World as Lover, World as Self

Courage for Global Justice and Ecological Renewal

Joanna Macy, ISBN: 978-1888375-71-8

Questions for Discussion

1. World as Lover, World as Self opens with four ways of seeing the Earth and our relationship to it: world as battlefield, as trap, as lover, and as self. Macy says she grew up with a variation of the world as battlefield mentality but has come to see the world as a combination of lover and self, with no distinction between them. How were you raised to see the world? Did it fit into one of these cosmologies? How do you see the world now and what experiences have helped shape this view?

2. Macy writes about the tension between our desire to “take care of ourselves” and our commitment and connectedness to the rest of the world. At one point, a woman tells Macy that this is “all we can do.” Does this tension or apparent conflict come up in your daily life, and if so, how? How does the Buddha’s teachings of dependent co-arising and karma help us think about this tension?

3. In World as Lover, World as Self, Macy writes about the practice of gratitude, especially gratitude in difficult times. Gratitude, she writes, “lets us choose to take part in the healing of the world.” What are you, in this moment, most grateful for?

4. In the chapter “Three Lessons in Compassion,” Macy details her time in India, and what she learned from Tibetan monks and refugees she lived with there. One of the first lessons is that every human being on earth was at some point your mother. A nun tells her, “So countless are all sentient beings, and so many their births throughout time, that each at some point was your mother.” Who is the person in your life who it is most difficult for you to imagine as your mother? Sit with the image of this person in your mind. Breathe. What emotions and thoughts arise?

5. Macy identifies three Turnings of the Wheel of the Dharma. The first is when the Buddha taught of the interconnectedness of all things. The second Turning was the beginning of Mahayana Buddhism, which brought fresh certain of the Buddha’s teachings. The Third Turning Macy sees is the “spiritual opening taking place in our own time.” What examples, if any, do you see of this third Turning. At a time when there are many reasons for despair, what causes you to be hopeful? What signs, if any, do you see of the possibility of positive change?

6. Macy offers practices for spiritual activists for renewing our spirits for “the long haul.” These practices include meditations on death and loving kindness, and practices on learning to see others fully. What do you do to nourish and restore yourself so that you can be more present in the world? What daily practices and activities bring you peace, energy, and hope?

7. Macy first wrote a version of World as Lover, World as Self fifteen years ago and then adapted and added information for this current edition. Her sense of the scope of environmental destruction and the need for transformation was seen as radical and ahead-of-its time when the first edition was published. Now, it is almost commonly accepted wisdom. What has changed in the past fifteen years? What has stayed the same? What do you imagine we can change in the next fifteen years? Where do you imagine yourself to be?