When speaking of these parlous times we’re living in, the late, revered activist and teacher Joanna Macy often said: “Don’t let anyone tell you it’s all going to be all right. And don’t let anyone tell you it’s not.”
It certainly seems that the near future won’t be a very beneficent one. Indeed, it’s starting to look like an unavoidable dystopia, with escalating climate chaos and pollution; worsening wars, massacres, genocide, and ecocide worldwide; social and political life becoming increasingly impoverished, boorish and cruel; screen-distracted people feeling ever more alienated and resentful; and a tiny cadre of power-hungry autocrats and ungenerous billionaires controlling almost everything. With all of this looming, it’s hard to conclude that anything will be “all right.”
We know that most human beings everywhere yearn for a future without war, destruction, or deprivation; a future of connection, harmony, and genuine abundance, among humans and on the land. The problem is that we don’t know how to get there from here. [Read more…] about Creating the Future We Yearn For
Climate breakdown. Endless wars. Pervasive misogyny. Grotesque income inequality. Widespread extinctions. And political and corporate leaders worldwide who seem to be committed to perpetuating this dystopian vision.
This is confirmed by both the world’s remaining indigenous peoples, and by researchers in archaeology and anthropology. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors, and the early agriculturists too, had to be observant, attentive, and patient. We can also surmise that those primal peoples felt grateful, even reverent, toward the land, plants, and animals that gave them life. We know that they expressed this reverence through an enormous variety of earth-centered spiritual practices. The most enduring of these still survive today. From the beautiful annual cycles of dance and ritual performed in the Native Pueblos of the American Southwest, to the simplicity of Scottish and Irish country people putting out milk for the faeries, ancestral veneration of the natural world and its gifts is still being expressed around the globe in ways both large and small. 
As the days shorten and the fruitful darkness of winter approaches, Gaia’s Blog is entering a time of renewal and growing relevance. My own thinking about Gaia and humanity—where we are now, and where we need to go—has become clearer and more incisive. And also more hopeful—which might be surprising, considering the state of the world right now.