Ecophilosopher Joanna Macy, PhD, is a scholar of
Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. A respected
voice in movements for peace, justice, and the environment, she
interweaves her scholarship with six decades of activism.
Physician and coach Dr. Chris Johnstone is a
specialist in the psychology of resilience, sustainable happiness,
and positive change.
“Books about social and ecological change too often leave out a
vital component: how do we change ourselves so that we are strong
enough to fully contribute to this great shift? Active Hope fills
this gap beautifully, guiding readers on a journey of gratitude,
grief, interconnection, and, ultimately, transformation.”
— Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything
“Renowned Earth elder Joanna Macy has long exemplified what it
means to live a life of spiritual activism and courageous
compassion. Here, with her colleague Chris Johnstone, she offers
the essential guidebook for everyone awakening to both the perils
and potentials of our planetary moment. In this clearly written and
compelling manual of cultural transformation, Joanna and Chris
guide us to find hope where we might least have thought to look —
within our own hearts and souls, and in our interdependence with
all life — and then to boldly act on that hope as visionary
artisans of life-enhancing cultures. To the future beings of the
twenty-second century, Active Hope might turn out to be the most
important book written in the twenty-first.”
— Bill Plotkin, author of Soulcraft and Nature and the Human
Soul
“Hope without action is naive optimism. Action without hope can
fail because it doesn’t believe in its goals. Active Hope is a
compassionate and wise guide to bringing these forces together to
understand who we are, what we need, and what we are capable of. It
is also a brilliant guide to navigating the relationship between
how we imagine ourselves and the world and what we can do in
it.”
— Rebecca Solnit, author of Men Explain Things to Me and Hope in
the Dark
“This is a powerful book to read in these dark times. Written with
wisdom and passion, it is about balanced compassion and hope, love
and strength, and the will to make a difference. Active Hope is a
brilliant guide to sanity and love.”
— Roshi Joan Halifax, abbot of the Upaya Zen Center
“We belong to the Earth, and our precious living world is in
crisis. More than any book I’ve read, Active Hope shows us the true
dimensions of this crisis, and the way our heart and actions can be
part of the Great Turning toward healing. Please read this book and
share it with others — for your own awakening, for our children,
and for our future.”
— Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance
“Before turning these pages, I was experiencing the total darkness
of a midnight depression. I felt incapable of thinking through,
much less taking, a necessary step in my life. Then I opened to the
pages of Joanna and Chris’s exercise ‘The Bodhisattva Perspective.’
Within minutes, I saw an otherwise inconceivable hope in the
interconnected life I had chosen. It was a simple miracle of
transformed consciousness. Active Hope is not just a book but a
gateway to transformation.”
— James W. Douglass, author of JFK and the Unspeakable
“Given the state of the world, how do we find a truly sane,
effective, and life-affirming response? Joanna Macy, one of the
true wisdom voices of our age, has devoted her life to helping
people find their resilience, their creativity, and their passion
while living with their eyes and hearts open. Her work is powerful,
needed, and lifesaving. If you have despaired for our world, and if
you love life, Active Hope will be for you an extraordinary
blessing.”
— John Robbins, author of Diet for a New America and The Food
Revolution
“There are few guides in our world that are as trustworthy and
brilliant as Joanna Macy! In Active Hope, she and Chris Johnstone
give us not only some very good analysis but also good responses
and practices — in a very readable and engaging style.”
— Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, Center for Action and Contemplation,
Albuquerque, New Mexico
“The response to the profound crisis we are living through needs to
be urgent, appropriate, and driven by possibilities. It must also
be rooted in compassion and a focus on bringing us together in such
a way that we can create anything we set our minds to. It is to
this challenge that Joanna and Chris turn their minds here, and I
for one am deeply grateful for the wisdom they offer us.”
— Rob Hopkins, cofounder of the Transition Network and author of
The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local
Resilience
“Words cannot fully express my gratitude for this book’s appearance
at this time. With ancient wisdom, deep compassion, and years of
experience, Joanna and Chris guide us through this perilous time,
not that we might succeed in saving the world, but that we might
consciously choose to participate, no matter the outcome. This is
the path of right action and right relationship, where joy and
peace are available independent of what’s going on around us. May
we take this beautiful book into our hearts that we may each find
the path with heart.”
— Margaret J. Wheatley, author of Perseverance, Leadership and the
New Science, and other books
“I loved this book. Its brilliance lies in the way it skillfully
addresses and transforms the major limiting beliefs that hold
people back from wholehearted social action, which at its heart
requires that ‘active hope’ be sustained. It then gently, but
inexorably, invites us to participate in the great adventure of our
time of changing the world. Joanna and Chris have laid out a
twenty-first-century spiritual path for deep and soul-filled social
action. Read it and be nourished!”
— David Gershon, author of Social Change 2.0: A Blueprint for
Reinventing Our World and codirector of Empowerment Institute’s
School for Transformative Social Change
“Our species is going through a collective Dark Night of the Soul.
The authors call this the ‘Great Turning,’ and they provide ample
nourishment in the form of concepts and practices that are sure to
help us navigate our way. This book is a lucid, timely, practical,
and very-much-needed gift. With the guidance offered, we learn how
to stay true to our vocations so that neither fear nor despair nor
uncertainty nor opposition defeats us. A welcome manual for
navigating the Dark Night of our species. Most welcome!”
— Matthew Fox, author of The Hidden Spirituality of Men and
Christian Mystics
“Joanna Macy is one of the great teachers of this age. What a
delight, then, to read her latest work, written with medical doctor
and addiction specialist Chris Johnstone. Active Hope helps us to
gaze unflinchingly at the horrors that confront us, to honor the
pain we feel for our world, and to allow the truth to strengthen
rather than paralyze us. It’s hard to think of a more important
task than to empower us ordinary folk with tools that allow us to
engage with the monumental challenges that confront us — tools that
nourish our creativity and bolster our confidence and resilience.
If you want to serve the living Earth but don’t know how, if you
feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task ahead, if you want to
find the part that only you can play in the ‘great work,’ please
read this book.”
— John Seed, OAM, founder of the Rainforest Information Centre
“Active Hope is the Great Turning’s New Testament. It is that
rarity in the literature of self-help that unfolds as if
organically in prose that, like the best sacred writing, induces
the mind shift it encourages. Here are the unflinching diagnosis
and prognosis and widely tested protocol for self-healing and
lifesaving that can help a critical mass of us to recommit to
learning, living, and acting effectively on behalf of Earth’s
beleaguered human and natural communities. Active Hope is laced
with vivid analogies, anecdotes, and opportunities to envision the
world we would wish to leave our children and grandchildren. I
began reading it because I was asked to; I kept reading because I
needed to. For all who are worried for the success of their work in
the sustainability, environmental, new economy, or social justice
movements, this book will be both a guide and a medicine.”
— Ellen LaConte, author of Life Rules: Nature’s Blueprint for
Surviving Economic and Environmental Collapse
“Active Hope offers a way of living creatively in a time of great
challenges, a time when humanity is threatened by ecological,
social, and economic breakdown. Joanna and Chris show us how to
frame our actions so that we can help contribute to the global
movement for a better, more equitable, and ecologically balanced
world. This is a juicy, creative, and powerful book.”
— Maddy Harland, editor of Permaculture magazine,
www.permaculture.co.uk
“Active hope is something you choose, we’re told in this powerful,
inspiring book. Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone offer not just an
antidote to despair but a new lease on life, a way to do our part
to heal our broken world. Active Hope is one of the most important
works to appear in years and should be read by everyone young and
old who cares about what is happening to our world. Pass it on and
join the campaign to spread hope! It’s never too late to make a
difference.”
— Rev. John Dear, lecturer, activist, and author of Living Peace,
The Questions of Jesus, Transfiguration, Put Down Your Sword, The
God of Peace, and Seeds of Nonviolence
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