Joanna Macy – författare

Aktivt hopp är en inspirerande handbok för alla som känner uppgivenhet inför vår tids ekologiska och sociala kriser, med skenande klimatförändringar, förstörda ekosystem, krig och svält. Miljöaktivisten och ekofilosofen Joanna Macy utforskar tillsammans med läkaren och coachen Chris Johnstone hur hopplöshet och förtvivlan kan vändas till mod, styrka och kreativ handlingskraft. Genom en inre omställningsresa inspirerad av såväl buddhism och mytologi som systemteori och modern psykologi ges läsaren verktyg för att spela sin unika roll i den stora omställningen till ett hållbart samhälle. Den reviderade utgåvan är delvis omskriven och uppdaterad med flera nya avsnitt och övningar, färsk statistik och lärdomar från covid-19-pandemin och andra händelser som inträffat sedan den första utgåvan kom ut på engelska 2012.

Deepening global crises surround us. We are beset by climate change, fracking, tar sands extraction, GMOs, and mass extinctions of species, to say nothing of nuclear weapons proliferation and Fukushima, the worst nuclear disaster in history. Many of us fall prey to despair even as we feel called to respond to these threats to life on our planet. Authors Joanna Macy and Molly Brown address the anguish experienced by those who would confront the harsh realities of our time. In this fully updated edition of Coming Back to Life, they show how grief, anger, and fear are healthy responses to threats to life, and when honored can free us from paralysis or panic, through the revolutionary practice of the Work that Reconnects. New chapters address working within the corporate world, and engaging communities of color as well as youth in the Work. The Work that Reconnects has spread around the world, inspiring hundreds of thousands to work toward a life-sustaining human culture. Coming Back to Life introduces the Work's theoretical foundations, illuminating the angst of our era with extraordinary insight.Pointing the way forward out of apathy, it offers personal counsel as well as easy-to-use methods for group work that profoundly affect peoples' outlook and ability to act in the world. Joanna Macy is a scholar, eco-philosopher, teacher, activist, and author of twelve previous books including Coming Back to Life. Molly Young Brown is a teacher, trainer, counselor, and author of four previous books on psychology and Earth-based spirituality.

This book brings important new dimensions to the interface between contemporary Western science and ancient Eastern wisdom. Here for the first time the concepts and insights of general systems theory are presented in tandem with those of the Buddha. Remarkable convergences appear between core Buddhist teachings and the systems view of reality, arising in our century from biology and extending into the social and cognitive sciences. Giving a cogent introduction to both bodies of thought, and a fresh interpretation of the Buddha's core teaching of dependent co-arising, this book shows how their common perspective on causality can inform our lives. The interdependence of all beings provides the context for clarifying both the role of meditative practice and guidelines for effective action on behalf of the common good.

This book of readings, meditations, rituals and workshop notes prepared on three continents helps us remember that environmental defense is nothing less than "Self" defense. Including magnificent illustrations of Australia's rainforests, Thinking Like a Mountain provides a context for ritual identification with the natural environment, inviting us to begin a process of "community therapy" in defense of Mother Earth. It helps us experience our place in the web of life, rather than on the apex of some human-centred pyramid. An important deep ecology educational tool for activist, school and religious groups, Thinking Like a Mountain can also be used for personal reflection.Thinking Like a Mountain has been made available through New Catalyst Books. New Catalyst Books is an imprint of New Society Publishers, aimed at providing readers with access to a wider range of books dealing with sustainability issues by bringing books back into print that have enduring value in the field. For more information on New Catalyst Books click here.

Mänskligheten står inför utmaningar på många plan, med det allt varmare klimatet, utarmningen av jordens resurser och förstörelsen av livsmiljöer för djur och människor. Hur kan vi tackla allt detta, så att både planetens och vår personliga hälsa värnas?

Bland västerländska buddhister är dialogen kring de existentiella utmaningar vi nu står inför livlig och engagerad. Inte minst i USA blomstrar det digitala samtal som inspirerats av buddhistiska tankar och andliga praktiker. I Sverige har dock perspektiven från dessa samtal om de stora ödesfrågorna hittills inte fått bred spridning.

Boken presenterar ett urval tongivande texter från detta tankeutbyte. Utgångspunkten är att vi inte har någon tid att förlora. Innehållet spänner över allt från socialt engagerad buddhism och kritik av vår moderna civilisation till meditation, djup naturkontakt och kontemplation till hjälp för oss alla. Även metoder och projekt med lösningar för klimatet lyfts fram.

Som en röd tråd i boken löper tanken att den ekologiska krisen också är en andlig och psykologisk kris. En kris som samtidigt öppnar för att finna nya perspektiv, styrka och stöd - enskilt och tillsammans.

BOKENS FÖRFATTAREStephen Batchelor, Bikkhu Bodhi, Dekila Chungyalpa, Mark Coleman, Matthew Gindin, Paul Hawken, David Loy, Joanna Macy.

The life story of one of the most revered environmental and spiritual leaders of our timeIn Widening Circles, well-known eco-philosopher, Buddhist scholar, and deep ecology activist /teacher Joanna Macy recounts her adventures of mind and spirit in the key social movements of her time. 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 firsthand 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.Joanna Macy was one of those rare people who, in the words of a Rilke poem, could genuinely claim to “live my life in widening circles / that reach out across the world.” In this absorbing, and sometimes thrilling memoir, the unique synthesis of spiritualism and activism that defined Macy’s contribution to the world are illuminated by the life- events and experiences that paved her uncommon path.