global oneness project Peace With the Unknown What's really important--it's been very important for me-- is that we have to make peace with the fact that we don't know Joanna Macy - San Francisco, California - Eco-philosopher and Activist if this is going to succeed or not. The Great Turning is happening. But we don't know and cannot know whether we are going to be able to bring it off before the forces that are destroying living, biological, and ecological systems have shredded the web of life beyond repair. This is what David Corton calls The Great Unraveling. So you've got The Great Unraveling; we can see it around us. And you've got The Great Turning. And here we are, and we don't know how the story will end. But I'll tell you something. That helps us be totally present. That uncertainty can be a great gift. It's very enlivening and it's very realistic because you've been living all along with that, without guarantees. When you fall in love with someone, is there a guarantee that you're going to have a healthy, long-term relationship? Or if you go into labor, is there a guarantee you're going to have a healthy baby? Or when you plant seeds in the earth, is there a guarantee there will be sufficient warmth and water to have a bumper crop? No. There's never a guarantee, and that is what brings forth from the human a quality of attention that allows the new to appear. So don't be afraid of that "don't know" mind. Sometimes they call it "beginner's mind." It can help us be very present, like watching the biggest adventure story and, "Don't tell us the end! Don't tell us the end!" [laughs] www.globalonenessproject.org - Footage courtesy of the Pachmamama Alliance