UP #87: Navigating an Altered Planet with Grace with Deb Gleason and Gigi Hoeller

The Unplug Podcast: Activated Living for Truth Seekers and Critical Thinkers in a Collapsing World

Escalating problems in today’s‚ world are cause for great concern. From war and terrorism to factory farming and heart disease. There’s no question that something has gone seriously awry with species homo sapien. But perhaps the most frightening problem threatening the very fabric of life on planet Earth is climate change. Decades of warnings have fallen on deaf ears and what was once totally avoidable, is no more. The stark reality is that we now live on a very sick planet. Sadly, this dismal reality gains little media traction because it can’t seem to hold it’s weight against Canada’s “sexy” new Prime Minister or Donald Trump’s latest xenophobic slur.

So what is this really telling us? It’s telling us that the greatest crisis of our time is the crisis of consciousness that has separated us from the web of life.

Author Mary Pipher writes in her book The Green Boat, “Humans have spent 95% of our history as hunter-gatherers and we are still hardwired for this life. We are built to find food and shelter, reproduce, spot nearby dangers, and enjoy being with others. It’s almost impossible for us to grasp problems on a global scale with our Neolithic brains.” In other words, with the Neolithic consciousness perpetuated by the status quo, ignorance and denial are so much easier than facing up to the collective transformation required to get us out of this mess.

But here’s the deal, we can’t solve a problem that we refuse to discuss. We must break the spell of silence, feel the overwhelming grief that comes from losing what we love, and wake up to the radical actions required to transform this world.

Buddhist scholar and environmental activist Joanna Macy speaks of three cultural stories currently playing out:

1) The Story of Separation: This is the story that has removed humanity from the web of life. It’s a story of great ignorance that has us blindly carrying on with our consumptive, destructive ways.

2) The Great Unravelling: This is the story of breakdown that we are witnessing as antiquated cultural systems break apart. It is also the story of mass species extinction, ecosystem failure, and runaway climate change.

3) The Great Turning: This is the story that will transform our world. It is the shift in consciousness that is happening at an accelerated grassroots level where the patriarchal love of power is being transformed by the power of love. This love is balanced in wholeness and fueled by soulful activism, passion, resilience, simplicity, compassion, community, collaboration, creativity, and cocreation. It is the recognition that the time of the lone wolf is over and that we must work together in unity to create the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.

The Great Turning is a powerful grassroots movement that is eluding the radar of mainstream culture because it has no leader and it isn’t visible as a single identifiable entity. Yet it’s laying the foundation for a new cultural nervous system based on our sacred connection to life.

To plug ourselves back into the web of life, we must remember that we are not humanity protecting the animals, the rainforest, the ocean, and the earth. We are the animals, the rainforest, the ocean, and the earth protecting themselves through our unique piece of autonomous humanity.

By falling deeply in love with the Earth, we reclaim our primal, nurturing instinct and become the force of nature that this world so desperately needs.

By choosing the story of The Great Turning, we become integral players in a grassroots revolution that will revive the pulse of the Earth. And as Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

With our every word, choice, thought, and action, we have the power to heal or harm the world. We become Earth ambassadors every time we pick up litter from the beach,