Book review: Active Hope, by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone

This is a gem of a book, one of my very favourites. The subtitle says it all: How to face the mess we're in without going crazy.

Living and parenting in the era of climate change can feel like we're presented with an impossible choice. To avoid facing the ecological and political crises playing out feels like a betrayal of our children and our values. That's also true if we rely on passive hope, acting as though everything will be OK without our participation.

But on the other hand, it can feel sometimes that to face the full weight of these crises will undo us, leave us unable to cope. How does one face something so huge, especially while we're still building the political will for change?

This is what the authors so helpfully grapple with, laying out a simple four-step process we can use.

Step one: starting from gratitude

Before facing something hard, we begin by thinking about something we appreciate, however small. This grounds us in the world, our connectedness to things, and buoys us up.

Writing this blog post I'm grateful for the community centre around the corner from where I live, which I only visited for the first time recently. The coffee is excellent, and there's a warm room where I can type which overlooks a community garden, sheltered from the bracing Melbourne winter 

Step two: honouring our pain for the world

Because we're a part of the world, we feel something when it is damaged. So whatever distress we feel when we face big global problems is a mark of our connectedness to all of life. We're not alone: we feel because we're connected. 

Step three: seeing with new eyes

Having respected our distress as a mark of connection, we start to join the dots. Why is the thing we care about being damaged? What larger systems or forces are leading to this?

Step four: going forth

Once we've gone through steps 1-3, there is something we wil feel like doing. Go and do it!

Finally, repeat this process whenever you need. These steps can be done briefly, in a couple of minutes, or form the basis of extended reflection, but they are always available to us.

There's a lot more detail and richness in the book, of course. Please read it! This book has helped me a lot, and I'd recommend it to anyone.