Hi folks. Firstly thank you for continuing to read along with us here at Ecodharma. I am glad for all of you who contribute to the discussions.
We are at chapter 7 of our book Active Hope - A Richer Experience of Community. Although it is 17 pages long I feel that the entire chapter flows together nicely so hopefully no one minds if we take this chapter all at once.
So a little confession. So far I've been a little underwhelmed by the book. After we read David Loy's book "Ecodharma" I think we all felt that we needed to read something a little more positive and uplifting. The title and subtitle looked promising "Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in with Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power".
What I've realized as I read this chapter is that my expectations were misplaced. I have recently read and shared an article here https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...-to-extinction that really shook me. I've been doing many things such as cutting down on my meat consumption, reducing my waste and garbage, composting, driving less, beefing up the energy efficiency of my house, signing petitions, voting for green leaning politicians. But what I also realized is that I am doing all of these things but holding on to a Business as Usual mindset.
I think that is where my misplaced expectations with this book came from too. I think I was hoping that in this book there was a formula for solving our ecological crisis and yet somehow keeping things status quo.
This chapter "A Richer Experience of Community" caught me. Although I've read many times that we humans very much need to make a paradigm shift in our relationship with the Earth, it wasn't clear to me what that looked like. Here in this chapter the light went on for me. This book isn't about solving the ecological crisis. This book is about what that paradigm shift could look like. It isn't a formula for more Business as Usual. It really is about the steps we need to make for The Great Turning.
This chapter is all about community. Firstly they talk about the communities we once had. Then they talk about the communities we've lost as we humans become increasingly isolated and independent of each other. They talk about how communities once again come together in times of crisis, such as the hurricane in Halifax, or more recently our COVID19 pandemic.
For the authors, rebuilding our sense of community, locally, globally, and with all of life on Earth, is one of the antidotes to our ecological crisis. At least in part through a greater sense of community we can see a way past our hyper-commercialized, hyper-individualized mindset.
My questions to you:
1. Do you agree that rebuilding a sense of community is one way towards the Great Turning?
2. Do you find yourself struggling with the paradigm shift from BAU to the Great Turning?
3. What do you think of the book so far?
Tairin
Sat today and lah
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Originally Posted by Tairin
