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pnw_michelle's review
3.0
This book is a collection of essays and poems aimed at a sort of newly created ritual called a "Council of all beings", as part of Joanna Macy's process that goes by the name "the work that reconnects". It's a noble goal, I think - to help us humans become more vibrantly aware of our connection to the Land, to all beings, both animate and inanimate. And some of the writings in the book are quite beautiful.
My issue with this book - and with the other things I've read about the work that reconnects - is that all the writings I've seen dwell deeply and almost exclusively in the pain of our loss, in our terror at the ongoing destruction of our world. And these are important fears, important sorrows, ones we need to acknowledge and, somehow, try to process so we can function. But no solutions are offered. No joy is shared. There's nothing here - nothing - to give us the kind of audacious hope required to get up, day after day, and TRY. All I feel from it is an intense hurt and fear of what is happening to the planet - and I'm well aware of that every day on my own. What we need, now, is ideas of new ways to act, new ways to operate in the world. Maybe these things are offered at the conferences and events that are lead by this group, but I don't find them in any of my readings from them.
Still, it's a good thing to try to cultivate empathy for the non-human world in humans, and there are some lovely pieces in this little collection.
My issue with this book - and with the other things I've read about the work that reconnects - is that all the writings I've seen dwell deeply and almost exclusively in the pain of our loss, in our terror at the ongoing destruction of our world. And these are important fears, important sorrows, ones we need to acknowledge and, somehow, try to process so we can function. But no solutions are offered. No joy is shared. There's nothing here - nothing - to give us the kind of audacious hope required to get up, day after day, and TRY. All I feel from it is an intense hurt and fear of what is happening to the planet - and I'm well aware of that every day on my own. What we need, now, is ideas of new ways to act, new ways to operate in the world. Maybe these things are offered at the conferences and events that are lead by this group, but I don't find them in any of my readings from them.
Still, it's a good thing to try to cultivate empathy for the non-human world in humans, and there are some lovely pieces in this little collection.
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