Trusting the Spiral
Active Hope is not wishful thinking.
Active Hope is not waiting to be rescued
by the Lone Ranger or by some savior.
Active Hope is waking up to the beauty of life
on whose behalf we can act.
We belong to this world.
The web of life is calling us forth at this time.
We’ve come a long way and are here to play our part.
With Active Hope we realize that there are adventures in store,
strengths to discover, and comrades to link arms with.
Active Hope is a readiness to engage.
Active Hope is a readiness to discover the strengths
in ourselves and in others;
a readiness to discover the reasons for hope
and the occasions for love.
A readiness to discover the size and strength of our hearts,
our quickness of mind, our steadiness of purpose,
our own authority, our love for life,
the liveliness of our curiosity,
the unsuspected deep well of patience and diligence,
the keenness of our senses, and our capacity to lead.
None of these can be discovered in an armchair or without risk.
Joanna Macy
I’ve been re-reading “Active Hope – How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy”, by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone (2012).
The introduction describes the process I was led through several years ago at Annual Session, at a climate change interest group: We each shared a word or phrase in response to the query, “When I consider the condition of our world, I think things are getting…”
Our alarm bells go off whenever we sit to consider this question; we don’t want to think about it – it’s too stressful, too sad. Macy says,
“… the greatest danger of our time is the deadening of our response. … How can we even begin to tackle the mess we’re in if we consider it too depressing to think about? … Our approach is to see this as the starting point of an amazing journey that strengthens us and deepens our aliveness. The purpose of this journey is to find, offer, and receive the gift of Active Hope.”
I hope you will join me this next year as I seek my own sources of hope and find ways to act.
