We Are The Great Turning Joanna Macy & Jessica Serrante

We recorded this conversation just after news broke of the Biden administration’s approval of the controversial Willow Project, opening up millions of wilderness acres in Alaska to new fossil fuel drilling. Jess captured in real time how Joanna processes the fresh outrage and sorrow of this insult to the planet from the very culpable powers that be. It’s a master class in being present with these feelings—feelings that can give rise to determination, courage, and recommitment to our shared purpose.



In this episode:



As the news of the Willow Project breaks, Joanna flows through outrage and sorrow 

The second step on the spiral: what does it mean to honor our pain, and how do we do it?



We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com. 

This bonus episode will support you to take the main insights from Episode 3, “We Begin with Gratitude,” deeper into your life. 



In Episode 3, we talked about how in the Work That Reconnects we always start with gratitude, because it gives us the strength to speak the truth and act in service of life.



Lovingkindness meditation is a simple and powerful way to feel and express our gratitude and love for our world. 



All you need to do this bonus exercise is a quiet place where you can meditate. We hope you’ll do this exercise with someone else, so that you can talk together about your experience after you finish.



We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.



 

When things are at their darkest, what is it that “allows you to see promise and allows you to see beauty?” Joanna begins her exploration of some of the most difficult emotions and circumstances we face in a surprising place: with gratitude. This episode introduces the concept of the spiral, the basic structure of the Work That Reconnects. 



In this episode:



Why it’s necessary to speak our darkest thoughts out loud

How to follow our fear and pain into a state of profound gratitude

The spiral of the Work That Reconnects: gratitude, honoring our pain, seeing with new eyes, and going forth

Bonus Exercise: “Gratitude Meditation”—the first stage on the spiral



We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com. 

This bonus episode will support you to take the main insights from Episode 2, “The Three Stories of Our Time,” deeper into your life. 



In Episode 2, we talked about the three stories of our time: Business as Usual, the Great Unraveling, and the Great Turning. All three stories are true, and we can choose to give ourselves to the Great Turning—to building a more just and life-sustaining society. 



We need inspiring visions for the kind of world we want to live in that can motivate us, move us to action, and so that we know what it looks like to succeed. So, in this bonus episode, we’re going to envision, in detail, what the world might be like if the Great Turning really were the predominant story of our time.



All you need is a quiet place where you can sit and close your eyes. We hope you’ll do this exercise with someone else, so that you can talk together about your experience after you finish. It might also help to have something to write with and on. 



We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com. 

What’s really going on in the world right now? “Business as Usual”—a comforting narrative in which industrial growth and progress overcomes all? “The Great Unraveling” —a planet careening toward inevitable destruction? Joanna‘s work introduces a third story, “The Great Turning”—a paradigm shift on an epic scale, the creation of a just and life-sustaining society. The stakes are high, the outcome uncertain. This conversation invites you to devote yourself to the Great Turning even as you grasp the truth in all three stories. 



In this episode:



Three outlooks on these times: Business as Usual, the Great Unraveling, and the Great Turning

What’s behind all three—how they affect us in conscious and unconscious ways

What the Great Turning means, and how to devote yourself to it

Bonus Exercise: Envisioning the Great Turning



We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com. 

This bonus episode will support you to take the main insights from Episode 1, “Love and Loss,” deeper into your life. Jess will guide you through a simple yet profound exercise called Open Sentences where you’ll be prompted to speak from your heart. It will take about 25 minutes. 



All you’ll need is a friend and a place that is quiet enough for you to speak freely and listen carefully to one another. If that’s not possible and you want to try this alone, you can answer out loud or write the questions in a journal. 



The prompts for this exercise are:



Some things I love about being alive on earth today are…

What breaks my heart about living on earth in this time is… 

If I withhold my feelings about what’s happening in the world right now, I do so because… 

What keeps me going when the world breaks my heart is…



We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com.