Continuing the Deep Ecology series, in this article I present The Work that Reconnects (WTR), formulated by Joanna Macy.
I introduce the motivations for the development of this model, the concrete proposal and the resources that have been created so that, individually and as a community, we can give shape to Deep Ecology. As an inspirational proposal, I share the video The Great Turning, with Joanna Macy.
The Work that Reconnects
Inspired by Buddhism and General Systems Theory, Joanna Macy, an activist with a doctorate in Ecophilosophy, has, throughout her long life (she is now 95 years old), drawn up a sui generis synthesis between the contributions of Eastern spiritual wisdom and contemporary Western science. The Work that Reconnects is the result of this beautiful fusion.
As a response to what she considered to be the shortcomings of the ecological movement, namely the tendency to remain critical, in anguish and dissatisfaction in the face of the ecological crisis, Macy focused on ethical commitment based on concrete, targeted action and on embracing suffering and uncertainty, experiencing the mourning of this process as unavoidable steps to follow a rooted path, that shapes the future.
In this proposal, ethics results from a deeply reflective attitude and produces its effects in concrete and interdependent life, in the scenarios of which we are a part, just as a plant does not dissociate itself from the landscape in which it is located, it generates that same landscape, as detailed by the philosopher and artist Emanuele Coccia (2019) in The Life of Plants.
WTR is a collaborative theoretical-practical model, oriented towards personal and social change, disseminated in group contexts in different countries around the world, supported by a network of facilitators who regularly organize workshops and training.
This deeply experiential itinerary is supported by exercises, which proactively invite us to go through the stages of the WTR Spiral, creating conditions so that we can, as living cells of a larger body to which we belong, feel and echo the pain of the world (Macy, 2010).
The Deep Ecology Spiral
In the proposal explained by the WTR, the various practical dynamics have in common the fact that they are experienced in a spiral and fractal logic - represented by a plant, taraxacum officinale, known as dandelion - which goes through four phases:
Gratitude;
To honor/honoring our pain;
To see with fresh eyes and
To move forward.
Gratitude
The spiral is rooted in gratitude, which opens the heart - giving thanks to all beings and systems that generate and nourish life - creating space to welcome the gift of life, beauty, love, pain, and strengthen trust in this tilled and fertile land.
Honor our pain
By envisioning the fear, anguish, sadness, and anger that we feel in the face of the crisis in the world as natural responses, embedded in the core of our identity, shaped by the interconnection with all beings.
Being truly present with reality as it presents itself, being moved and recognizing our responsibility in the state of the world, and ritualizing our experience, and our intentions. The fires that devastate the forests, our addiction to consumption, intensive monocultures, wars for resources, refugees...
Not remaining there, in Vidas Secas (Barrem Lives), which Graciliano Ramos portrayed in a unique way, tracing the saga of a family in the northeastern hinterland of Brazil, ravaged by severe drought. But recognizing suffering to look for concrete strategies to get out of it, from deep compassion, with hope and eyes focused on resilient regeneration, on the “placentas” of the future (Ernst Götsch).
Seeing with fresh eyes
looking at change from the horizon of remote times, from the place of cosmic beings that we are, we have responsibility towards other generations, beings, towards the history of the universe, beyond personal chronological history.
How to experience change in the contexts of which we are part? What is our role and legacy to the world? What is our concrete contribution? As Gandhi so well expressed, choosing to be the change we want to see in the world. How to experience change in community?
Moving forward
According to the gifts we have inherited and those we have developed, from our specific circumstances.
How can we act? How does my own regeneration begin? What regeneration can I bring to the world? What daily changes can I take on? How will I bring others together on this path? “If there is no peace in the minds of individuals, how can there be peace in the world? Make peace in your own mind first”. (S. N. Goenka).
Faced with new desolation, the spiral begins again. We now know where to look for shelter, to stop along the way, to recover strength - we return to gratitude and the spiral itinerary. The logic of the spiral can be applied to a concrete situation that we are experiencing, to a process that continues throughout life, in which we learn to integrate these dimensions in the face of challenging situations, as regenerative strategies that point out direction, a path, with awareness, presence, roots and meaning.
Deep down, in the face of the desolation we may experience, we shall allow ourselves to stop briefly and give it new meaning, broadening the perspective, that we are in interconnection, not lingering in the void or in the destructive emotions even though we will have to go into them to get out of them. We go deep down, to what connects us to the whole, looking for what sustains us and from there we set off again, with a concrete and palpable horizon.
WTR Theoretical-Practical Resources
Imbued in Buddhist philosophy, WTR takes on a practical aspect that sees transformation primarily as a personal change, to be fully assumed as a social and ecological change.
WTR provides variety of types of theoretical and practical resources, such as videos, documentaries and books. I highlight two books: Coming Back To Life and Active Hope. In both, reflections and itineraries are proposed that help us situate ourselves in the present reality, guiding us from the inner screen of our deep identity - interdependence - in search of reconnection, rooted meaning and concrete direction.
As Mónica Tátá expressed to me one day, “our identity is a part of the earth, unique, but we derive from and are interdependent with all other beings on Earth, we have to awaken to interexistence”. And this awakening, according to WTR, implies action, commitment and involvement in change.
Inspirational Proposal: The Great Turning
The video I present to you, to deepen WTR's vision and proposal, is The Great Turning with Joanna Macy. This video (that you can see at the end of this article), by filmmaker Katie Teague, is part of the Becoming Human in a Time Between Worlds project, which aims, according to the author, in this time of existential and planetary risk, to interview people who “think like a living planet” and explore transformation emerging from the “planetary imaginary”.
In this interview, Joanna Macy addresses topics such as the disconnection from nature and our purposes and how permeable our existence is to fear. She explains how, in her practice, she has experienced a state of stimulating presence through meditation, and how she has learned that the voice that people need to hear most is the inner one, that which we constantly suppress with different forms of distractions and additions.
She also mentions that anguish is necessary, it is the recognition of loss, of a changing identity. She shows how important it is for people to live this process together, realizing that when they fall in love with each other they fall in love with life. Recognizes that suffering is inherent to being alive, caring for and loving this world and that waking up to our true nature - our belonging to the Earth, to all creatures, future beings and ancestors - is to let life flow through us.
The warm voice of Joanna Macy saying that “every cell in our body is from this Earth”, echoed within me the pain I felt in 2019, when watching the video A Runaway World by American Diana Thater, at the Guggenheim Museum, in the Basque Country. She filmed the last days of the life of the last white rhino, constantly watched by armed park guards to protect him from poachers.
I was also reminded of what Emmanuel Goze shared, in Daloa in Ivory Coast when before having lunch I suggested that we pause and give thanks for something concrete. As we were about to eat goat meat, I thanked the animal that was sacrificed, so that we could eat meat, and he was very moved. He said that if he would pause like this, he would possibly eat meat less frequently, and more consciously. Another precious clue from WTR, the place of ritual in our daily lives.
Macy encourages us to strengthen ourselves in uncertainty, being present, and outlines three stories unfolding in this time we are going through:
a) that of corporate capitalism, which we decided to call the industrial growth of society;
b) the distortion of this system, which has lost its coherence;
c) the great turning point, which is a transition, in which we are learning about community roots.
In WTR it is assumed that we have to go through this time and this turning point is assumed as a vision, a personal commitment, as a counterpoint to the excessive greed, the cruelty that tears the world apart. But how to live this transition?
Evolution shows that old codes, values and behaviours have to be abandoned. Identity changes and remakes itself. We disintegrate ourselves to become more capable, more sensitive, more realistic, to integrate the protection of life, spiritual wisdom and scientific knowledge, in a life more aware of our choices and their impacts.
Always inspiring, Macy murmurs that we are learning to listen within ourselves to the pulse of the Earth and to love each other- what an interesting time to be alive :)
In the words of Kabir, a mystical poet from India, “All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop”.
In the next article in the Deep Ecology series, I’ll share the way I try to live Deep Ecology, integrated into the support proposal as a Transition Doula.
References
Coccia, Emanuele (2019). The Life of Plants: A Metaphysics of Mixture. Polity Press.
Macy, Joanna; Brown, Molly Young (2014). Coming Back To Life. The Updated Guide To The Work That Reconnects. New Society Publishers.
Macy, Joanna; Johnstone, Chris (2011). Active Hope: How To Face The Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy. New World Library.
I suggest you check the link page: https://workthatreconnects.org/