As the root teacher, still vigorous in my eighties and exhilarated with this life path, I am delighted to welcome you to the Work That Reconnects website. I have long desired a place for the growing numbers of people whose lives have been changed by this work and who want to connect and collaborate in taking it forward. Here you will be reminded and refreshed to read the essential foundations and features of this work, as well as find out where things are happening and who is facilitating.
I am regularly asked by people how they can learn to facilitate the Work That Reconnects. Since I have made it available to everyone, certain guidelines are all the more important. Here are some things I have grown to see are essential:
- Know Your Roots Steep yourself in the world view that animates this work. New paradigm thinking from science and spiritual traditions that are essential to this work are distilled in my books and especially in the first four chapters of Coming Back to Life, as well as in World As Lover, World As Self and Mutual Causality.
- Listen to the People In the Work That Reconnects, you are inviting people to speak the truth of their experience on an endangered planet. In so doing, they open themselves to the grief of our world and the intelligence of Earth. You can trust that. This elicits your respect; there is no need to fix, preach or comfort.
- Stick with the Spiral Recognize and follow the power of the Spiral as it moves through its four stages
- Honor the Source and Pay it Forward As with anything you have learned from another tradition or body of work, you will want for the sake of your own integrity to attribute it explicitly. As with any gift, the gratitude you experience will compel you to share this work with others.
- Know How It Works Before You Change It I love the way the practices of the work can change and become yet more relevant as we face new challenges. Let any changes we make be based on a clear understanding of the original form.
- Do Your Own Work Before You Lead The Work Proceed from an engaged and committed life. Leading this work is not a substitute for your own engagement. Take these Five Vows as your guide:
To commit myself daily to the healing of the world and the welfare of all beings.
To live in Earth more lightly and less violently in the food, products and energy I consume.
To draw strength and guidance from the living Earth, from our ancestors and the future generations, and from our brothers and sisters of all species.
To help others in their work for the world and to ask for help when I feel the need.
To pursue a daily spiritual practice that clarifies my mind, strengthens my heart and supports me in observing these vows.
Additional information and stories about all the dimensions of the Work That Reconnects are still to be found on my website: www.joannamacy.net. These include deep ecology, living systems, engaged buddhism and nuclear guardianship.
Be sure to register your presence and connect with others on this website.
In gladness,
Joanna
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