Workbook Courage in Difficult Times October 25,...

Workbook

Courage in Difficult Times

October 25, 2008

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Structural

Holding actions

which slow the rate

of social and

ecological damage.

Shifts in consciousness;

Understanding the

interconnectedness of all things.

Structural Changes:

New economic and

social formations.

Holding actions

which slow the rate of

social and ecological

damage.

Shifts in consciousness;

Understanding the

interconnectedness of all

things.

Structural Changes:

New economic and

social formations.

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Personal Guidelines for the Great Turning

Come from Gratitude

To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe--to participate in the dance of life with senses to

perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it--is a wonder beyond words. Gratitude

for the gift of life is the primary wellspring of all religions, the hallmark of the mystic, the source of all true

art. Furthermore, 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, filled with suffering and uncertainty. Like living cells in a larger body, it is natural that we

feel the trauma of our world. So don't be afraid of the anguish you feel, or the anger or fear, for these

responses arise from the depth of your caring and the truth of your interconnectedness with all beings. To

suffer with is the literal meaning of compassion.

Dare to Vision

Out of this darkness a new world can arise, not to be constructed by our minds so much as to emerge from our

dreams. Even though we cannot see clearly how it's going to turn out, we are still called to let the future into

our imagination. We will never be able to build what we have not first cherished in our hearts..

Roll up your Sleeves

Many people don't get involved in the Great Turning because there are so many different issues, which seem

to compete with each other. Shall I save the whales or help battered children? The truth is that all aspects of

the current crisis reflect the same mistake, setting ourselves apart and using others for our gain. So to heal one

aspect helps the others to heal as well. Just find what you love to work on and take joy in that. Never try to do

it alone. Link up with others; you'll spark each others' ideas and sustain each others' energy..

Act your Age

Since every particle in your body goes back to the first flaring forth of space and time, you're really as old as

the universe. So when you are lobbying at your congressperson's office, or visiting your local utility, or

testifying at a hearing on nuclear waste, or standing up to protect an old grove of redwoods, you are doing

that not out of some personal whim, but in the full authority of your 15 billions years.

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The Three Dimensions of the Great Turning:

1. Actions to slow the damage to Earth and its beings

Perhaps the most visible dimension of the Great Turning, these activities include all the political, legislative,

and legal work required to reduce the destruction, as well as direct actions--blockades, boycotts, civil

disobedience, and other forms of refusal. A few examples:

- Documenting and the ecological and health effects of the Industrial Growth Society;

- Lobbying or protesting against the World Trade Organization and the international trade agreements

that endanger ecosystems and undermine social and economic justice;

- Blowing the whistle on illegal and unethical corporate practices;

- Blockading and conducting vigils at places of ecological destruction, such as old-growth forests under

threat of clear-cutting or at nuclear dumping grounds.

Work of this kind buys time. It saves some lives, and some ecosystems, species, and cultures, as well as some

of the gene pool, for the sustainable society to come. But it is insufficient to bring that society about.

2. Analysis of structural causes and the creation of structural alternatives

The second dimension of the Great Turning is equally crucial. To free ourselves and our planet from the

damage being inflicted by the Industrial Growth Society, we must understand its dynamics. What are the tacit

agreements that create obscene wealth for a few, while progressively impoverishing the rest of humanity?

What interlocking causes indenture us to an insatiable economy that uses our Earth as supply house and

sewer? It is not a pretty picture, and it takes courage and confidence in our own common sense to look at it

with realism; but we are demystifying the workings of the global economy. When we see how this system

operates, we are less tempted to demonize the politicians and corporate CEOs who are in bondage to it. And

for all the apparent might of the Industrial Growth Society, we can also see its fragility--how dependent it is

on our obedience, and how doomed it is to devour itself.

In addition to learning how the present system works, we are also creating structural alternatives. In countless

localities, like green shoots pushing up through the rubble, new social and economic arrangements are

sprouting. Not waiting for our national or state politicos to catch up with us, we are banding together, taking

action in our own communities. Flowing from our creativity and collaboration on behalf of life, these actions

may look marginal, but they hold the seeds for the future.

Some of the initiatives in this dimension:

- Teach-ins and study groups on the Industrial Growth Society;

- Strategies and programs for nonviolent, citizen-based defense;

- Reduction of reliance on fossil and nuclear fuels and conversion to renewable energy sources;

- Collaborative living arrangements such as co-housing and eco-villages;

- Community gardens, consumer cooperatives, community-supported agriculture, watershed

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restoration, local currencies...

3. Shift in Consciousness

These structural alternatives cannot take root and survive without deeply ingrained values to sustain them.

They must mirror what we want and how we relate to Earth and each other. They require, in other words, a

profound shift in our perception of reality--and that shift is happening now, both as cognitive revolution and

spiritual awakening.

The insights and experiences that enable us to make this shift are accelerating, and they take many forms.

They arise as grief for our world, giving the lie to old paradigm notions of rugged individualism, the essential

separateness of the self. They arise as glad response to breakthroughs in scientific thought, as reductionism

and materialism give way to evidence of a living universe. And they arise in the resurgence of wisdom

traditions, reminding us again that our world is a sacred whole, worthy of adoration and service.

The many forms and ingredients of this dimension include:

- general living systems theory;

- deep ecology and the deep, long-range ecology movement;

- Creation Spirituality and Liberation Theology;

- Engaged Buddhism and similar currents in other traditions;

- the resurgence of shamanic traditions;

- ecofeminism;

- ecopsychology;

- the simple living movement.

The realizations we make in the third dimension of the Great Turning save us from succumbing to either panic

or paralysis. They help us resist the temptation to stick our heads in the sand, or to turn on each other, for

scapegoats on whom to vent our fear and rage.

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THANKSGIVING ADDRESS: GREETINGS TO THE NATURAL WORLD

The People

Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the dutyto live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds

together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as People.

Now our minds are one.

The Earth Mother

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. Shesupports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as

she has from the beginning of time. To our Mother, we send greetings and thanks.


The Waters

We give thanks to all the Waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us withstrength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms - waterfalls and rain, mists and streams,

rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of water.


The Fish

We turn our minds to all the Fish life in the water. They were instructed to cleanse and purify thewater. They also give themselves to us as food. We are grateful that we can still find pure water.

So, we turn now to the Fish and send our greetings and thanks.


The Plants

Now we turn toward the vast fields of Plant life. As far as the eye can see, the Plants grow,working many wonders. They sustain many life forms. With our minds gathered together, we give

thanks and look forward to seeing Plant life for many generations to come.


The Food Plants

With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the Food Plants we harvest from the garden. Sincethe beginning of time, the grains, vegetables, beans and berries have helped the people survive.Many other living things draw strength from them too. We gather all the Plant Foods together as

one and send them a greeting and thanks.


Thanksgiving Address http://hetfonline.org/pages/thanksgiving.htm

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The Medicine Herbs

Now we turn to all the Medicine herbs of the world. From the beginning, they were instructed totake away sickness. They are always waiting and ready to heal us. We are happy there are stillamong us those special few who remember how to use these plants for healing. With one mind,

we send greetings and thanks to the Medicines and to the keepers of the Medicines.


The Animals

We gather our minds together to send greetings and thanks to all the Animal life in the world.They have many things to teach us as people. We see them near our homes and in the deep

forests. We are glad they are still here and we hope that it will always be so.


The Trees

We now turn our thoughts to the Trees. The Earth has many families of Trees who have their owninstructions and uses. Some provide us with shelter and shade, others with fruit, beauty and otheruseful things. Many peoples of the world use a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one

mind, we greet and thank the Tree life.


The Birds

We put our minds together as one and thank all the Birds who move and fly about over our heads.The Creator gave them beautiful songs. Each day they remind us to enjoy and appreciate life. TheEagle was chosen to be their leader. To all the Birds - from the smallest to the largest - we send

our joyful greetings and thanks.


The Four Winds

We are all thankful to the powers we know as the Four Winds. We hear their voices in the movingair as they refresh us and purify the air we breathe. They help to bring the change of seasons.

From the four directions they come, bringing us messages and giving us strength. With one mind,we send our greetings and thanks to the Four Winds.


The Thunderers

Now we turn to the west where our Grandfathers, the Thunder Beings, live. With lightning andthundering voices, they bring with them the water that renews life. We bring our minds together as

one to send greetings and thanks to our Grandfathers, the Thunderers.



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The Sun

We now send greetings and thanks to our eldest Brother, the Sun. Each day without fail he travelsthe sky from east to west, bringing the light of a new day. He is the source of all the fires of life.

With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Brother, the Sun.


Grandmother Moon

We put our minds together and give thanks to our oldest grandmother, the Moon, who lights thenight-time sky. She is the leader of women all over the world, and she governs the movement ofthe ocean tides. By her changing face we measure time, and it is the Moon who watches over the

arrival of children here on Earth. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to ourGrandmother, the Moon.


The Stars

We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewelry. We see them in the night,helping the Moon to light the darkness and bringing dew to the gardens and growing things.

When we travel at night, they guide us home. With our minds gathered together as one, we sendgreetings and thanks to all the Stars.


The Enlightened Teachers

We gather our minds to greet and thank the enlightened Teachers who have come to helpthroughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were

instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caringTeachers.


The Creator

Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for thegifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all thelove that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of

greetings and thanks to the Creator.


Closing Words

We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named, itwas not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each

individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.


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Web Design by Barbara Gray (Kanatiiosh)Copyright 2001-2006 Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force (HETF). All rights reserved.


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Gratitude Practice

* Write for a copy of "The Thanksgiving Prayer"*

* Make a selection of 6 of these life forms (e.g., Sun, Waters, Fish, Plants)

* Get everybody into small groups of 3 or 4 people

* Leader reads one thanksgiving greeting: For example: "We give thanks to all the

Waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life.

We know its power in many forms--waterfall and rain, mists and streams, rivers and

oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of Water."

* Then, in the small groups, each person describes one precious thing that they cherish

about that life form, sharing how they experience it and what it means to them.

* The sharing is done popcorn style (in no particular order) within the group.

* When all have had a chance to speak (3 minutes should be enough) everyone repeats

together the traditional words: "And now our minds are one."

* After a pause, go on to the next life form, and repeat all steps.

*Originally published as Thanksgiving Address: Greetings to the Natural World by

The Tracking Project, P.O. Box 266, Corrales, NM 87048.

Often we let our perceptions of the powers of others make us feel inadequate. Alongside an eloquent

colleague, we can feel inarticulate; in the presence of an athlete we can feel weak and clumsy; and we can

come to resent both ourself and the other person. In the light of the Great Ball of Merit, however, the gifts

and good fortunes of others appear not as competing challenges, but as resources we can honor and take

pleasure in. We can learn to play detective, spying out treasures for the enhancement of life from even the

unlikeliest material. Like air, and sun, and water, they form part of our common good.

In addition to releasing us from the mental cramp of envy, this spiritual offers two other rewards. One is

pleasure in our own acuity, as our merit-detecting ability improves. The second is the response of others who,

though ignorant of the game we are playing, sense something in our manner that invites them to disclose more

of the person they can be.

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LEARNING TO SEE EACH OTHER

This exercise is derived from the Buddhist practice of the Brahma-viharas, also known as the Four Abodes of

the Buddha, which are loving-kindness, compassion, joy in the joy of others, and equanimity. Adapted for use

interactively in a social context, it helps us to see each other more truly and experience the depths of our

interconnections.

In workshops I offer this as a guided meditation with participants sitting face to face in pairs or pausing to

meet each other silently as they move about the room. At its close, I encourage them to proceed to use all or

any portion of it, as they go about their daily lives. It is an excellent antidote to boredom, when our eye falls

on another person, say on the subway or in a check-out line. It charges that an movement with beauty and

discovery. It also is useful when dealing with people whom we are tempted to disregard or dislike; it breaks

open our accustomed ways of viewing them. When used like this, as a meditation-in-action, one does not, of

course, gaze long and deeply into the other's eyes, as in the guided exercise. A seemingly casual glance is

enough.

The guided group form goes like this:

Behold each other silently and relax. Take a couple of deep breaths, centering yourself and releasing any

tension...If you feel discomfort or an urge to laugh or look away, just note that gently with patience, and

return your attention, when you can, to the living presence of this being. He or she is unique, different from

anyone who has ever lived, or will live…

As you behold this person, open your awareness to the powers that are there...to their gifts and strengths

and the potentialities. In this being are unmeasurable reserves of courage and intelligence...of patience,

endurance, wit and wisdom...There are gifts there, of which this person her/ himself may be as yet

unaware...Consider what these powers could do for the healing of our planet, if they were to be believed

and acted on. As you consider that, feel your desire that this person be free from fear...Experience how

much you want her/him to be free from greed, released from hatred and from sorrow and from the causes of

suffering… Know that what you are now experiencing is the great loving-kindness…

Now, as you behold this person, open your awareness to the pain they have known… Here, as in all human

lives, there are sorrows, disappointments, failures and losses, loneliness, abuse... There are hurts this

person may never have told to another living being… As you open to their suffering, you know that you

cannot remove it. You are not that powerful. But you can be with it. As you experience your readiness to be

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with the pain of another, know that what you are experiencing is the great compassion... It is excellent for

the healing of our world…

Now, as you take in the presence of this person, consider how good it would be to work together--on a joint

project, toward a common goal... Imagine what it would be like…planning, conspiring, taking risks

together... each helping the other find their strength and creativity, celebrating the successes, consoling

each other over the setbacks, forgiving each other when you make mistakes...and simply being there for

each other… As you open to that possibility, what you open to is the great wealth: the pleasure in each

other's powers, the joy in each other's joy…

Lastly, let your awareness drop deep within you like a stone, sinking below the level of what words can

express, to the vast currents of relationship that underlie all experience. It is the web of life that supports

and interweaves our lives through all space and time...See the being before you as if seeing the face of one

who, at another time, another place, was your lover or your enemy, your parent or your child… And now

you meet again on this brink of time...And you know your lives are as inextricably interwoven as nerve cells

in the mind of a great being… Out of that vast net you cannot fall. No stupidity or failure or cowardice can

ever sever you from that living web, because, you see, that is what you are… Rest in that knowing. That is

the Great Peace. Out of it you can act, you can risk anything...and let every encounter be a homecoming to

your true nature...Indeed it is so.

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BOWING TO OUR ADVERSARIES

Purpose and background

As we go forth for the healing of our world, there are forces and institutions which we will and must

challenge. The men and women who serve these structures will appear as our opponents. Here is a formal

group practice which helps to free us from fear and illwill toward such persons, and to ground us in an

all-embracing compassion.

Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh encourages his students to express their respect, gratitude, and goodwill

by the act of bowing. Because some Westerners are uncomfortable with notion of bowing, he calls it

"Touching the Earth"--for their elders and teachers, the Buddha Dharma and the spiritual community, their

original faith traditions, their ancestors, their homeplace on the planet. This particular practice for honoring

our adversaries was composed by an ordained senior member of his Order of Interbeing, Caitriona Reed.

Description

Everyone stands with enough room in front of them to kneel and touch the ground with hands and forehead.

If there is an altar or emblem, like an Earth flag, they can be facing it. The guide reads the text aloud, pausing

after each paragraph, at which point everyone (guide included) "touches the Earth"--putting knees, hands,

and then head to the floor. Ten paragraphs, ten bows. Some may prefer to do a full prostration; others may

choose to abstain from the practice and just listen from the sidelines. Be sure they feel comfortable in doing

so. Maintain a slow, unhurried pace throughout.

Text

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THE SHAMBHALA PROPHECY

Coming to us across twelve centuries, the prophecy about the coming of the Shambhala

warriors illustrates the challenges we face in the Great Turning and the strengths we can

bring to it. Joanna learned it in 1980 from Tibetan friends in India, who were coming to

believe that this ancient prophecy referred to this very planet-time. She often recounts it

in workshops, for the signs it foretold are recognizable now, signs of great danger.

There are varying interpretations of this prophecy. Some portray the coming of the

kingdom of Shambhala as an internal event, a metaphor for one's inner spiritual journey

independent of the world around us. Others present it as an entirely external event that

will unfold independent of what we may choose to do or what our participation may be in

the healing of our world. A third version of the prophecy was given to Joanna by her

friend and teacher Ven. Dugu Choegyal Rinpoche of the Tashi Jong community in

northern India.

There comes a time when all life on Earth is in danger. Great barbarian powers have

arisen. Although these powers spend their wealth in preparations to annihilate one

another, they have much in common: weapons of unfathomable destructive power, and

technologies that lay waste our world. In this era, when the future of sentient life hangs

by the frailest of threads, the kingdom of Shambhala emerges.

You cannot go there, for it is not a place; it is not a geopolitical entity. It exists in the

hearts and minds of the Shambhala warriors—that is the term Choegyal used, "warriors."

Nor can you recognize a Shambhala warrior when you see her or him, for they wear no

uniforms or insignia, and they carry no banners. They have no barricades on which to

climb to threaten the enemy, or behind which they can hide to rest or regroup. They do

not even have any home turf. Always they must move on the terrain of the barbarians

themselves.

Now the time comes when great courage—moral and physical courage—is required

of the Shambhala warriors, for they must go into the very heart of the barbarian power,

into the pits and pockets and citadels where the weapons are kept, to dismantle them. To

dismantle weapons, in every sense of the word, they must go into the corridors of power

where decisions are made.

The Shambhala warriors have the courage to do this because they know that these

weapons are manomaya. They are "mind-made." Made by the human mind, they can be

unmade by the human mind. The Shambhala warriors know that the dangers threatening

life on Earth are not visited upon us by any extraterrestrial power, satanic deities, or

preordained evil fate. They arise from our own decisions, our own lifestyles, and our own

relationships.

So in this time, the Shambhala warriors go into training. When Choegyal said this,

Joanna asked, "How do they train?" They train, he said, in the use of two weapons. "What

weapons?" And he held up his hands in the way the Iamas hold the ritual objects of dorje

and bell in the lama dance.

The weapons are compassion and insight. Both are necessary, he said. You have to

have compassion because it gives you the juice, the power, the passion to move. It means

not to be afraid of the pain of the world. Then you can open to it, step forward, act. But

that weapon by itself is not enough. It can burn you out, so you need the other—you need

insight into the radical interdependence of all phenomena. With that wisdom you know

that it is not a battle between "good guys" and "bad guys," because the line between good

and evil runs through the landscape of every human heart. With insight into our profound

inter-relatedness—our deep ecology—you know that actions undertaken with pure intent

have repercussions throughout the web of life, beyond what you can measure or discern.

By itself, that insight may appear too cool, too conceptual, to sustain you and keep you

moving, so you need the heat of compassion. Together these two can sustain us as agents

of wholesome change. They are gifts for us to claim now in the healing of our world.

These two weapons of the Shambhala warrior represent two essential aspects of the

Work that Reconnects. One is the recognition and experience of our pain for the world.

The other is the recognition and experience of our radical, empowering

interconnectedness with all life.

(scriptural source: the Kalachakra Tantra, 8th century AD)

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The Holonic Shift and How to Take Part in It

All living systems--be they organic like cell or human body, or supra-organic like a

society or ecosystem--are holons. That means they have a dual nature: They are both

wholes in themselves and, simultaneously, integral parts of larger wholes.

In this step-wise organization of living systems, emergence is a universal and striking

feature. At each holonic level new proper-ties and new possibilities emerge, which could

not have been predicted. From the respective qualities of oxygen and hydrogen, for

example, you would never guess the properties that emerge when they interact to make

water.

From the systems perspective, mind or consciousness arises by virtue of feedback loops

that permit living systems to self-correct, adapt and evolve. Self-reflexive consciousness

seems to emerge only at the level of humans and some other large-brained mammals.

Here the system's internal complexity is so great that it can no longer meet its needs by

trial and error. It needs to evolve another level of awareness in order to weigh different

courses of action; it needs, in other words, to make choices. Decision-making brings

about self-reflexivity.

Self-reflexive consciousness does not characterize the next holonic level, the level of

social systems. In tightly-knit organizations with strong allegiances, one can sense an

"esprit de corps" or group mind, but this mentality is still too weak and too loose for

direct response on its own behalf. The locus of decision-making remains within the

individual, susceptible to all the vagaries of what that individual considers to be of "self-

interest". Yet might not survival pressures engender a collective level of self-interest in

choice-making--in other words self-reflexivity on the next holonic level?

Fearful of fascism, we might well reject any idea of collective consciousness. It is

important, therefore, to remember that genuine, systemic self-organizing requires

diversity of parts. A monolith of uniformity has no internal intelligence. As systems

thinker Katl Deutsch pointed out, healthy social systems require a plurality of views and

the free circulation of information. The holonic shift would not sacrifice, but instead

requires, the uniqueness of each part and of its point of view.

It seems that such a holonic shift is necessary for our survival. Since Earth's carrying

capacity is limited, and since the ecosystems supporting us are threatened with collapse,

we must learn to think together in an integrated, synergistic fashion, rather than in

fragmented and competitive ways. Present modes of collective decision-making appear to

be too slow and too corruptible for the immediate, responsive self-guidance that is now

required.

What are the ways that we can help? How can we as individuals promote a holonic shift

and take part in it? The following guidelines are composed in collaboration with my

colleagues in deep ecology work, and are offered to invite further collaboration.

1. Attune to a common intention. This intention is not a goal or plan that you can

formulate with precision. It is an open-ended aim: May we meet common needs and

collaborate in new ways.

2. Welcome diversity. Self-organization of the whole requires differentiation of the parts.

Each one's role in this unfolding journey is unique.

3. Know that only the whole can repair itself. You cannot "fix" the world, but you can

take part in its self-healing. Healing wounded relationships within you and between you

is integral to the healing of our world.

4. You are only a small part of a much larger process, like a nerve cell in a neural net. So

learn trust. Trust means taking part and taking risks, when you cannot control, or even

see, the outcome.

5. Open to flows of information from the larger system. Do not resist painful information

about the condition of your world, but understand that your suffering for the world

springs from interconnectedness, and unblocks feedback that is important to the well-

being of the whole.

6. Speak the truth of your experience of this world. If you have persistent responses to

present conditions, assume that they are shared by others. Willing to drop old answers

and old roles, give voice to the questions that arise in you.

7. Believe no one who claims to have the final answer. Such claims are a sign of

ignorance and limited self-interest.

8. Work increasingly in teams or joint projects serving common intentions. Build

community through shared tasks and rituals.

9. Be generous with your strengths and skills, they are not your private property. They

grow from being shared. They include both your knowing and your unknowing, and the

gifts you accept from the ancestors and all beings.

10. Draw forth the strengths of others by your own acknowledgment of them. Never

prejudge what a person can contribute, but be ready for surprise and fresh forms of

synergy.

11. You do not need to see the results of your work. Your actions have unanticipated and

far-reaching effects that may not he visible to you in your lifetime.

12. Putting forth great effort, let there also be serenity in all your doing; for you are held

within the web of life, within flows of energy and intelligence far exceeding your own.

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Do seven questions:

1) What would you do for the Great Turning if all obstacles were removed?

2) What do you actually intend to accomplish in a year's time?

3) What inner and outer assets do you have (Assets, Skills, Talents, etc...)?

4) What resources do you need?

5) What obstacles might you throw in the way to stop yourself?

6) How will you avoid or overcome them?

7) What step can you take in the next week?

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