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Thread: [EcoDharma] ACTIVE HOPE Chapter 4 (part two), pages 64-72

  1. #1

    [EcoDharma] ACTIVE HOPE Chapter 4 (part two), pages 64-72

    Hi all,

    Our reading continues with Pain for the World Is Normal, Healthy and Widespread.

    In the first section of this chapter we looked at ways we resist the impulse to act fears for the world. A wise, old witch gave Parsifal a jolt, but we’ll need to work to melt ours. Joanna offers us her work in grounded in Buddhism, interconnectedness, and systems theory and the concept of negative feedback loops to help us see that our distress is a healthy reaction. Our unease is an alert to respond, to correct our path.

    A central part of the author’ Work That Reconnects is that opening to our pain, and expressing and sharing it is freeing and enlivening. This is especially critical because negative or depressing topics has become culturally taboo, the more we avoid such feelings, the less we feel we can cope with them. And it blocks our ability to respond. Acknowledging that many of us feel overwhelmed with the volume of climate information available, the authors utilize the language and techniques of grief and loss counseling to help us “digest” it, ideally in community with others.

    Joanna writes, “Honoring our pain for the world is a way of valuing our awareness, first, that we have noticed, and second, that we care… A starting point is just to hear ourselves speak what we already know.”

    In that spirit, because this material was written for workshop use, I suggest that we complete the following sentences of concern by speaking them out loud, either to ourselves, or to another person. As an option, you might record your answers and share them here, if you are comfortable with that.
    * When I see what’s happening to the natural world, what breaks my heart is…
    * When I see what’s happening to human society, what breaks my heart is…
    * What I do with these feelings is…
    If you find this exercise brings up strong feelings, the author’s advise: “if feelings flow into us from the world, they can also flow back out again— they don’t have to get stuck in us,” and present the technique of Breathing Through, which is somewhat like Tonglen.

    We don’t have the benefit of doing this in a workshop environment, But we are fortunate to read this book together. How was your experience of these exercises? Aside from the obvious physical differences, does speaking your answers differ from writing? Does Breathing Through help process grief?

    Gassho,
    Naiko

  2. #2
    hi Naiko,

    i find it difficult to do all the exercises. But rereading the book in this group, slowly, chapter by chapter, helps me to account for my feelings to myself!!

    aprapti


    sat

    hobo kore dojo / 歩歩是道場 / step, step, there is my place of practice

    Aprāpti (अप्राप्ति) non-attainment

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by aprapti View Post
    hi Naiko,

    i find it difficult to do all the exercises. But rereading the book in this group, slowly, chapter by chapter, helps me to account for my feelings to myself!!

    aprapti


    sat

    Naiko
    st

  4. #4
    Thank you, Naiko.

    Feeling pain for what is happening to the world does seem really natural yet I see people like Greta Thunberg denounced as being a leading member of an 'eco doom cult' in an attempt to derationalise a normal response to worsening environmental conditions. So, it becomes hard to express this kind of pain in public as people (to a certain extent completely understandably) can't face thinking about what is going on. Business as Usual is very comforting and change is scary.

    * When I see what’s happening to the natural world, what breaks my heart is how we are taking over the planet's resources for ourselves, with little or no thought for the other species that we share it with.
    * When I see what’s happening to human society, what breaks my heart is how the pain of others is trivialised or minimised and Business as Usual controls the vast majority of the media and governments, allowing them to continue with the same policies that has impoverished both billions of people and the natural world.
    * What I do with these feelings is to breathe with them, as Joanna suggests, and also sit in nature and rest in our interconnectedness and the knowledge that it will continue in some form. Less heathily, I also distract myself from the feelings and even suppress them.

    I think you are right to compare tonglen with the practice that Joanna outlines, Naiko, and I have for some time wanted to record a version of tonglen which instead of the usual format, go through a number of planetary ecosystems (polar, marine, forest, grassland, desert, montane) and do tonglen for each of them in turn.

    I really like that this book is helping me to address my thoughts, hopes and fears around the environmental situation and am really glad for those of you also taking this path as, like general Zen practice, is is something that is hard to do alone.


  5. #5
    I recorded my answers, but then found that I could not post the files. Oops! I did find that speaking aloud brings me in touch with my emotions much more than writing, but here's approximately what I said:

    o When I see what's happening to the natural world, what breaks my heart is know that I am responsible, my actions contribute to this. I know that all things are impermanent, and species and ecosystems have come and gone, but we are doing this, and it's unnecessary.
    o When I see what's happening to human society, what breaks my heart is how we are piling suffering on top on suffering. Life is going to be much more difficult for all beings on the planet. I fear we will further descend into petty, tribalism and fight for dwindling resources. The most vulnerable will bear the worst of it. It's awful to think of the resources that we'll throw at responding to emergencies, when instead we could have been making the world better for everyone.
    o What I do with these feelings is sit with them, as best I can, and look for ways I can act.

    Kokuu, I think your guided Tonglen meditations are a wonderful idea!

    Gassho,
    Naiko
    st

  6. #6
    Thank you Naiko.

    Sorry I fell behind the group. My wife is reading the book along with us so we have been doing some of the exercises together. Here is a short version of my answers to the Open Questions of Concern

    • When I see what's happening to the natural world what breaks my heart is to
    think of all the creatures that are suffering/will suffer and die because we humans could not control our greed and selfishly view the world as being something to exploit

    • When I see what's happening to human society, what breaks my heart is that we, as individuals, increasingly seem to be looking out for our own self interests. The world needs to us to be working collectively and yet we seem to be more divided than ever.


    • What I do with these feelings is all over the place. I find it frustrating that we are wasting precious time and at the same time I get that people may not understand the consequences of our inaction. I think that people continue along Business as Usual and at the same time I have to admit that I do too. I know that we need to make huge changes and yet because I can’t quite see what those changes look like or what the end result is I am not certain what to do.

    Thank you all for reading along


    Tairin
    Sat today and lah

  7. #7
    paulashby
    Guest
    When I see what is happening to the natural world what breaks my heart is that we
    are not listening to the sounds of the earth with the mass extinction of animal species.
    The same factors that endanger the polar bear will endanger human life. Not listening
    means trouble in any relationship.
    When I see what is happening in human society I have witnessed how corrupt corporations
    own politicians and shut down environmental regulations. I lived and worked in Tulsa when we
    were hit with a shocking number of small earthquakes in a region that seldom had any earthquakes.
    One day after the University of Oklahoma announced these stunning increases in quakes were the
    direct result of oil and gas companies fracking practices-the paid for legislators passed a bill to
    deny the legal right to sue those companies for any damages to homes or property caused by fracking.
    What I do with this blindness and corruption is a list of things:
    - support honest politicans who are not owned by oil corporations
    -take youth and adults on nature hikes and camping to meditate upon the gift of this earth
    -donate to environmental justice causes
    -cuss a bit at the news of new toxic chemical spills
    -volunteer myself and my organization for clean up days along the Colorado river
    -protest developments that wreak vulnerable areas along the river
    -grumble to friends that we only make a small difference
    - continue to sponsor and share in Earth day events
    -teach that every day is Earth Day
    -hope that we listen to the earth before we receive the eviction notice
    -call foolishness on those who follow the made up Rapture theory and who think they will
    be sucked up into the clouds at 45,000 feet to be with Jesus when at that altitude
    they would quickly die from oxygen deprivation.
    -try to keep a sense of humor and do the little things I can accomplish.

    Gassho,Peace, Paul Ashby sat lah

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