"The Great Turning by Joanna Macy" Read by Kate O'Dell

"The Great Turning by Joanna Macy"

Read by Kate O'Dell

As part of the Worship Service of July 30, 2006, led by the Environmental Committee, Kate O'Dell read the following originally written by Joanna Macy.

The Great Turning is a name for the essential adventure of our time: the shift from an Industrial Growth Society to a life-sustaining civilization.

The ecological and social crises we face are caused by an economic system dependent on ever-increasing corporate profits--in other words by how fast materials can be extracted from Earth and turned into consumer products, weapons, and waste.

A revolution is underway because people are realizing that our needs can be met without destroying our world. We have the technical knowledge, the communication tools, and the material resources to grow enough food, ensure clean air and water, and meet rational energy needs. Future generations, if there is a livable world for them, will look back at the epochal transition we are making to a life-sustaining society. And they may well call this the time of the Great Turning. It is happening now.

Personal guidelines:

Come from gratitude: Gratitude for the gift of life is the primary wellspring of all religions. It is a privilege to be alive in this time when we can choose to take part in the self-healing of our world.

Don’t be afraid of the Dark: This is a dark time. It is natural that we feel the trauma of our world. Don’t be afraid of the anguish that you feel, of the anger or the fear. They arise from the depth of your caring.

Dare to vision: Out of the darkness a new world can arise. But we will never be able to build what we have not first imagined and cherished in our hearts.

Roll up you sleeves: Many people don’t get involved because there are so many different issues which seem to compete with each other. Save the whales or the battered children? All aspects of the current crisis reflect the same mistake—setting ourselves apart and using others for our gain. Link up with others. Find what you love to work on and take joy in that. To heal any aspect helps all others to heal as well.

Act your age: Every particle of your body goes back to the first flaring forth of space and time. You are really as old as the universe. When you lobby, or testify, or stand up and protect, you are doing that not out of a personal whim, but in the full authority of your 15 billion years.