The Work That Reconnects

Because we hold the future of all life in our hands, through the impacts of our various extraordinarily powerful technologies, we need also to hold, consciously, the future of all life in our hearts, and support one another in taking compassionate action to protect life’s continued unfolding on this planet.

                                                –Dennis Rivers
Why the Work That Reconnects? If you are feeling overwhelmed, helpless, burnt out, or lonely in your love and concern for our world, the Work That Reconnects will be medicine for your soul. If you are actively working for a sane and livable world, you’ll find inspiration and support and perhaps more of your tribe. The Work That Reconnects is a transformational body of theory and practice, helping people move from a sense of isolation to a sense of participation in the web of life,  from doubting their own wisdom to recognizing their unique gifts, and from inaction to action in harmony with those gifts.

The central purpose of the Work That Reconnects is to bring people into new relationship with their world, to empower them to take part in The Great Turning, and to reclaim their lives from corporate rule. In order to do this, the Work That Reconnects:

  • provides perspectives and practices drawn from systems science, Deep Ecology and spiritual traditions that reveal our interbeing through space and time.
  • reframes our pain for the world as evidence of our mutual belonging and hence our power to take action on behalf of life.
  •  awakens stamina and buoyancy to live with full awareness of both the Great Turning and the Great Unraveling, and to embrace the uncertainty.
  • awakens us to the systemic injustice, racism, and oppression of the Industrial Growth Society, and generates our commitment to transform all our institutions for the benefit of all humans of all skin colors, ancestries, cultures, religions, gender identities, and histories.
  • affirms that our intention to act for the sake of all present and future beings, and to become allies to all oppressed or marginalized people, can become organizing principles of our lives.
  • helps us identify the strengths and resources we can mobilize in our commitment to the self-healing of the world.
  • presents The Great Turning as a challenge that every one of us, in collaboration with others, is fully capable of meeting in our own distinctive ways.

“Gratitude and Grief for Our World,” in the Essay section of this web site, conveys some of the philosophy behind the Work That Reconnects.

Visit the Work That Reconnects website for more information, events, blogs, and more: https://workthatreconnects.org/

Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects, by Joanna Macy and Molly Brown, describes the theory and practice of this work in depth. (New Society Publishers, 2014).  A selection from the book (revised) appears here: Three Stories of Our Time.

Deep Times: A Journal of the Work That Reconnects

For an excellent new article by Chris Johnstone (co-author with Joanna Macy of Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy) click here.  I also highly recommend the book Active Hope.

Workshops

Artwork by Dori Midnight

Introductory evenings, one or two day workshops, and week-long retreats, are often sponsored by faith, peace, environmental, and/or professional organizations.  Facilitators who have worked intensively with Joanna Macy (including Molly Brown) are available all over the world.  Workshops are highly experiential and tailored to the needs of each group.  However, no matter what the setting and time frame, the Work proceeds through a Spiral: from gratitude, to honoring our pain for the world, to seeing with new/ancient eyes, to going forth in service to the world (according to ones own life situation, resources, and gifts).  This spiral of work cycles through these four stages, each time at a new level of experience and insight.

This progression allows us to open our hearts to our love for our world and to safely express our grief, fear, and rage about what’s happening to it as well as our passion for justice. We deepen our understanding of our relationship to one another, to other beings in the web of life, to the past and future.  We renew and enliven our commitment to serve the healing and well-being of the living Earth and all its species (including our own).  We then go forth with plans and passion for building a sustainable, just culture. Practices include deep dialogue, meditations, dyads and small group interactions, time outdoors to reconnect with the natural world, art, music, and movement, along with presentations and conversations on concepts such as systems thinking, deep ecology, the state of the world, and the “Great Turning” to a life-sustaining culture.

Here are links to information about Molly Brown’s workshops in the Work That Reconnects, and about the 6 month Spiral Journey Work That Reconnects Facilitator Development Program.  Check the Calendar for upcoming workshops and retreats.

For more information about the Work That Reconnects around the world, visit: https://workthatreconnects.org/.  Here you can read the latest issue of Deep Times – A Journal of the Work That Reconnects, edited by Molly Brown.  You can also view a complete video presentation of a teaching workshop with Joanna Macy in the Resources section.