“To let ourselves feel anguish and disorientation as we open our awareness to global suffering is a part of our spiritual ripening.”
“Coming Back to Life” elucidates the principle that everyone and everything is interconnected, not only via traditions in religion, spirituality, and indigenous cultures, but also through discussions of systems theories that have been increasingly coming to light in recent scientific research, philosophical inquiry, and movements in deep ecology. According to Macy and Brown, we are currently at a Great Turning Point, for which we are preparing to shift from the current Industrial Growth Society into a Life-sustaining Society. That is to say, we are waking up from our current hierarchical, anthropocentric, competition based models of living so that we may move toward a cooperative, compassionate, natural one. The immediacy of the need for this to happen is palpable, since we are increasingly seeing and accepting the oppression, poison, destruction, death, and despair that is resulting from our current way of life. As a society and as individuals, we are avoiding painful realities in the world around us; this is not a hopeless state of affairs. In order to facilitate this transition, it is time to work to reconnect our lives and minds to the reality around us. The second half of this book is thankfully dedicated to detailing guided workshops that are directed toward uncovering and dealing with the pain that ensues from regaining a compassionate mind for our world. This book has information for everyone since it inspiring portrays underlying causes of the apathy and numbness used to avoid disturbing realities, and provides a road map for interested parties to begin a process of reconnecting.
Links:
JoannaMacy.net
Molly Young Brown
Citation Information:
Macy, J., & Brown, M. Y. (1998). Coming back to life: Practices to reconnect our lives, our world. Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society.
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