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August 2, 2025 – Margaret Wheatley defines sanity as anything that is life-affirming, creative and generative. Insanity is anything that destroys life and the possibility for its continuance. As we witness destruction for the sake of profit, we are being called to move through past despair so we can become available to truly care for life and each other in the face of existential adversity.
We are being called to turn toward each other and to create Islands of Sanity – cohesive conscious communities of humans who recognize that we cannot survive the incoming tsunamis of insanity on our own. Islands of Sanity require healthy relationships and staying together as the only way to enliven our interbeing. They act as a refuge that protects ourselves from our typical judgments, filters, and the dehumanization brought from division and oppression. By awakening our human spirit, we bring forth our sanity of kindness, generosity, and creativity. We create these islands not to withdraw in self-protection, but to strengthen ourselves for the work we do in the world.
The Work That Reconnects draws practitioners into foundational practice for times such as these. What we’re facing requires serious work, devotion and commitment. Joanna Macy invites us to remember that we were made for these times. Our gifts are what’s most needed on the planet at this time. How can we know that and engage that knowing in a way that supports the shift from being traumatized, isolated, and apathetic to being available, connected, and empathetic?
Margaret Wheatley, Ed.D. began caring about the world’s peoples in 1966, as a Peace Corps volunteer in post-war Korea. In many different roles – speaker, teacher, consultant, advisor, formal leader – her work has deepened into an unshakable conviction that leaders must learn how to invoke people’s inherent generosity, creativity and need for community. As this world tears us apart, sane leadership on behalf of the human spirit is the only way forward. She is co-founder and president of The Berkana Institute, (www.berkana.org), an organizational consultant since 1973, a global citizen since her youth, and a prolific writer. She has authored thirteen books, starting with the classic Leadership and the New Science. She has been honored for her groundbreaking work by many professional associations, universities, and organizations. To keep up with her current work: www.margaretwheatley.com/currentthinking/
Ways to Connect with Margaret Wheatley:
Resources Shared During the Event:
- Music Shared: Dawn Chorus by Cosmo Sheldrake
- Take Your Seat Practice and other practices fundamental to warrior training
- Joanna Macy’s sharing of the Shambhala Prophecy
- Poem: We Never Know Who We Are by Margaret Wheatley (pdf attached below) Also available in her book of poetry entitled Opening to the World As It Is: Poems of Experience
Gratitude Shared in the Chat: