With the chaotic effects of global climate change impacting life around the Earth, it is clear that radical change is upon us, along with the suffering such change can bring. It looks likely that we face years of intermingled catastrophes: natural disasters, extinction of untold numbers of species, scarcity of clean water, collapse of oil-dependent economies, desperate military interventions, and the likelihood of more nuclear disasters contaminating the entire planet with radioactivity. Meanwhile, white people in the USA are waking up to the deeply embedded systemic racism in our culture. David Korten calls this collapse of our unsustainable economic, political, social, and energy systems, “the Great Unraveling.”
The underlying cause of these crises has to do with our consciousness, our most essential understanding of who we are as humans. It has to do with the stories we tell ourselves about our relationships with one another and with Earth and its myriad life forms.
Choosing the Story We Want for Our World
By Molly Brown and Joanna Macy This is an expanded version of the “3 Stories” described in Coming Back to Life (2014 edition), p. 5 We thank the following people for their help with this revision: Patricia St Onge, Sarah Thompson, Kurt Kuhwald, and Aryeh Shell.
It is deep in the human psyche and the vast panoply of human cultures to tell ourselves stories about our world. A story is the lens by which a group interprets and controls its experience, creating meaning according to the values its members hold and most deeply believe. A story may be largely unconscious and unquestioned, and even assumed to be the only reality, although no story is inherently complete. We authors recognize three stories commonly held in the industrialized world today: Business as Usual, the Great Unraveling, and the Great Turning. All three are boiled-down simplifications of global realities. Nevertheless, taken together, they can offer a useful perspective on the values and beliefs prevalent in the world today. We have found it helpful in workshops to present these three stories as all happening right now; in that sense, they are all “true.” Looking through the lenses of these stories can strengthen our understanding of today’s social, political, and economic dynamics, as well as our commitment to collective liberation and the living Earth.
1. Business As Usual is the story of the Industrial Growth Society, and the European-based colonial empires from which it emerged. It is the dominant enforcing mechanism of a predatory capitalist, imperialist economic system (in other words, the corporate financial military industrial complex) that perpetuates patriarchy and white supremacy for the profit and power of a few. Many people caught up in the Industrial Growth Society assume this story to be the only reality. The defining premise, which we hear from politicians, corporations, corporate-controlled media, and the military, is that there is little need to change the way we in the industrialized world live. The central plot is about getting ahead and competing for profit and power by “growing the economy.” Economic recessions, extreme weather conditions, and social unrest are just temporary difficulties from which mainstream society will surely recover and from which corporations can benefit. This story functions to maintain the power and privilege of “the 1%” while legitimizing the impoverishment and disempowerment of everyone else. From its beginnings in England three centuries ago, the Industrial Revolution was funded by the enslaving and trafficking of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean, and further enabled by the theft of land and life of indigenous peoples in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Business as Usual discredits the essential labor that enslaved and colonized peoples have contributed to the apparent success of industrialized world, even as it has destroyed their lives, freedom, and cultures.
2. The Great Unraveling is the story told by scientists, journalists, and activists who have not been bought off or intimidated. Drawing attention to the disasters caused by Business As Usual, their accounts give evidence of the on-going derangement and collapse of biological, ecological, economic, and social systems. The Great Unraveling may be more apparent today, because of the accelerating rate of change and technological advances in communication, but the living systems of Earth have been unraveling for generations–and under colonial expansion and rule, indigenous, brown, black, and impoverished communities have carried the weight of the unraveling for centuries. Refineries, mines, and toxic waste have been sited in and near their communities, with direct and lethal impacts on the health of the people. Now the climate itself is unraveling world-wide and the sixth great extinction of species is underway. Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and wildfires, amplified by global warming, leave millions of people without shelter, food, or potable water. Bee colonies are collapsing. Whole ecosystems are being destroyed. Military operations and conflicts, as well as famine and drought, drive staggering numbers of refugees to flee for their lives across borders, often to be turned away, incarcerated, enslaved, or consigned to refugee camps for years on end. Systemic racism and long-standing cultural and religious enmities flare up, taking an immeasurable toll in human suffering.
3. The story of a Great Turning we hear from some who see the Great Unraveling and don’t want it to have the last word. It involves the emergence of new and creative human responses, as well as a reawakening of sustainable indigenous traditions, that propel the transition from the Industrial Growth Society to a Life Sustaining Society. Attitudes shift from exploitation to respect, from extraction to regeneration, from competition to cooperation. More and more of us come to see how we are interwoven together as peoples, and that solidarity with one another is a way through these crises. So we join together to act for the sake of life on Earth. Let us gratefully acknowledge the wisdom of the traditions that came before us, and are re-emerging today, bearing strong witness to the interconnectedness of all life. Let us also borrow the perspective of future generations and, in that larger context of time, look at how this Great Turning is gaining momentum, accelerated by the choices of countless individuals as they band together in networks and campaigns all over the world. We can see this happening simultaneously in three areas or dimensions that are mutually reinforcing: 1) actions to resist and slow down the damage to Earth and all its beings; 2) analysis and transformation of the socio-economic foundations of our common life; and 3) a perceptual, cognitive, and moral shift to biocentric values and world views that affirm our human responsibility to life in all its richness and diversity and to future generations. Many people are engaged in all three dimensions of this Great Turning, all of which are necessary for the creation of a life-sustaining and just society.
It is deep in the human psyche and the vast panoply of human cultures to tell ourselves stories about our world. A story is the lens by which a group interprets and controls its experience, creating meaning according to the values its members hold and most deeply believe. A story may be largely unconscious and unquestioned, and even assumed to be the only reality, although no story is inherently complete. We authors recognize three stories commonly held in the industrialized world today: Business as Usual, the Great Unraveling, and the Great Turning. All three are boiled-down simplifications of global realities. Nevertheless, taken together, they can offer a useful perspective on the values and beliefs prevalent in the world today. We have found it helpful in workshops to present these three stories as all happening right now; in that sense, they are all “true.” Looking through the lenses of these stories can strengthen our understanding of today’s social, political, and economic dynamics, as well as our commitment to collective liberation and the living Earth.
1. Business As Usual is the story of the Industrial Growth Society, and the European-based colonial empires from which it emerged. It is the dominant enforcing mechanism of a predatory capitalist, imperialist economic system (in other words, the corporate financial military industrial complex) that perpetuates patriarchy and white supremacy for the profit and power of a few. Many people caught up in the Industrial Growth Society assume this story to be the only reality. The defining premise, which we hear from politicians, corporations, corporate-controlled media, and the military, is that there is little need to change the way we in the industrialized world live. The central plot is about getting ahead and competing for profit and power by “growing the economy.” Economic recessions, extreme weather conditions, and social unrest are just temporary difficulties from which mainstream society will surely recover and from which corporations can benefit. This story functions to maintain the power and privilege of “the 1%” while legitimizing the impoverishment and disempowerment of everyone else. From its beginnings in England three centuries ago, the Industrial Revolution was funded by the enslaving and trafficking of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean, and further enabled by the theft of land and life of indigenous peoples in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Business as Usual discredits the essential labor that enslaved and colonized peoples have contributed to the apparent success of industrialized world, even as it has destroyed their lives, freedom, and cultures.
2. The Great Unraveling is the story told by scientists, journalists, and activists who have not been bought off or intimidated. Drawing attention to the disasters caused by Business As Usual, their accounts give evidence of the on-going derangement and collapse of biological, ecological, economic, and social systems. The Great Unraveling may be more apparent today, because of the accelerating rate of change and technological advances in communication, but the living systems of Earth have been unraveling for generations–and under colonial expansion and rule, indigenous, brown, black, and impoverished communities have carried the weight of the unraveling for centuries. Refineries, mines, and toxic waste have been sited in and near their communities, with direct and lethal impacts on the health of the people. Now the climate itself is unraveling world-wide and the sixth great extinction of species is underway. Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and wildfires, amplified by global warming, leave millions of people without shelter, food, or potable water. Bee colonies are collapsing. Whole ecosystems are being destroyed. Military operations and conflicts, as well as famine and drought, drive staggering numbers of refugees to flee for their lives across borders, often to be turned away, incarcerated, enslaved, or consigned to refugee camps for years on end. Systemic racism and long-standing cultural and religious enmities flare up, taking an immeasurable toll in human suffering.
3. The story of a Great Turning we hear from some who see the Great Unraveling and don’t want it to have the last word. It involves the emergence of new and creative human responses, as well as a reawakening of sustainable indigenous traditions, that propel the transition from the Industrial Growth Society to a Life Sustaining Society. Attitudes shift from exploitation to respect, from extraction to regeneration, from competition to cooperation. More and more of us come to see how we are interwoven together as peoples, and that solidarity with one another is a way through these crises. So we join together to act for the sake of life on Earth. Let us gratefully acknowledge the wisdom of the traditions that came before us, and are re-emerging today, bearing strong witness to the interconnectedness of all life. Let us also borrow the perspective of future generations and, in that larger context of time, look at how this Great Turning is gaining momentum, accelerated by the choices of countless individuals as they band together in networks and campaigns all over the world. We can see this happening simultaneously in three areas or dimensions that are mutually reinforcing: 1) actions to resist and slow down the damage to Earth and all its beings; 2) analysis and transformation of the socio-economic foundations of our common life; and 3) a perceptual, cognitive, and moral shift to biocentric values and world views that affirm our human responsibility to life in all its richness and diversity and to future generations. Many people are engaged in all three dimensions of this Great Turning, all of which are necessary for the creation of a life-sustaining and just society.
The Great Turning
Today we face the unprecedented challenges of global climate disruption, gross economic inequality, systemic racism, over-population, international financial breakdown, potential epidemics, rising seas, droughts and famine, power-outages, and spiraling fuel costs—with no place to move to, no place to hide. Our life support systems on planet Earth appear gravely imperiled, perhaps beyond repair.
How shall we live in such a world? How can we preserve and renew our life support systems—physical, social, and spiritual—in the face of such colossal peril? Nothing less than a “Great Turning” in the way we think, do business, and go about our lives can save us, a Great Turning to a truly life-sustaining society. Joanna Macy has identified three mutually reinforcing dimensions of the Great Turning. The first two refer to work-in-the-world: 1) front-line actions to slow the damage to Earth and its beings; and 2) understanding the economic and social systems that perpetrate the damage, and generating healthier systems that support life. The third dimension includes psychological and spiritual practices that can bring about a shift in our world-view and values. That shift can connect us with strength, love, and courage for the challenges before us. (An inspiring documentary, “Joanna Macy and the Great Turning,” is available here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/greatturning/90774082.) Many of us today are engaged in at least one of these dimensions, if not all three. We can see this Great Turning happening within and around us everywhere today. We see a worldwide awakening of concern for the planetary environment, with documentary and feature films on the subject becoming box-office successes. Many young people especially have taken up the cause of defending the environment from destruction. Yet the crisis seems only to intensify, and we face the real possibility that our civilization will not survive. Although the outcome of the Great Turning remains uncertain, it will surely fail if we ignore the problems—or just give up. Each of us may already be contributing to this Great Turning in large and small ways, perhaps some we don’t even recognize. We feel empowered when we connect with our desire to serve the greater good, and acknowledge the ways we are already serving, in one or more of these dimensions. It is also helpful to see how our individual actions are part of a larger movement; no one of us—nor even a small group of us—can transform the world single-handed! We are all in this together. And, as Sarah Thompson reminds us, we are all in it differently.