Joanna Macy, Buddhist activist and teacher, was first called to activism trying to help people understand the impacts of nuclear waste, but found that the ways we were talking and thinking about the environment were not moving people to the kind of action that could help us make changes on the scale we need. She called this change of course “the great turning” and spent her life helping people imagine and live into this necessary change. She died this past summer. I had the privilege of studying with her on my very first sabbatical back in Oakland California.
She encouraged us to expand our sense of time. She pointed out that while historically humans have thought in terms of cycles of seasons, years and generations, but today our sense of time has shrunk -- we think in fractions of a second, and our long-term thinking ends with quarterly profits. It’s hard to see the big picture from that small space of 3 months. We can’t really see how it is with the trees, with the fish, with the air when our sense of time is shallow and immediate.
Joanna told us about her trip to Australia to experience Deep Time with the Aboriginal peoples who live there, she told us about the importance of the Haudenosaunee practice of considering, in every important decision, its impact out to 7 generations; what will my actions mean for my grandchildren’s great grandchildren?
When take the perspective of deep time, which we will spend some time with next week as we celebrate the Cosmic Walk, we see our place in a much larger picture. We remember that life evolves over millennia. We see how we are part of a web of life much older than we are. This larger seeing brings more wisdom and compassion to our decisions.
Joanna loved to use ritual and imagination in her work. In her book Active Hope, she shares a practice called "A Letter to the Future" one of hte practices she offered in the seminar I took with her all those years ago She found that when she invited people to view the struggles of today from the perspective of 7 generations in the future, people’s thinking shifted and expanded as we approach the struggles of our own time.
I don’t know about you, but on any given day when I’m trying to balance the needs of family and work and daily life, it’s hard to think much past what to make for dinner, and dealing with all the notifications on my phone. But dealing with something as big and important as Climate change, takes a different kind of thinking.
Macy encourages us not only to remember those 7 generations in the future, encouraging us to work on their behalf, but also to remember the many generations of ancestors encouraging us, and all the gifts and resources they leave as their legacy.
Consider of the story for all ages, how one almond tree planted by her great grandmother gave Talia gifts her whole life long. The abundance we have today comes largely from those who came before. Our congregations are vital and active because of 7 generations of Unitarian Universalists who came before, who built these buildings, this tradition, these roots. Our UU ancestors gave what they could, and stewarded those gifts carefully to pass on to us. We are because they were.
But it is not just human ancestors who prepared our way. I want to tell you about the pin cherry, a tree that is giving me hope recently. The pin cherry is a tree with small cherries that birds love. The tree, like many others, relies on birds to enjoy the fruit and then to poop out the seeds as they fly. The seeds then wait in the soil until conditions to grow are ideal. For most trees the seeds are viable for about 10-15 years, but pin cherry seeds are viable for 100 years. Imagine that! if you were to see a pin cherry in the wood, it might have grown from a seed dropped by a bird before women won the right to vote! Now this I found especially poignant, what the pin cherry seeds are waiting for is a catastrophe- they are waiting for a wood to be clear cut, or a fire to clear space. then the little pin cherry leads the way for the forest to heal, to regenerate.[i] I get hope thinking of the seeds planted long ago for just such a time as this, a time when structures of our society are tumbling down. I believe there are seeds already germinating, planted by our human and non-human ancestors, that have been waiting for such a time as this.
Joanna also told us that while some changes happen gradually, there are tipping point moments, when things gather speed. She told us, back in 2005, that things we had always depended on, like the gulf stream, could be disrupted in a way that would impact weather in far of parts of the earth. This extreme cold of this weekend, for example, happened because the polar vortex and polar jet stream have been disrupted, a sudden dramatic change. [ii]
I’ve just come for the UUMA institute for learning ministry, where because our UUA president Sofia was being arrested at the Capitol for gathering with other religious leaders to pray and demand an end to funding for ICE, we instead had a training on Mass Coordinate nonviolent action.
We learned that political scientists have looked at patterns in history when a authoritarian leader emerges in a democracy. They say there is a window of about 18 months that are critical, that if 3.5% of the population becomes engaged, like really engaged, the country can return to democracy. Otherwise the decline towards fascism proceeds in a predictable way. This is the kind of time we are in- the autocratic breakthrough window.[iii]
How can we look at this turning point through the perspective of 7 generations? First we look back, to remember our ancestors. We are 9 or 10 generations away from the founding of our democracy, which sparked democracy in other countries around the world.
We look back with gratitude to the founders who fought so that we could live in a democracy, could be freed from tyranny and monarchy. When I imagine 7 generations into the future, of the children who will grow up in the world we are creating today I feel a sense of urgency, but this feels to me different from the false sense of urgency our culture sells us day by day, of urgent quotas at work, of “act now before it’s gone” sales, of a never ending stream of 30 second videos. In fact, because of the quick flickering of our attention, we might miss this critical turning point. Now is the time when we can do something about fascism. These next 4-6 months, political scientists say will be critical.
The generations past, those who struggled to regain democracy, show us that it is possible, but that the turning can only happen if many of us are involved day by day.
Minneapolis is showing us how this is done. Rev. Jo VonRue, our UU minister up in Syracuse, shared a reflection on her time in Minneapolis, writing:
“The mutual aid, the mutual support, the mutual networks in Minneapolis are incredible. San Pablo Lutheran Church, where most of the congregation does not speak English, welcomed us. They told us they pack food boxes monthly. Once a month they have free acupuncture and reiki for community members who need healing. They sneak them into the church. They have medics on site who also provide security and patrol neighborhoods.This, say political scientists, is not an anomaly, the behavior of our government a is right out of the authoritarian playbook, a pattern we can see if we look back. The resistance in Minneapolis is what our ancestors have shown us is exactly what it takes to fight back; for us to refuse to comply with authoritarian practices, for us to interrupt and slow down authoritarian actions. For us to hold the line on the liberties and rights we will not allow to be taken from us. And always for us to build the alternative structures that support one another, that provide the care, the protection, the nurture every person needs.
While 200 clergy were sitting in this sanctuary, the priest said, “Oh, by the way, my folks just decided they want to feed you lunch.” For 200 people, they made soup for us. These people who are literally under siege made soup for us.
One of our Jewish colleagues was late that morning because she was taking breast milk to a woman caring for a baby. The baby’s mother was snatched out of the NICU. They don’t know where she is.
These people have the most extensive mutual aid support networks. They’re getting food to people. They have telemedicine appointments for people who absolutely cannot leave their house. People pick up prescriptions and drive them to homes. They help with childcare. They educate children who can’t leave the house. They help with transportation, moving people in secret cars, under blankets in the back.
We patrolled neighborhoods, just clergy singing on sidewalks. People were opening their window shades and waving to us. They were calling out their doors: “Thank you.” They were thanking us for walking on the street, for just being there to keep them safe. Cars patrolling would pull over and ask if we needed snacks or hand warmers.
When you ask them if this is organized, they say no. Well, kind of. They have so many Signal chats. When somebody is out patrolling and sees ICE, they call in to the dispatcher. There’s a dispatcher 24/7 on Signal. They have a log of license plates. They check to see if they can identify it as an ICE vehicle. If confirmed, a signal goes out to everybody about exactly where ICE is located. People start following them. The community comes out. People blow whistles and tell their neighbors:
ICE is here. Do not come out. Do not risk your life.
The people I met in Minneapolis are not superheroes. They are just people. They are people who decided that their values demand action. They figured out how to organize with each other. They figured out how to spot ICE vehicles. They figured out how to alert entire neighborhoods. They are feeding their neighbors and keeping them safe every single minute of every single day.They did what needed to be done because there is no other choice.”
I hope that 3000 ice agents are never deployed to our cities. But how might we be ready if they did? How can we strengthen and extend the networks of mutuality and care that we already have? Every person has gifts they can contribute to the great turning- not everyone needs to stand on a corner with a whistle; we need those who provide medical care, who cook lunch, who deliver milk. I even heard of carpenters who show up to repair doors kicked in by ICE. As Jo said these are not superheroes, these are just ordinary people doing what needs to be done.
When you imagine looking at this moment in history with the eyes of those who will follow 7 generations hence, what seems important for us to do as individuals and as a community? When the grandchildren of our grandchildren remember us, what story would you like them to tell of our time here today? What got us started? And what kept us going? Where did we find the strength to continue working so hard, despite all the obstacles and discouragements? And what joy and love did we find caring for one another, shaping a world for the generations to follow?
