Category Archives: Planetary transformation

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We Are in a Climate Emergency

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Recently I attended a Climate Compassion Salon in Berkeley. Over 40 people crammed into the living room of a private home to hear Ezra Silk, The Climate Mobilization‘s Director of Strategy & Policy, speak at length about the climate emergency that we face. Below is my synthesis of inputs—Ezra’s as well as other Salon participants—from this memorable evening.

Friends, we are in an environmental, economic, social and spiritual crisis. For ten years people have been talking about climate change as an 11th hour problem. Now the climate clock has struck midnight, and we have a very small window of time to prevent ecological and social collapse.

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Forward! Finding Our Way in the Dark

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Winding up our fascinating and hope-inducing dinner conversation

Recently at dinner with two old friends/colleagues, we plumbed the depths (and heights) of our reactions and feelings about recent events in the political landscape. The following reflections build on this rich conversation with my longtime social change companions, Mark and Teresa.

A World in Trouble

Our current political turmoil is turning up the heat and sparking the kinds of conversations we have not been having. People are scared. We are feeling pressure to keep our country, even our world together.

Weeping_Lady_LibertyIn these un-United States, our guiding vision of ‘one nation’ that is ‘indivisible with liberty and justice for all’ has gone off the rails. We are experiencing an onslaught of ‘othering’, with the harshest impacts falling on those who are already the most vulnerable. Continue reading →

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The Legacy of Grace Lee Boggs: “Re-imagine Everything”

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Onstage banners at the West Coast memorial for Grace Lee Boggs

On March 20, 2016 a celebration of Grace Lee Boggs’ 100-year life was held at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. The memorial speakers offered stories and lessons learned from Grace, who was active in social change work for three quarters of a century. Here is a sampling of what was shared, followed by my full journal notes.

1.    We remake ourselves to remake the world.

2.    What do I need to change in myself to be more effective in changing the world?

3.    What does it mean to “grow our souls”?

4.    Praxis is about changing our minds and our perspectives in response to changing conditions.

5.    Questions are more important than answers.

6.    Go beyond simply complaining and waiting for others to change it or fix it.

Continue reading →

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Toward Our Emergent Future

JT_at_Golden_Gate_Bridge_smThese days my adventures in learning center around how we as humans can shift our course and our consciousness to create more harmonious relationships with the biosphere and one another.

A Collective Learning Journey

We have entered a new era of humanity, a time when the continued viability of the biosphere to sustain life is no longer assumed or assured, but must be worked for. It is unknown whether our species can succeed in creating a long-term future that is biologically and socially favorable.

Time to get busy with the sacred work of transforming our world. As we go about reweaving humanity’s ways of being on the earth, this will bring much learning, connection and meaning to our lives.

In this blog I will share occasional quotes, resources, inspiration, and questions, exploring themes of personal and planetary transformation – interfaith spirituality and ministry – nature as beloved, nature as self – changing the Story – social justice – psychodynamics of social change – Hinduism – bedside singing – and more.

Continue reading →