, including Deep Ecology, and the Work That Reconnects. It draws from a range of sources, including Buddhist teachings and general systems theory.


One of their key ideas is that there are three ‘stories of our time’, and it is empowering to name them, and choose the one we live by:
– Business as Usual: this is the story that governments and business would like us to trust in them. There’s nothing basically wrong, and a bit more economic growth and technology will sort things out soon.
– The Great Unravelling: worsening climate change is only one of several huge problems which show that the world is falling apart and it’s too late to save it.
– The Great Turning: whilst this story is less visible in mass media it is already happening in many ways across the globe: a turning to sustainability, fairness, and shared resources.


To some extent, all three stories are happening, but only the third one encourages us to act and believe we can make a difference. The book highlights three Dimensions of the Great Turning:


1. Holding actions: this means actions to reduce or stop the damage caused by Business as Usual to the climate, ecosystems and lots more. Whilst some of the big changes need to come from government and business, we can change our own lifestyle, and participate in campaigns, boycotts and more.
2. Life-sustaining systems and practices: in every sector, including banking, food and transport, sustainable approaches are already available. Individuals can choose to make such changes now. But it requires big changes to spending priorities and to the patterns of Business as Usual, which will require much wider popular pressure on governments.
3. Shift in Consciousness: this is a sense of belonging and connectedness with all life on Earth. As we deepen this, it brings a sense of urgency, and a passion for positive change.
Much of the book is about how to achieve this change in consciousness, and act upon it. Central to this is a four-stage process which Joanna and Chris have evolved over years: I have led it with several groups, and found it very effective. This process, the Work that Reconnects, recognises that many people feel pain and distress at the state of the world and the way things are going, but don’t know how to handle it, so deny it, stuff it down, which keeps them in tension and inertia.


Their four-stage process offers a safe, supportive way to help people face their pain, move through it, and find ways to engage actively with positive change. The process is described
in the book, but is best done in facilitated groups, since witnessing and support from others is a key element.


The book has a whole chapter on each of the four steps in this process, plus valuable chapters on such topics as Catching an Inspiring Vision, Building Support around you, and Maintaining energy and enthusiasm. 

 Unlike some books in this sector, this one is well written, and pretty concise at 238 pages. The passion, wisdom and huge experience of both authors shines through, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. It gracefully interweaves large perspectives, wisdom from great teachers, real-life examples, and self-help exercises.


Chris Johnstone and Alan Heeks were two of the session leaders in Building Wellbeing Together at Hawkwood College, Stroud, September 22-24 2017.

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In despair over climate change? Try ‘active hope’

Unthinkable: Less focus on outcomes can help to counter pessimism

Tue, Jan 8, 2019, 

Joe Humphreys

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/in-despair-over-climate-change-try-active-hope-1.3738187

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“Being able to identify yourself as part of nature without being laughed at... [is] a huge shift.” 

Photograph: AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert

 

Each week throws up a new report into the perilous state of the planet. Wildlife populations around the world have fallen by an average of 60 per cent over the last 40 years. The UN says we have just 12 years to avoid catastrophic climate change. A dead whale washes up in Indonesia with more than 1,000 pieces of plastic in its stomach.

It’s very easy to despair. However, Louise Michelle Fitzgerald, a researcher with UCD school of politics and international relations, believes one can learn to be hopeful even in dire circumstances.

Fitzgerald, an environmental campaigner and Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar who is examining the merits of the EU carbon trading system for a PhD, says “burnout is a huge problem” among green activists.

She highlights the work of veteran ecologist Joanna Macy whose book Active Hope (jointly written with Chris Johnstone) “puts forward the idea that there are two types of hope. One is hope based on chances of outcome. The other is hope based on intention,” Fitzgerald explains.

If you require the former kind of hope before you commit yourself to an action your response gets “blocked” in areas where you don’t rate your chances too high, according to Macy’s thinking. Thus, she advocates the other type of hope: rather than acting only when you feel you’ll get a good outcome, “focus on intention” and let it be your guide.

The advice, says Fitzgerald – this week’s Unthinkable guest – is to “set our intention on what we want to see in the world, and direct everything we do in line with that intention”.

The news of environmental destruction is relentless. Do you ever despair?

Louise Fitzgerald: “I usually stay on top of emotional despair but one night I was just like, ‘Oh my god, we’re actually doomed!’, and I found myself searching variations of ‘What do we do?’ at 3am. That’s when I came across an essay written by Joanna Macy, Working Through Environmental Despair, in which she talked about the fact that we know what’s going on with the environment, and asked why we’re not doing anything about it. She put it down to fear – lots of different types of fear.

   

“There is fear of trying to do something and not seeing an effect; your ego is hurt because you seem too small to achieve anything. There is fear of upsetting other people; it’s taboo in our society to bring up upsetting topics.

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“Macy also told an anecdote about how she was really upset about deforestation and she went to a therapist who said, ‘Oh, it must be to do with your libido.’ You get a similar kind of response here if you tell someone you’re upset – they brush it off, pat you on the back or say, ‘Take some pills for that.’

“Of course, for some conditions medication can help. However, Macy says pain is an evolutionary response to something going wrong; it’s telling us we shouldn’t be living in a disconnected, isolated fashion but we need to connect as people and change the way we are treating our environment.”

So we need to get more in touch with our feelings?

“I think the beautiful thing emerging within some strands of the environmental movement is acknowledging that ‘we are nature’ – being able to identify yourself as part of nature without being laughed at. That’s a huge shift, and we need to create spaces to allow people express the upset in a held way.

“Things are going to get tough. We have signed up for climate change for several more decades, and we have to see that kind of commonality so that, when things go dark, we don’t go insular or become militant – which we can see with Trump and Brexit.”

There is a lot of research that says when you put a price on things rather than valuing it you actually devalue it

Governments are supporting market-based solutions to climate change, like carbon taxes and carbon trading. Is that the right approach to protecting the environment?

“Essentially these policies say the only way to value nature is to put a price on it, and that’s problematic if you believe nature has an intrinsic value.

“There is a lot of research that says when you put a price on things rather than valuing it you actually devalue it.

“There is the oft-cited case of the Israeli kindergarten where parents were failing to collect their kids on time. The kindergarten started fining parents who turned up late but instead of late collections declining they skyrocketed. Whereas before people were regulating themselves by a moral compass, and feeling guilty for not collecting on time, the ability to pay removed that moral guilt and people just saw this as a service they were paying for.

“Drawing on Jutta Kill’s work, and others, what worries me about carbon trading, paying for carbon sinks and other market solutions is that there’s an element in which they alienate us from the environment. They reinforce the idea that nature is ‘out there’ to be commodified, and alienate us from the idea that ‘we are nature’, that we are deeply interconnected with the environment.”

But you’re not going to get everyone to accept ‘we are nature’. Surely market-based solutions are better than nothing?

“The worry I have sometimes is that in trying to win the battle we will lose the war. A fundamental assumption behind the market approach is that the way the system functions is generally sound; we just have to tweak it at the edges and make it value these other things, and then it can keep going on the path it’s on. I don’t think that’s the right way to think.

“It’s not carbon in the atmosphere that’s causing global warming; it’s the system that put it there. I think we need to go back to basics and look at the fundamental assumptions of our system. That’s not necessarily just capitalism but any industrial, growth society that sees us as separate from nature, and sees nature as a sink for our rubbish or merely a source of resources that can be exploited.”

Might one argue that the Paris climate change agreement is a step backwards as it props up the existing system?

“I like to think people are good, I like to think the people signing these agreements care about the world, but theirs is a privileged point of view. They look to market-based solutions because the market has worked out well for them. But if you’re living in sub-Saharan Africa or low-lying islands, where a 2 degree temperature rise is effectively a death sentence, markets won’t save you.

“And the implementation of these policies such as biodiversity-offsets or carbon-offsets are associated with serious justice impacts on the ground, like forced displacement and loss of livelihoods, particularly for indigenous peoples.

“The Paris agreement and other international agreements are really important but it should also be said that it’s a very old way of thinking to believe people at the top are going to sort this out. All the successful environmental movements have been from the bottom up. We don’t have to wait for the politicians, or place our hopes in Paris, but we can use Paris as a hook on which to hang our demands.”

Topics:

Climate change

Chris Johnstone

Joanna Macy

Jutta Kill

Louise Fitzgerald

UCD

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적응 유연성 [ resilience, 適應柔軟性 ] 상담학 사전

요약 개인이 역경, 트라우마, 위협 등의 스트레스원을 만나게 되었을 때 적극적인 행동적응양식을 보여 주는 역동적인 과정

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분야: 가족치료 일반, 아동청소년상담

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‘다시 되돌아오는 경향’ ‘회복력’ ‘탄성’ 등으로 회복 탄력성(回復彈力性)이라고도 하는 적응 유연성은 스트레스나 역경에 적극적으로 대처하고 시련을 견뎌 낼 수 있는 능력을 의미한다. 또 역경이나 어려움 속에서 그 기능수행을 회복한다는 뜻을 가지고 있다.

예를 들면, 사람은 누구나 평생 하나 이상의 어려움이나 역경과 마주치게 된다. 하지만 이러한 스트레스적인 상황에 반응하는 방식은 사람마다 다르다. 어떤 사람은 스트레스를 극복하지 못하거나 아주 오랜 시간 극심한 어려움을 느낀다. 그리고 어떤 사람들은 같은 정도의 스트레스 상황에서도 그것에 덜 민감하게 반응하고 극복하는 데 더 짧은 시간이 걸린다. 또 예상하지 못한 건강상의 문제가 생기거나 행복한 삶을 지속하는 데 어려움을 느끼기도 하지만 대다수의 사람들은 일시적인 어려움이나 고통을 잘 이겨 내고, 자신의 삶과 다른 사람들과의 관계를 잘 유지한다. 이렇게 스트레스 상황을 겪은 후에 이전의 상태로 되돌아갈 수 있는 능력을 적응 유연성이라고 한다.

이러한 적응 유연성의 개념을 정의할 때 중요한 두 가지는 ‘스트레스적인 상황’과 그러한 상황에도 불구하고 나타나는 ‘유능감(competence)’이다. 여기서 말하는 유능감이란 특정한 영역에서 높은 수준의 성취를 이루는 것이 아니라, 주어진 환경에 효율적으로 적응할 수 있는 능력을 의미한다. 따라서 어린아이나 청소년의 적응 유연성은, 그들의 삶에서 어떤 어려움이나 두려움의 경험을 하고 있을 때 그것을 드러내어 표현할 수 있는가 하는 것을 보는 것이다. 적응 유연성이 확보된 어린아이나 청소년은 그러한 스트레스적인 상황에서도 자신의 어려움을 드러내어 언어 혹은 행동, 태도 등으로 이를 표현할 수 있다.

또한 적응 유연성은 두 가지 층위로 구성되어 있는데, 하나는 역경이 드러나는 것이고 또 하나는 그 역경에 대한 적극적인 적응결과에 관한 것이다. 적응 유연성은 사람이 자신의 안녕을 유지하기 위해서 심리적 · 사회적 · 문화적 · 신체적 자원으로 자신의 길을 잘 헤쳐 나가는 능력이며 개인적이면서도 협력적으로 그런 자원들을 문화적으로도 의미 있는 방식으로 타협해 나가는 능력이기도 하다. 한편, 적응 유연성은 회복(recovery)과 그 개념을 명확하게 구분해야 한다. 회복은 우울의 증상이나 심리적 외상 후 스트레스 장애와 같은 정신병리학적인, 혹은 신체적인 어려움을 겪은 후에 어느 정도의 시간이 지난 다음 완전히 이전의 상태로 되돌아가게 되는 일정한 패턴을 의미한다.

이와 달리, 적응 유연성은 안정적이고 건강한 수준의 심리적이고 신체적인 기능을 유지하려고 하는 능력을 말한다. 즉, 적응 유연성은 불변적인 성격, 행동, 특성이라기보다는 스트레스에 대한 대처과정의 변화무쌍한 역동적인 본질을 보인다. 그리고 적응 유연성의 개념은 전문적인 문헌과 실제에서 상담의 모든 현장을 통하여 증가하는 현저한 현상이다. 근래의 충격과 스트레스가 되는 사건에 대한 직접적인 반응에 조심스러움이 많이 나타난다. 이로 인해 많은 사람들이 손상을 입고, 희망이 없으며 도움을 받지 못하고 있어 적응 유연성을 경험적으로 정의하려는 많은 시도가 있어 왔다.

필수적으로 적응 유연성은, 첫째, 평형을 유지하려 하고, 둘째, 실망스럽거나 방해가 되는 환경을 조절하려 하고, 셋째, 환경을 거스르려 함에도 불구하고 능동적인 기능수준에 튀어 되돌아오려 하는 사람의 능력으로 인식되어 왔다. 적응 유연성은 모든 사람에게 자신의 환경이나 경험에 상관없이 적절하고 능력 있는 능동적이고 균형 잡힌 관점을 제공한다. 이 같은 적응 유연성의 행동을 구분하고 정의할 때 조심하고 문화적으로 예민해야 하는 것은 매우 중요하다. 역사적으로 적응 유연성의 행위는 백인과 서구적인 시각에서 정의되었고, 문화적 배경을 인식할 수 없고 외부에서의 적응 유연성 반응을 사용할 수도 있는 참가자의 인종, 민족, 문화적 주체성은 고려하지 않았다. 결과적으로 적응 유연성은 힘에 기초한 결과 또는 개발된 반응으로 볼 수 있다.

연구자들은 일반적으로 사람들이 다음의 세 가지 중요한 영역에 걸친 하나 또는 그 이상의 보호요인을 사용하여 적응 유연성을 개발하고 보여 준다고 말한다. 첫째, 사람의 능동적 태도와 철학, 둘째, 지원적인 가정 또는 확연한 친사회적 및 적임의 사람들, 셋째, 학교, 사회기관, 믿음을 기초로 한 기관 등을 포함하는 안전하고 지원적인 커뮤니티에 소속되는 것이다. 해결책에 초점을 맞춘 간단한 치료, 능동적인 심리학 등의 역량강화 접근의 개념을 사용하는 것은 적응 유연성을 현저하게 증가시킬 수 있다.

[네이버 지식백과] 적응 유연성 [resilience, 適應柔軟性] (상담학 사전, 2016. 01. 15., 김춘경, 이수연, 이윤주, 정종진, 최웅용)

===============

The work that reconnects - lmnp 2019

The work that reconnects - lmnp 2019



The work that reconnects



Eco-philosopher, teacher, writer, mother, and friend-of-all-life, Joanna Macy, has generously consented to share free of charge with all who may be interested, the heart of her current teaching and training work.
Table of Contents: Streaming Video Workshop Series

Chapter 1: Welcome (1:26)

Chapter 2: You Can Do This Work (2:45)

Chapter 3: The Spiral of the Work (7:25)

Chapter 4: Open Sentences (10:44)

Chapter 5: Gratitude as a Revolutionary Act (5:42)

Chapter 6: The Great Turning (35:58 in 3 linked segments)

Chapter 7: The Milling (22:38 in 2 linked segments)

Chapter 8: The Truth Mandala (24:56 in 2 linked segments)

Chapter 9: Breathing Through (10:28)

Chapter 10: The Ecological Self (27:08 in 3 linked segments)

Chapter 11: The Systems View of Life (47:48 in 4 linked segments)

Chapter 12: Widening Circles (9:53)

Chapter 13: Deep Time Work (3:49)

Chapter 14: The Gifts of the Ancestors (11:14)

Chapter 15: The Seventh Generation (24:07 in 2 linked segments)

Chapter 16: Goals and Resources for the Great Turning (11:57)

Chapter 17: Epilogue (2:34)

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Joanna Macy and her work:

Eco-philosopher Joanna Macy, Ph.D., is a scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. A respected voice in movements for peace, justice, and ecology, she interweaves her scholarship with four decades of activism. She has created a ground-breaking theoretical framework for personal and social change, as well as a powerful workshop methodology for its application.

Her wide-ranging work addresses psychological and spiritual issues of the nuclear age, the cultivation of ecological awareness, and the fruitful resonance between Buddhist thought and contemporary science. The many dimensions of this work are explored in her books Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age (New Society Publishers, 1983); Dharma and Development (Kumarian Press, 1985); Thinking Like a Mountain (with John Seed, Pat Fleming, and Arne Naess; New Society Publishers, 1988; New Society/ New Catalyst, 2007); Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory (SUNY Press, 1991); Rilke's Book of Hours (1996, 2005) and In Praise of Mortality (2004) (with Anita Barrows, Riverhead); Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World (with Molly Young Brown, New Society Publishers, 1998); Joanna's memoir entitled Widening Circles (New Society, 2000); and World as Lover, World as Self (LMNP 2020).

Many thousands of people around the world have participated in Joanna's workshops and trainings. Her group methods, known as the Work That Reconnects, have been adopted and adapted yet more widely in classrooms, churches, and grassroots organizing. Her work helps people transform despair and apathy, in the face of overwhelming social and ecological crises, into constructive, collaborative action. It brings a new way of seeing the world, as our larger living body, freeing us from the assumptions and attitudes that now threaten the continuity of life on Earth.

Joanna travels widely giving lectures, workshops, and trainings in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband Francis Macy, near her children and grandchildren. For more information about Joanna, including her workshop schedule, please visit her web site: www.joannamacy.net.

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Pass It On: Five Stories That Can Change the World: Macy, Joanna: Amazon.com.au: Books

Pass It On: Five Stories That Can Change the World: Macy, Joanna: Amazon.com.au: Books

Eco-philosopher and best-selling author Joanna Macy, Ph.D., shares five stories from her more than thirty years of studying and practicing Buddhism and deep ecology. 

Gathered on her travels to India, Russia, Australia, and Tibet, these stories give testament to Joanna Macy's belief that either humankind awakens to a new and deeper understanding of our interconnectedness with our planet and all its myriad forms of life or risks loosing it. 

To bring about such a transformation of consciousness each and every one of us counts. 

Five Stories that Can Change the World tells of encounters with individuals who share very personal stories of sudden awakening, unexpected awareness, and the co-mingling of joy and pain. 

Each story is imbued with the specific cultural flavor of the places where the stories originate, but all share that each individual counts in the global need for change and awakening. 

PassIt On provides an introduction to Joanna Macy's work of "deep ecology" and "the great turning" and the deep interconnected nature of all beings.

Introduction by Norbert Gahbler.

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Widening Circles: A Memoir by Joanna Macy | Goodreads

Widening Circles: A Memoir by Joanna Macy | Goodreads

Widening Circles: A Memoir

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Widening Circles: A Memoir

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In this absorbing, and sometimes thrilling memoir, well-known eco-philosopher, Buddhist scholar, and deep ecology activist /teacher Joanna Macy recounts her adventures in the key social movements of our era. Macy's autobiography reads like a novel as she relates her multi-faceted life experiences and reflects on how her marriage and family life enriched her service to the world.

Macy's formative years with an abusive father and oppressed mother set her on an irrevocable path of self-definition and independence. A short-lived stint with the CIA exposed Macy first hand to the Cold War's darkest threats: the construction of the hydrogen bomb and the building of the Berlin Wall. With three children in tow, Macy and her husband traveled with the Peace Corps to Africa, India, and Tibet, where her encounter with the Dalai Lama and Buddhism led to Macy's life-long embrace of the religion and a deep commitment to the peace and environmental movements.

In Widening Circles, the unique synthesis of spiritualism and activism that define Macy's contribution to the world are illuminated by the life-events and experiences that have paved her uncommon path.

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Paperback, 285 pages

Published September 1st 2000 by New Society Publishers (first published 2000)

Original TitleWidening Circles

ISBN0865714207 (ISBN13: 9780865714205)

Edition LanguageEnglish

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Gail

Mar 19, 2015Gail rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoirs

I loved reading Joanna Macy's memoir, which covers her life from birth through her early 60s. Her life is inspiring, thought-provoking, and adventurous. She mentions and provides some insight into the ups and downs of her family life, but she does not delve much into details - probably to protect her family, which I totally respect. However, it leads her life to seem too good to be true at times.

However, I was certainly filled with admiration for her. She has an amazing capacity to throw herself into life - leading to her becoming very engaged with many people and projects and studies throughout the world where she was able to apply her compassion, intelligence, and many talents. I mostly felt like she was a kindred spirit - like me, only more so: my best qualities and longings magnified, unleashed. It made me think about my past and the experiences and parts of my temperament that have limited me.

I will be attending a workshop with Joanna in September. She is 86 now and still going strong. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Buddhism, forging a healing relationship with our planet, social justice, and learning about an amazing woman. (less)

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Beth

May 09, 2010Beth rated it it was amazing

This is the activist's version of Eat, Pray, Love. It is a deep, powerful and facinating true story of Macy's life which spans coutries, religions, philosophies, social movements and true loves. It is amazing how many expereinces she has had in her lifetime! Very inspirational!!

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Mali

Sep 14, 2010Mali rated it it was amazing

This is one of the most extraordinary autobiographical journeys I've taken...the way Joanna Macy reflects on her journey and relates it to the Dhammachaka is profound. The wisdom and candidness in which she conveys her life story and unfoldment makes me want to queue this book up for read number two.

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Heidi

Jul 17, 2019Heidi rated it liked it

I found the beginning of this book to be more engaging then the last 1/4. Joanna certainly is an interesting person, traveling and writing of her adventures. She is brutally honest And doesn’t hold back in describing life as an activist in countries all over the world. The last 1/4 of the book dragged a bit for me, as it was less personal and more of a resume of her work. (less)

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Vida

Dec 24, 2019Vida rated it it was ok

Shelves: abandoned

This is the second time I have tried to get through this book. I got over half way this time. Another reviewer said that they liked the idea of Joanna Macy books much better than the actual reality of them. I totally agree with this. While there were some things I liked, over all I didn't care for this book. Eventually I got tired of trying to drag myself through to the end.

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John Barrett

May 29, 2019John Barrett rated it it was amazing

Having read her book on climate change, "Active Hope", I wanted to know more about this writer and in "Widenig Circles", I have found a great writer and historian. This book reads like a good historical fiction, although it is totally nonfiction. Her autobiography contains the elements that have created her as an exceptional human being and activist extraordinaire.

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Marsha Valance

Jun 26, 2020Marsha Valance rated it liked it

Shelves: biography, memoir, medicine, mysticism, philosophy, women, espionage, politics

A fascinating life of a passionate former CIA analyst/peace activist/ecologist/Buddhist mystic.

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Clivemichael

Jun 06, 2018Clivemichael rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biographic, environment-activism, history, morality, political, social-comment

Engaging account, filled with wonderful anecdotes and reflections. Inspiring and informative.

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Tejas Janet

Oct 01, 2013Tejas Janet rated it really liked it

I live my life in widening circles

that reach out across the world.

I may not ever complete the last one,

But I give myself to it.

I circle around God, that primordial tower.

I have been circling for thousands of years,

and I still don't know:

am I a falcon, a storm,

or a great song?

Rainer Maria Rilke, The Book of Hours

- translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy

The above poem is the source of the title for Joanna Macy's memoir, Widening Circles. Macy has led a pretty amazing life, and I liked how she describes becoming a more open-minded person, even though she doesn't necessarily fully embrace traditional concepts of God or of re-incarnation despite her long-standing allegiance to Buddhism and Christianity before that. Humanist is more how I would describe her.

The author calls attention to a problem I have with more eastern religions/philosophies -- that closing oneself off from the world to be pure and in prayer/meditation doesn't seem to accomplish much in the physical real-world plain of our existence here and now. I could really appreciate that she came around to doing so many activist things. Seems to have a good bit in common with Unitarians and Friends.

Overall, this is a well-written, thoughtfully-reflective book, one I can readily recommend to philosophically-minded persons, especially those who have ever struggled with despair in the face of the seemingly colossal, contemporary societal and environmental problems. I did lose some respect for the author when she admitted that both she and her husband were not monogamous in their marriage, and were not initially forthcoming and truthful with each other on this. However, I set my judgementalness aside, and was able to appreciate her life-long search for God, meaning, and the higher self that connects all of life. (less)

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Michelle

Jan 02, 2013Michelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: religion, memoir, environment, nature

I heard Joanna Macy in an interview with Krista Tippett on On Being and fell in love with her. A wise woman, she converted to Buddhism, became an environmental and peace activist, and a translator of Rilke. My favorite part of the conversation was her discussion of Rilke, the meaning she has found in his poetry, the impact he has had in her life, and her reading of several poems. Unfortunately, this was not discussed at all in her memoir.

I loved the beginning--the first pages are exquisite. She talks about a maple tree at her grandparents farm where she would spend the summer and the way the light would filter through the leaves and the way she would feel settled and still when she climbed it. It becomes an object of intense emotional importance to the young Joanna.

Her later life was fascinating too--she lived in India, Africa, and Tibet, plus spent time in Sri Lanka. I got a bit bogged down in her descriptions of Buddhism because of some of the specialized terminology, and the end didn't have as much resonance for me as the early chapters, but overall, a lovely memoir.

I read this over the last couple of months in bits and pieces. (less)

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Jess

Jan 09, 2013Jess rated it it was amazing

Shelves: writing, religion-and-spirituality, social-networks, love, how-to-live, favorites, buddhism, memoir

Devoured this book in the first two weeks of the new year. I'd like to write a letter to Joanna to thank her for this book. It wove together so many of the paths I've been down and so many of the questions I've had in the past five years. I could identify with so many parts of her journey, listening to her was like replaying parts of my own short adult story. I wonder if everyone feels this sort of resonance because Macy herself is so open and vulnerable and human? It seemed like more than that to me... not everything, but many things -- the travel, the exploration of systems theory (in my case network theory), attraction to Buddhism, questioning of cultural standards like monogamy, risk-taking, cooperative endeavors -- and the way all these things fit together for her -- the way she wrote about it made me shiver with recognition. She was blessed with many opportunities, graced with the strength to take advantage of them, the curiosity to learn through her life, and great capacity to love and connect. An inspiration! (less)

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Ashley

Nov 19, 2016Ashley rated it really liked it

This book was so interesting to me. I loved it. One of my favorite parts:

"What happened then felt so primordial, and so important somehow for the ongoing order of things, that I imagined at moments whole populations gathered below our window beating drums and cymbals. Clearly, this physical call and response was the primary phenomenon of the cosmos. How else do the planets swing so steadily in orbit, how else do the starfish attach to their rocks? Here the wildness inside me and the tenderness that tore me were married. Hence the laughter and the languor; yet at the edges, there was terror too - of the lies and the longing that waited in the wings. It fit my sense of life's seriousness that there should be this outlawed and irrefusable dimension." (less)

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Sara

Feb 24, 2008Sara rated it liked it

...joanna's honesty in her memoir is both inspiring and unsettling at times. the trust that she places in the vulnerability life brings is simply wonderful-the reader joins joanna through her many life changes and varying paths of philosophy, belief, and practice. perhaps the most inspiring (and deeply unsettling at some moments) is the lack of apology found in joanna's voice. she speaks her truth in hopes that the truth does not destroy...

anyone with interest in the origins of the peace corps, the civil rights' movement, anti-nuclear organizations, nonviolence campaigns, and buddhist theology will learn valuable lessons from joanna's history shared in widening circles. (less)

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Alison 

Apr 26, 2012Alison rated it it was amazing

So inspiring. Renewed my commitment to conservation work and reinforced the importance of it. Reawakened my interest in Tibetan Buddhism and the benefits of its practice. Reminds me that there are so many options as far as how we define ourselves and how we choose to live; and that many of them are outside of boxes.

Joanna Macy is one of the few true heroes to emerge from American culture in modern times. I can't wait to read more of her work.

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Julie

Mar 21, 2016Julie rated it it was amazing

A stunning example of what a memoir can be: part mindful manifesto, part personal healing, part call to action, and all fierce, universal compassion. Joanna Macy has had an incredibly rich and varied life, and has so much wisdom to share. Many images in this book will stay with me for years. I am enchanted by the concept of the Shambhala warriors, and I think that I could be one. This is a great read for those seeking new intention and gratitude in their lives.

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KCB

Nov 20, 2015KCB rated it liked it

Shelves: bookclub

Macy is an interesting person and has had a fascinating life. I would probably have ranked her higher except for the sense of her throughout the book of her "neediness" (that why she embarks on all of these interests is not so much intellectual but attempt to fill some void) and her utter unawareness of that.

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Peter

Jul 22, 2008Peter rated it really liked it

Very interesting autobiography. Somebody of my generation with a very different life experience. I admire what she has done and admire her husband for sticking with her. Certainly someone who has been on the eco/Buddhist lecture circuit if not the originator of same. For the most part well written and fascinating as her circles widen.

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Barbara P

Mar 13, 2016Barbara P rated it it was amazing

A marvelous, honest memoir from a teacher on Buddhist philosophy, system theory and deep ecology. I picked up this book because I had been reading another book of hers - "Active Hope". The memoir follows her spiritual transformation and her call to create a better world through new programs to heal the climate, address poverty and nuclear systems that destroy creation and people's lives.

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Nichola

Nov 26, 2007Nichola rated it liked it

I like the IDEA of Joanna Macy's books so much better than the real thing. She's an amazing theorist, but not such a great writer. I was very excited by the first 80 pages or so, and then I got bored.

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Top reviews from other countries

Lightflower Studios

5.0 out of 5 stars Compassion in Action

Reviewed in the United States on 1 December 2017

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Joanna Macy inspires me with her grounded approach to activism that seamlessly blends service and spirituality. She is a true shero, thought leader and powerful voice of sanity and compassion in the world.
Too many spiritual teachers shy away from worldly issues of injustice. She leads the way of being spiritually connected and an activist for the welfare of our Earth, our ancestors and our generations to come. She helps me see the way to keep my heart open to great suffering and need, to not turn away and not be overwhelmed into paralysis.
I highly recommend this book.

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aloha

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing life.

Reviewed in the United States on 16 January 2016

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Amazing life...from beginning to end, I was taking each step with her....I also enjoy her website and lecture series on You Tube.

4 people found this helpful

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Dona Robinson

5.0 out of 5 stars A TRUE story of foresight and adventure!!!

Reviewed in the United States on 18 December 2018

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Excellent and Inspirational!!!!

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PD Hudson

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful life story!

Reviewed in the United States on 13 November 2019

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This book is one of the best life stories I have encountered. Joanna Macy is a true gem of a human being!