Joanna Macy on the Great Turning

Video (trailer) via https://vimeo.com/ondemand/greatturning?

Description

“This is a 26-minute film in which 84-year-old Joanna eco-philosopher Macy shares her understanding of these times we live in, when everything we treasure seems to be at risk. But it is not a film about despair. Instead, it is about the opportunity we have to come alive to our truest power, to "look straight into the face of our time, which is the biggest gift we can give," and to participate in the Great Turning.

What is the Great Turning? It is, as Joanna describes it, the shift from the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization. It is, she believes, the third major revolution of human existence, after the agricultural and industrial revolutions. This one, though, has to unfold much more quickly. The good news is that it is, all around the world.

“The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth,” says Joanna, “Is not that we are on the way to destroying the world — we've actually been on the way for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep, to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and each other.” This is a thoughtful, and ultimately hopeful, film for anyone concerned about the future of life on the planet.

"We imagine they'll look back at us," Joanna says, referring to future generations, "Living in these early years of the third millennium, and say, 'Oh, those ancestors. They were taking part in the Great Turning.'”