these dark times. Written with wisdom and passion, it is about balanced compassion and hope, love and strength, and the will to make a difference. Active Hope is a brilliant guide to sanity and love.”
— Roshi Joan Halifax, abbot of the Upaya Zen Center
BY JOANNA MACY
BOOKS
Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age
Dharma and Development
Thinking Like a Mountain
(with John Seed, Pat Fleming, and Arne Naess)
Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory
Rilke’s Book of Hours
(with Anita Barrows)
In Praise of Mortality:
Selections from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus
(with Anita Barrows)
Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World
(with Molly Young Brown)
Widening Circles: A Memoir
World as Lover, World as Self: Courage for Global Justice and Ecological Renewal
A Year with Rilke
(with Anita Barrows)
Pass It On: Five Stories That Can Change the World
(with Norbert Gahbler)
AUDIOVISUAL
The Work That Reconnects, DVD
BY CHRIS JOHNSTONE
BOOK
Find Your Power: A Toolkit for Resilience and Positive Change
AUDIO
The Happiness Training Plan, CD
(with Miriam Akhtar)
Ambient Dulcimer
(with various artists)
ACTIVE HOPE
How to Face
the Mess We’re in
without Going Crazy
JOANNA MACY & CHRIS JOHNSTONE
Copyright © 2012 by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, or other — without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
Interior illustrations on page 39 by Dori Midnight and on pages 154 and 156 by Dave Baines
Text design by Tona Pearce Myers
Cover design by Tracy Cunningham
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Macy, Joanna, date.
Active hope : how to face the mess we’re in without going crazy / Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-57731-972-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Social change—Environmental aspects. 2. Social change—Psychological aspects. 3. Social change—Religious aspects. 4. Environmental psychology. I. Johnstone, Chris, date. II. Title.
HM856.M33 2012
| 303.4—dc23 | 2011049855 |
First printing, March 2012
ISBN 978-1-57731-972-6
Printed in the USA on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper
|
|
New World Library is proud to be a Gold Certified Environmentally Responsible Publisher. Publisher certification awarded by Green Press Initiative. www.greenpressinitiative.org 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 |
This book is dedicatedto the flourishing of lifeon this rare and wondrous planet.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE: Three Stories of Our Time
CHAPTER TWO: Trusting the Spiral
CHAPTER THREE: Coming from Gratitude
CHAPTER FOUR: Honoring Our Pain for the World
PART TWO: Seeing with New Eyes
CHAPTER FIVE: A Wider Sense of Self
CHAPTER SIX: A Different Kind of Power
CHAPTER SEVEN: A Richer Experience of Community
CHAPTER EIGHT: A Larger View of Time
CHAPTER NINE: Catching an Inspiring Vision
CHAPTER TEN: Daring to Believe It Is Possible
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Building Support around You
CHAPTER TWELVE: Maintaining Energy and Enthusiasm