Resilience Discussion: "Serving the Earth, Serving One Another"

Submitted by mhagle on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 3:15am

https://www.resilience.org/stories/2018-08-21/serving-the-earth-serving-...

https://greattransition.org/publication/serving-the-earth-serving-one-an...


https://workthatreconnects.org/

The first two links are to the same article/interview appearing on different websites. I included them because both sites are worth perusing. The third link is to Joanna Macy's (the interviewee) organization, Work That Connects Network.

The first section of the article is a brief life history. It is further into the interview where the discussion turns to matters that may be of interest.

In our discussions here at c99, sometimes it feels like just a bunch of complaining. I participate too. Joanna Macy talks about why that is important and what to do with it. It struck a chord with me. Anyone else?

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resilience serve earth others
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Submitted by Lookout on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 7:41am
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Which do you ride? The slippery slope down or the rising thermal?

I think it is better to rise like a hawk. It's not that the world is effected, but your experience in the world is sure shaped by your approach.

I often write - perfection is not a human condition. Many of us here at c99 criticize others because they are not perfect...not good enough. My view is we go issue by issue and work with WHOEVER supports those issues. No one person will be the answer. If there is an answer it must be a pluralistic us.

All the best!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by mhagle on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 10:28am
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@Lookout

I often write - perfection is not a human condition.

And . . .

If there is an answer it must be a pluralistic us.

I think you nailed it.

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by eyo on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 8:22am

it feels like just a bunch of complaining

Well alrighty then. I followed the links, and lost it reading the Build Homes not Walls story. Sorry those people don't make sense to me, I wish they'd shut up and just work where they live instead of book selling their "ideas" on the internet. "Join their mailing list, and Facebook and Twitter" was my hint. Not to mention the introduction sounds like it came straight out of a Silicon Valley recruiter matrix, wtf?

It is my pleasure to introduce you to a new project I am leading that I am wildly excited about: Build Homes, Not Walls.

This is how I think, for myself: How much carbon did they burn getting those bricks from Sonoma County to Mexico? Why didn't they build homes for our homeless in Santa Rosa? Not enough "natural disasters" yet? C'mon. Shipping bricks! If that is big thinking then I'll stay small, thanks. tiny mind

virtue signal radar
danger will robinson
arms flailing

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Submitted by mhagle on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 10:23am
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@eyo

Yes . . . it is like funding missionary trips when your neighbor is hungry. Good point. Glad you brought that up.

This is how I think, for myself: How much carbon did they burn getting those bricks from Sonoma County to Mexico? Why didn't they build homes for our homeless in Santa Rosa?

Really . . . why aren't they building homes in Santa Rosa?

The part I was latching on to was purposely grounding one's self in gratitude for whatever you can right here right now. And appreciating the earth. Just because I personally need to do that. I can't be all "oh shit we're going to die" for the sake of the people around me . . . husband and teens.

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by eyo on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 11:04am

@mhagle right on sister! Do you need a(nother) hay bale tenant farmer? lol just kidding, but I am lonely up here by myself, going crazy living among extreme world-burners. The Real Estate industry/lobby is why no houses get built, and permit departments everywhere in (Northern) California are CORRUPT, maybe everywhere. That's the system.

Every plate of food I give thanks for every single thing on it, and how it got there. It's exhausting sometimes, hah! I mean anything packaged or imported has a long list, it is so much easier for me to just say "Thanks P and Z" over a plate of long beans, they are "my" local veggie farmers up on Pine Mountain Road. heh I'm lucky, so lucky to have met them downtown that day, and then worked on their farm one year. She delivers out the back of their hybrid car, it's pretty cool. She also went back to work preaching every Sunday in west county, un-retired again at age 72. sheesh what a goddess

Thanks for your daily acts, I think they matter a lot. Nothing better for the next generations than to see good people lead by example.
"Live simply, so others may simply live."
Make dirt, not war. (smile)

peace

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Submitted by mhagle on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 11:21am
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@eyo

Do you need a(nother) hay bale tenant farmer? lol just kidding, but I am lonely up here by myself, going crazy living among extreme world-burners.

I am often lonely too. Even with others around too often we are off doing our own thing.

Cool you have your farmer friends. Excellent.

It is hard to say how the next few years will evolve. The author called it "the unravelling." Yikes!

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by smiley7 on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 10:54am
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appreciate you bringing it.

Stumbled upon this site when searching for an old quote i've been saving; i can not vouch for this site, having not read its contents, but a short perusal looks worthwhile.

https://issuu.com/islandpress/docs/eos_companion_ebook__final_5

Hey, we get so much info, did i get this fun site from you, i enjoy the newsletters? https://squarerootsgrow.com/

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Submitted by mhagle on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 11:38am
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@smiley7

I downloaded the book and signed up for the newsletter. Urban farming is an exciting thing. I get a newsletter from an organization that turned old subways into farms in London.

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by magiamma on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 5:56pm
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The Joanna Macy interview is thought provoking. I find that there is a fine line between complaining and stating facts. Especially when there is bad news, as so much here is. Unraveling is.

We cannot know whether the Great Unraveling or the Great Turning will prevail, but we can choose which we want to put our lives behind. So when I say, “Yes, the Great Unraveling is happening,” I do so not out of resignation but as a wake-up call.

I believe in kindness to all beings but I really think of myself as a 'Gaiaist' not a Buddhist. I am struck by how interrelated all of the systems on the earth are, how finely tuned and how breathlessly beautiful. I very much relate to what Macy says about doing things out of the need to awaken. It is the beauty of the world that drives me. It looks like there are indeed three doors. Turn, mostly unravel, die off. Perhaps the Great Turning will prevail.

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Submitted by mhagle on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 9:20pm
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@magiamma

Facts are facts. Complaining doesn't offer a path.

Great unraveling and great turning. I like those terms.

Gaiast? Buddhist? Don't know the difference. Mooji and Adyashanti?

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by magiamma on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 10:07pm
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@mhagle
The Gaia theory of the Earth was first put forward by James Lovelock, a NASA consultant, in the 60s. He posits that the living and non-living parts of the Earth form a complex system that can be thought of as a single organism.

I do not take that to mean that the Earth is a living organism in an of itself, though some do. The complexity that is presented by life on our planet is remarkable. By 'Gaiaist' I simply mean that I honor the earth, I honor all beings and I honor the intricate web of interactions that forms between them. I have learned far more from watching and listening to nature than anywhere else.

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Submitted by mhagle on Fri, 08/31/2018 - 2:26pm
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@magiamma

By 'Gaiaist' I simply mean that I honor the earth, I honor all beings and I honor the intricate web of interactions that forms between them. I have learned far more from watching and listening to nature than anywhere else.

I am not catholic, but I believe it was St. Francis of Assisi who called the earth "the first bible." Sounds like he was a Gaiaist too?

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by magiamma on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 10:10pm
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@mhagle
the great turning and the great unraveling were Macy's terms. I like them too. And that was her quote in the box.

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Submitted by Alex Budarin on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 8:03pm
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I like Buddhist meditation and the perspective of the Buddha. Engaged Buddhism and the "Bodhisattva" concept have motivated me at times of reflection -- when my "monkey mind" was not paramount.

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"All Life is Problem Solving" - Karl Popper

Submitted by mhagle on Thu, 08/30/2018 - 9:23pm
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@Alex Budarin

Is what I am familiar with. That is truly wonderful.

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo