Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
A new beginning for the environment must start with a new spiritual outlook. In this book, author Joanna Macy offers concrete suggestions for just that, showing how each of us can change the attitudes that continue to threaten our environment. Using the Buddha's teachings on Paticca Samuppada, which stresses the interconnectedness of all things in the world and suggests that any one action affects all things, Macy describes how decades of ignoring this principle has resulted in a self-centeredness that has devastated the environment. Humans, Macy implores, must acknowledge and understand their connectedness to their world and begin to move toward a more focused effort to save it.
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Because Eating Blueberries Is Not Enough.
Customer Rating:
I read a lot of spiritual books. So many, in fact, I fear I am becoming immune. Most spiritual books seem awfully cheap and flimsy lately. Out of touch. Our world is gravely threatened and all most of these books can offer is a slimmed-down, buffed up self. Washboard abs for a gutted earth. The air is full of carcinogens -- but at least my teeth are white!
For real spirituality, for a view of the self and the world both exhilarating and useful -- see Joanna Macy. Put her picture in the dictionary next to the word 'visionary'. She is helping us re-imagine time, the world and the self. She's not skipping the pain and she's telling the truth.
We say "everything is interconnected" but what does that mean? We produce depleted uranium with a half-life of 4.5 billion years -- how do we even start to think about that kind of time? What if it's already too late? Am I just a drama queen when I cry thinking about the polar bears who drown because they can't find ice on which to rest? These are the questions I have -- and this is the book for them.
I read an earlier version of this book when I was nineteen, sitting in a college library. I remember writing "the forests are my lungs outside the body" and understanding a little bit and reeling. For a week, I staggered around like a man hit on the head with a plank.
If our species and civilization are going to survive, we have to take a humungous leap. Recycling cans and eating blueberries is not going to be enough. Al Gore, Thomas Friedman, Lester Brown are lined up with suggestions but where does the strength and vision necessary for transformation come? For that, Joanna Macy is the best guide I have found.
A gift....a simply wonderful gift.
Customer Rating:
I came across this book a few months ago and it was like finding gold. I've been practicing meditation for years and my experience brought me to the same life-affirming conclusion that Joanna Macy expresses in this book. She talks about three ways of viewing the world, (a) World as battleground, in which the world is viewed as a battleground between the forces of good vs. the forces of evil; in which each of us must pick a side, (b) world as trap, in which the world is viewed as a tempter, ensnaring us in its web, and that our job is to transcend this existence to free ourselves from it, and (c) world as lover, in which the world is regarded as "...an intimate and gratifying partner.." through which we must move as if the world is our lover.
The first two, I view, as life-denying; essentially painting this creation as fundamentally flawed if not downright evil, whereas the 'world as lover' is life-affirming. By far, most of the world's religions and philosophies follow the life-denying model, but this has always seemed counter-intuitive to me since I can't believe that the Creator emanates this manifestation in order for it to be denied or utterly transcended. When a person becomes aware of their true nature and the nature of creation we see that the creation fairly screams out with beauty and love; ever tends toward it. This is not for nothing as Joanna Macy's book makes abundantly clear. Our job is to be both fully aware in fully in love! In that, creation's promise is fulfilled.
Thank you, Joanna Macy, for this wonderful gift to all humankind.
Macy's Master work
Customer Rating:
This is Dr. Macy's Master Work. Distilled within these pages you will find another paradigm to participate in the healing of the world. To reconcile the human/earth enterprise. This is a wholeness book offering keen insight into the dynamics of soul centered outcomes relating to the Earth and the Earth community of beings. I don't think you can go wrong with this book, but if you apply its praxis, something wonderful may grow on a planetary scale.
This book will change the way you think.
Customer Rating:
I can't even begin to put into words how important this book is. It focuses on our interconnectedness with the natural world, the psychology behind our apparent disconnect (or facade of such) and how to begin to change it, to come back to our rightful place in nature. If you want to heal your relationship with the planet, this is a must read.
This is a fantastic book!
Customer Rating:
If you're someone who's interested in changing the planet and help shaping the future of culture this book is not to be missed. Joanna Macy lays things out in a such a provocative, yet non-academic way. it's an easy read in that it's written chock full of information, yet from the heart. enjoy!
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