The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world — we've actually been on the way for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep, to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and each other.
=== EMERGENCY ===
The people of Ukraine are in immediate danger from
radioactive ash and dust generated by forest fires
in areas contaminated by Chernobyl fallout.
click here to help
For peace, justice, and life on Earth, fresh ways of seeing arise, and ancient ways return. This web site opens doors to the new bodies of thought, time-tested spiritual practices, and pioneering group methods, that I find to be powerful inspirations to understanding and action. I share these resources in service to the revolution of our time: the "Great Turning" from the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization.
In these pages you'll find key aspects of my work:
- its sources in Buddhist teachings, living systems theory, and deep ecology;
- its experiential methods for group learning, known as the Work that Reconnects,
including despair work, deep ecology work, and deep time work;
- information about workshops and trainings;
- empowering ideas, such as Nuclear Guardianship;
- practices for inspiration and renewal, such as the Council of All Beings and the Elm Dance;
- and we include here a link to our new song and celebration sister site: Songs For The Great Turning.
Partake and use for the healing of our world!
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Drawn from Coming Back to Life Instead of looking for basic building blocks, these life scientists took a new tack: they began to look at wholes instead of parts, at processes instead of substances. They discovered that these wholes--be they cells, bodies, ecosystems, or even the planet itself--are not just a heap of disjunct parts, but are dynamically organized and intricately balanced "systems," interdependent in every movement, every function, every exchange of energy and information. They saw that each element is part of a vaster pattern, a pattern that connects and evolves by discernible principles. The discernment of these principles gave rise to general living systems theory.By shifting their focus to relationships instead of separate entities, scien-tists made an amazing discovery--amazing at least to the mainstream western mind. They discovered that nature is self-organizing. Or rather, assuming that to be the case, they set about discerning the principles by which this self-organizing occurs. They found these principles or system properties to be awesomely elegant in their simplicity and constancy throughout the observable universe, from sub organic to biological and ecological systems, and mental and social systems, as well. The proper-ties of open systems which permit the variety and intelligence of life-forms to arise from interactive currents of matter and energy are four in number.
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The healing of our world entails a wider perspective on time. To take part in the Great Turning, we liberate ourselves from the short-term thinking that drives the industrial growth society. Moving beyond anthropocentrism, we learn to "act our age," and experience the vitality of our interdependence with past and future generations.
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