Active Hope

1. Recognize the Three Stories Shaping Our Reality.

The greatest danger of our times is the deadening of our response.

Three narratives define our era. Our perceptions and actions are shaped by the overarching stories we identify with. The book introduces three dominant narratives:

• The Great Unraveling: This story acknowledges the progressive decline and collapse of social, ecological, and atmospheric systems. It encompasses climate crisis, extreme inequality, pollution, and the dismantling of democracy, leading to a sense of dread and overwhelm.
• Business as Usual: This narrative assumes little need for change, prioritizing economic growth and consumption above all else. It often downplays or ignores the unraveling, creating a "double reality" where many live as if things are fine, even as the world deteriorates.
• The Great Turning: This is the story of an epochal transition from an industrial growth society to a life-sustaining one. It involves holding actions to protect what remains, developing life-sustaining systems, and a profound shift in consciousness towards interconnectedness.

The dilemma of double reality. Many people oscillate between the denial of Business as Usual and the despair of the Great Unraveling. This internal conflict can lead to paralysis or a feeling of living a lie. The pandemic served as a "teachable moment," exposing our shared vulnerability and the dangers of continuing with unsustainable practices, highlighting the urgent need for collective action and solidarity.

Choose your story. Our choices and actions determine which story gains momentum. By consciously turning away from harmful behaviors and embracing those that support life, we actively participate in the Great Turning. Recognizing the larger narrative helps us see the significance of our individual contributions, moving us from passive observation to purposeful engagement.

2. Active Hope: A Practice of Intention, Not Optimism.

Active Hope is about becoming active participants in the process of moving toward our hopes and, where we can, realizing them.

Hope is a verb. Active Hope is not a naive optimism that things will magically get better, nor is it passive waiting for external forces to solve our problems. Instead, it is a dynamic practice, a conscious choice to engage with the world's challenges. It doesn't require certainty of success, only a clear intention to move in a desired direction.

Three key steps. The practice of Active Hope involves a continuous loop of engagement:

• Start from where we are: Take a clear, honest look at reality, acknowledging both what is happening and our feelings about it, without denial or judgment.
• Identify what we hope for: Articulate the direction we want things to move in, or the values we wish to see expressed, focusing on what we deeply long for.
• Take steps in that direction: Act on our intentions, even if the outcome is uncertain, knowing that our actions contribute to the possibility of a better future.

Intention as a guide. This practice allows us to act even when feeling hopeless, as the impetus comes from our intention rather than an assessment of likely success. By focusing on what we aim to bring about, we activate our sense of purpose and discover unexpected resilience and creative power, transforming our lives and the world around us.

3. The Spiral of Reconnection: A Path to Inner and Outer Strength.

The journey through these stages has a strengthening effect that deepens with each fresh experience.

A transformative framework. The Work That Reconnects, developed by Joanna Macy, offers a spiral journey through four interconnected stages. This process helps individuals and groups restore their sense of connection to the web of life, strengthening their capacity to respond creatively to global crises. It's a continuous, deepening process, not a linear one.

Four stages of the spiral:

• Coming from Gratitude: Grounding ourselves in appreciation for life's gifts.
• Honoring Our Pain for the World: Acknowledging and processing our distress for what is happening.
• Seeing with New Eyes: Shifting our worldview to recognize our interconnectedness and inherent power.
• Going Forth: Clarifying our vision and taking practical steps to contribute to the healing of our world.

Mobilizing energy and commitment. Each turn of the spiral builds momentum, revealing hidden strengths and fostering a sense of belonging. It counters feelings of overwhelm and paralysis by providing a structured way to engage with difficult realities, transforming despair into active engagement and renewed purpose.

4. Cultivate Gratitude to Ground Your Resilience.

Our essential wonder at the root of life empowers us to face the unprecedented perils of our time.

Gratitude builds psychological buoyancy. Focusing on gratitude is a powerful practice that enhances well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction. It's not about denying difficulties but about recognizing the gifts and sustenance already present in our lives, which strengthens our capacity to navigate challenges.

A learnable skill. Gratitude can be cultivated through simple practices like keeping a gratitude journal, which trains our minds to spot moments of appreciation and awe. This practice counters the undermining impact of panic or paralysis, making us more resilient.

• Appreciation: Valuing what has happened.
• Attribution: Recognizing others' roles.
• Giving thanks: Acting on gratitude.

Antidote to consumerism. Gratitude shifts focus from what's missing to what's present, countering the dissatisfaction fueled by consumerism and materialism. It fosters trust and generosity, encouraging cooperative behavior and strengthening social networks, as exemplified by the Haudenosaunee tradition of giving thanks for all life's supporters.

5. Honor Your Pain for the World to Unblock Your Response.

When we touch into our depths, we find that the pit is not bottomless.

Pain as a healthy response. Our distress—including grief, fear, outrage, and despair—in response to global crises is not a sign of weakness or neurosis, but a normal, healthy reaction to a world in trauma. This "pain for the world" reveals our profound caring and interconnectedness with all life, acting as a crucial feedback mechanism.

Breaking the spell of silence. Cultural taboos often prevent us from openly discussing disturbing realities, leading to isolation and a blocked survival response. Like Parsifal in the Grail legend, we must dare to ask "What aileth thee?" to break the spell of denial. Expressing our anguish, whether through open sentences, creative expression, or ceremony, releases energy and fosters solidarity.

Digesting difficult truths. Simply knowing facts about the crisis is not enough; we need to digest them emotionally. When we allow ourselves to feel and express our pain, it transforms from a paralyzing force into a source of determination and renewed appetite for life. This process deepens our relationship with the world, revealing that "the world is feeling through us."

6. Embrace a Wider, Ecological Sense of Self.

Unhappily, the extensive moralizing within the ecological movement has given the public the false impression that they are being asked to make a sacrifice — to show more responsibility, more concern and a nicer moral standard. But all of that would flow naturally and easily if the self were widened and deepened so that protection of nature was felt and perceived as protection of our very selves.

Beyond the separate self. The dominant Western view of the self as a separate, individual entity, driven by self-interest, is a relatively recent cultural construct. This narrow view contributes to loneliness, depression, and environmental degradation. By recognizing our "connected self," rooted in relationships with family, community, and the natural world, we unlock deeper sources of meaning and motivation.

Widening circles of identity. Our identity is multifaceted, encompassing family, community, national, and planetary dimensions. When we identify with something larger than ourselves, our self-interest expands to include the well-being of that larger whole. This shift transforms actions for the world from perceived sacrifices into natural, fulfilling expressions of our extended self.

• Family self: Caring for relatives is natural, not altruistic.
• Community self: Supporting friends and teams is inherent.
• Ecological self: Protecting nature becomes self-protection.

Life acting through us. The concept of the "ecological self" suggests that our pain for the world is the Earth feeling through us, and our desire to act for life is life itself wanting to continue through us. This perspective, echoed in Gaia theory and indigenous wisdom, aligns us with the potent creative energy of life, making our contributions feel less like individual burdens and more like participation in a grand, ongoing story.

7. Discover Power in Collaboration and Emergence.

When you act on behalf of something greater than yourself, you begin to feel it acting through you with a power that is greater than your own.

Shifting from "power over" to "power with." The old paradigm of "power over" is based on dominance, competition, and control, leading to widespread powerlessness, conflict, and mental rigidity. A new story of power, "power with," is rooted in collaboration, synergy, and the ability to address challenges together.

The magic of emergence. "Power with" operates on the principle that "1 + 1 = 2 and a bit," where collective action yields results greater than the sum of individual efforts. This synergistic power is evident in:

• Inner strengths: Courage and determination drawn forth when rising to challenges.
• Cooperation: New possibilities emerging from working together, as seen in Nelson Mandela's negotiations to end apartheid.
• Small steps: Individual actions, seemingly inconsequential, contribute to a larger picture of change.
• Inspiring vision: A shared purpose that moves through people, energizing and aligning their actions.

Not needing to know the outcome. The concept of emergence liberates us from needing to see the immediate results of our actions. Every choice creates ripples of influence far beyond our perception. By asking "What is happening through me?" and "How can the Great Turning happen through me?", we invite a different story to flow through us, aligning our personal power with the planetary process of healing.

8. Expand Your Community to All Life and Humanity.

In an interconnected world, it is time to recognize a simple truth: solidarity is self-interest. If we fail to grasp that fact, everyone loses.

Community as wealth. Beyond individual self-sufficiency, a rich experience of community provides security, well-being, and a stable foundation for action. The epidemic of loneliness in industrialized societies highlights the cost of neglecting social capital. Disasters often reveal our innate human tendency to pull together, transforming isolation into mutual aid and shared purpose.

Four levels of community:

• Home groups: Small, intimate circles where trust and common purpose foster synergy and support. These are seedbeds for the Great Turning.
• Wider local community: Expanding beyond immediate circles to work collaboratively on shared needs, as exemplified by Sri Lanka's Sarvodaya movement. This counters social unraveling and polarization.
• Global humanity: Recognizing our "inescapable network of mutuality," where injustice anywhere affects everyone. This challenges the "not my problem" mentality and fosters global solidarity.
• Earth community: Extending our sense of belonging to all life—plants, animals, ecosystems—recognizing our interdependence for survival. This calls us to speak for and protect the natural world.

Dismantling "us vs. them." Applying compassion and insight into interconnectedness helps dismantle the divisive thinking that creates enemies. By actively building community at all levels, we not only contribute to the healing of our world but also enrich our own lives with a profound sense of belonging and purpose.

9. Re-inhabit Deep Time: Connect with Ancestors and Future Beings.

The entire history of our species, from its early origins in Africa, is contained in the last five seconds before midnight.

Beyond short-term thinking. Mainstream industrial society operates within a dangerously narrow "timescape," prioritizing immediate profits and short-term goals over long-term consequences. This leads to "underpricing risk," exporting problems to future generations (e.g., nuclear waste, climate change), and diminishing the meaning of our lives.

The wisdom of deep time. Indigenous cultures, like the Haudenosaunee who consider the "seventh generation," offer a wider view of time. By locating ourselves within the vast sweep of planetary history (4.5 billion years) and human history (240,000 years), we gain perspective on our current critical juncture.

• Planet time: Our species' entire history is a mere blink in Earth's day.
• Human time: The industrial age began just two minutes before midnight in a day representing human history.

Ancestors and future beings as allies. Re-inhabiting deep time opens us to new sources of strength and guidance. We can draw moral courage from our ancestors, who persevered through countless challenges to pass on the spark of life. Conversely, recognizing ourselves as the ancestors of future generations naturally evokes a sense of care and responsibility, prompting us to act for their well-being. Practices like "Letter from the Seventh Generation" allow us to tap into this intergenerational wisdom.

10. Catch an Inspiring Vision and Dare to Believe It's Possible.

It always seems impossible until it is done.

Vision as a compass. Inspiring visions are essential for navigating life, providing direction and energizing our journey. Like Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, they identify a desirable future that can be created, even if it seems unrealistic at first.

Liberating imagination. Our educational systems often suppress imaginative thinking, prioritizing facts over possibilities. To foster vision, we must:

• Create space: Allow for quiet moments and daydreaming.
• Intention and attention: Consciously invite and focus on creative impulses.
• Anchor the vision: Record ideas to nurture and revisit them.
• "What before how": First identify what you want, then figure out how.

Overcoming disbelief. The path to an inspiring vision is often met with resistance and the voice of "Professor Noway" dismissing it as impossible. However, history is replete with examples of "discontinuous change"—sudden, rapid shifts (like water freezing) that transform seemingly fixed realities. By understanding these dynamics and drawing on personal experiences of perseverance, we can challenge disbelief and push past "threshold guardians."

11. Build Sustainable Support and Nourish Your Motivation.

The object of the game is to see how much you can lower your spending while raising your quality of life.

Personal sustainability is strategic. Maintaining energy and motivation is crucial to avoid burnout in activism. Our personal habits and practices, like an athlete's training regimen, must align with our commitment to the Great Turning. This includes:

• Vows/commitments: Daily practices that channel energy towards our deepest intentions.
• Self-care: Recognizing enthusiasm as a renewable resource that needs nourishment and renewal, not just constant depletion.

Cultivating support at multiple levels:

• Face-to-face: Actively seeking and offering help, building "study-action groups" or "Circles of Active Hope" that foster mutual support and shared purpose.
• Cultural: Recognizing the power of example; our sustainable choices influence others in our reference groups, as seen in "Cool Block" campaigns.
• Ecospiritual: Connecting with the natural world as a source of solace, inspiration, and guidance, recognizing our deep interdependence with all life.

Redefining the good life. The consumerist definition of a "good life" (luxury, leisure) is often unfulfilling and unsustainable. Research shows that true satisfaction comes from engaging in challenging, worthwhile endeavors that align with our values. John Robbins's story of leaving an ice cream empire for a simple, purposeful life exemplifies how reducing consumption can lead to a richer, more meaningful existence.

12. Open to Life Acting Through You: The Pearl of Active Hope.

The pearl inside the oyster might be the emblem of resilience. When a grain of sand gets into an oyster and is so irritating that, in order to defend itself, the oyster has to secrete a nacreous substance, the defensive reaction produces a material that is hard, shiny and precious.

Resilience as regeneration. The world's crises are like "time bombs," threatening collapse. However, resilience is not just bouncing back to a former state, but the capacity for regeneration and transformation, like seeds sprouting new life from a squashed tomato or a burned forest. This inherent creative power of life itself is the game-changing ingredient of the Great Turning.

Three Acts of Opening: To face the mess and respond with Active Hope, we engage in a continuous process of opening:

• Act 1: Opening Our Eyes: Courageously paying attention to both the beauty of our world and the planetary emergency, acknowledging what we love and what is threatened. This is the starting point of engagement.
• Act 2: Opening to Synergy: Understanding that our actions, both offering and receiving support, contribute to a larger collaborative formation. Like geese flying in formation, we achieve more together, guided by shared intention and persistence.
• Act 3: Opening to Life Acting through Us: Recognizing ourselves as part of the larger team of life, guided by bodhichitta—the deep desire for the welfare of all beings. This conscious connectedness allows life's inherent creative power to flow through us.

The Bodhisattva's Choice. The "Bodhisattva Choices" practice invites us to imagine choosing our current life circumstances, with all their challenges and strengths, as a deliberate act to serve the flourishing of life in this critical time. By embracing this perspective, we discover the priceless role we are uniquely equipped to play, transforming trauma into a precious "pearl of Active Hope" that enriches our lives and contributes to the healing of our world.

Last updated: December 30, 2025