To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe -- to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it -- is a wonder beyond words.
Joanna MacyRead
If the world is to be healed through human efforts, I am convinced it will be by ordinary people, people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear. People who can open to the web of life that called us into being
Interpretation
What this quote means
Healing the world requires the dedication and love of ordinary people rather than extraordinary heroes.
In this quote, Joanna Macy emphasizes the significant role of everyday individuals in bringing about change and healing in the world. She suggests that it is the love these individuals hold for life that empowers them to overcome their fears and participate in collective efforts towards making a positive impact. By tapping into a shared sense of interconnectedness, these ordinary people can contribute to the greater good and help to heal the world.
Themes
HealingOrdinary PeopleLoveFearLifeChange
In practice
Example use cases
During a sustainability workshop, I quoted Joanna Macy to emphasize the power of community in environmental activism.
More from Joanna Macy
All quotes →It is good to realize that falling apart is not such a bad thing. Indeed, it is as essential to evolutionary and psychological transformation as the cracking of outgrown shells.
Joanna MacyRead
Confirming an intuitive sense I've always felt for the interconnectedness of all things, this doctrine has provided me ways to understand the intricate web of co-arising that links one being with all other beings, and to apprehend the reciprocities between thought and action, self and universe.
Joanna MacyRead
Out of this darkness a new world can arise, not to be constructed by our minds so much as to emerge from our dreams. Even though we cannot see clearly how it's going to turn out, we are still called to let the future into our imagination. We will never be able to build what we have not first cherished in our hearts.
Joanna MacyRead
It’s walking the razor’s edge of the sacred moment where you don’t know, you can’t count on, and comfort yourself with any sure hope. All you can know is your allegiance to life and your intention to serve it in this moment that we are given. In that sense, this radical uncertainty liberates your creativity and courage.
Joanna MacyRead
We are our world knowing itself. We can relinquish our separateness. We can come home again - and participate in our world in a richer, more responsible and poignantly beautiful way than before, in our infancy.
Joanna MacyRead
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How could I look my grandchildren in the eye and say I knew what was happening to the world and did nothing.
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I think Dr. King would be pleased to see the number of elected officials of color - African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and progressive whites.
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