Move for Our Living Planet

In 2019, shortly after I started my experiment in Mindful Movement, which at that time involved me doing 350 sun salutations a week for 12 weeks as a way to raise awareness about the climate emergency, a friend responded to one of my posts by saying, “It’s gonna take more than sun salutations and meditation. We need action! The Greta-type action…” At first I was taken back by what felt like an attack on my efforts. However, after some reflection, I realized she was making an important point. In her response, she highlighted many of the “holding actions in defense of life on earth” (Joanna Macy, Molly Brown) that are urgently required. And, I agree “it’s gonna take more than sun salutations and meditation.” I also know that my friend and I both see the value of contemplative practice in activism.

That said, I feel that there is one important point that I’d like to highlight. In addition to “holding actions,” there are two other ways to contribute to what Eco-philosopher and activist Joanna Macy calls “The Great Turning,” the shift from an industrial growth society to a life sustaining civilization, namely “(1) analysis of structural causes of what is happening and the creation of alternative ways, and (2) consciousness work; the shift in the ways we construe the world, ourselves, and how we want to live” (Macy/ Brown). The consciousness work is “the most basic” and it is the level¹ that I am most focused on with Move for Our Living Planet. I’m trying to support the shift from the predominant cultural narrative, the “Story of Separation,” to the emerging “Story of Interbeing” (to use Charles Eisenstein’s terms).

The “Greta-type action” that Greta Thunberg originally took was consciousness work. She challenged the predominant worldview. Her initial School Strike for Climate disrupted the “Story of Separation” because it was rooted in love and compassion for our living planet and only fit with the “Story of Interbeing.” Even today, nothing about Greta fits with the old story. Her entire being and her actions wake us up to the new story. 

I would like to add that I believe that Greta is so effective because she is courageously living her impossible dream. 6 years ago, one could have easily said, “it’s going to take more than a 15 year-old girl sitting outside the Swedish Parliament for 3 weeks with a sign that says “Skolstrejk För Klimatet” to make an impact.” She could have easily been discouraged and thought that her actions wouldn’t make a difference. However, nothing could stop her from taking action. Today, we can marvel at the difference she has made and is making. She certainly didn’t predict that her strike would have this kind of impact. She just hoped that it would have an impact, that it would in some way raise awareness and be of benefit.

As the author, Soul guide and impossible dreamer Bill Plotkin notes, “at this critical hour, any dream worth its salt ought to seem impossible to mainstream society and to the mainstream elements of our own minds.” Albert Einstein made a similar point when he said, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” 

So, yes, we have to do the practical things in our daily lives and collectively, we need the “holding actions” to stop the destruction. And, we have to simultaneously (through these same actions) and through our creative worldview shifting work disrupt the “Story of Separation” and contribute to the “Story of Interbeing.” At this critical hour that means living our impossible dreams. I know my friend would agree. I appreciate her helping me to reflect more deeply on all of this. In some way encouraged me to pursue my own impossible dream.

Photos (top): Michael Hannum. Sunrise before an open water swim in Lake Zurich. (previous page): Lake Zurich, Switzerland.

1. I’m also trying to contribute to The Great Turning with “holding actions” (by supporting ocean conservation campaigns) and “alternative ways” (through conservation, activism, teaching yoga, and Montessori guiding). ↩︎