THE UNINHABITABLE EARTH: Life After Warming. David Wallace-Wells. 2019. Dugan Books.
I read this book and became angry. Very angry. I need some friends, Tom and Elise, to talk me down. From the inside dust jacket: "It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of seal-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible." Few people can get through this book, not because it is particularly dense or poorly written, but because the story is so freakin' sad! Heartbreaking. Frustrating! Look at what our denial has done, and continues to do. Here is a link to an Ezra Klein podcast featuring David Wallace-Wells.
I read this book and became angry. Very angry. I need some friends, Tom and Elise, to talk me down. From the inside dust jacket: "It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of seal-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible." Few people can get through this book, not because it is particularly dense or poorly written, but because the story is so freakin' sad! Heartbreaking. Frustrating! Look at what our denial has done, and continues to do. Here is a link to an Ezra Klein podcast featuring David Wallace-Wells.
- BEYOND HOPE: Letting go of a world in collapse. Deb Ozarko. 2018. Deb Ozarko Purblishing. www.debozarko.com.
- Part I: Asleep: The "Eyes Wide Open" Decemation of Earth and Soul. A powerful punch in the gut that identifies the dire situation before us. Part II: Awakening: Living Fully, Loving Hard and Letting Go. Ozarko has written around the same two themes that I've addressed in LOVING MOTHER EARTH - the virtuous cycle of integrating environmentalism with spirituality. I highly recommend this powerful book.
HOW TO SURVIVE THE LOSS OF A LOVE. Bloomfield, Colgrove and McWilliams. 1976, 1991, 2000. Mary Books/Prelude Press.
Over 3,000,000 copies sold. Obviously a classic. This little paperback is essentially a book of lists of perspectives, actions, reflections, and more. Flip through it and grab what is relevant, and then keep it around for the next bought of grief that visits you.
Over 3,000,000 copies sold. Obviously a classic. This little paperback is essentially a book of lists of perspectives, actions, reflections, and more. Flip through it and grab what is relevant, and then keep it around for the next bought of grief that visits you.
THE END OF ICE: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption. Jamail Dahr. 2019. The New Press.
In this remarkable tale, Dahr witnesses what is happening on Denali, the highest peak in North America, and then he moves to the warm crystal waters of the Coral Sea, and then on to tundra of St. Paul Island. A warm corresponded who is a seasoned traveler to wild places, Dahr gives us a firsthand chronicle of the catastrophic reality of our situation on this vulnerable, fragile planet... while we still can. A travelogue with a message.
In this remarkable tale, Dahr witnesses what is happening on Denali, the highest peak in North America, and then he moves to the warm crystal waters of the Coral Sea, and then on to tundra of St. Paul Island. A warm corresponded who is a seasoned traveler to wild places, Dahr gives us a firsthand chronicle of the catastrophic reality of our situation on this vulnerable, fragile planet... while we still can. A travelogue with a message.
THE REVENGE OF GAIA: Earth's Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity. James Lovelock. 2006. Basic Books.
Lovelock is the scientist that first conceptualized the Gaia Theory in the 1970's. This updated book is still a bit dated. Lovelock shares the theory of how the entire Earth functions as a single living superorganism, regulating its internal environment much as an animal regulates body temperature and chemical balance. In this book, Lovelock now says the organism is sick due to human activity.
Lovelock is the scientist that first conceptualized the Gaia Theory in the 1970's. This updated book is still a bit dated. Lovelock shares the theory of how the entire Earth functions as a single living superorganism, regulating its internal environment much as an animal regulates body temperature and chemical balance. In this book, Lovelock now says the organism is sick due to human activity.
HOW ENLIGHTENMENT CHANGES YOUR BRAIN: The New Science of Transformation. Newberg and Waldman. 2016. Penguin Random House.
The authors claim to have identified specific neurological mechanisms and practices associated with an enlightenment - as well as practical strategies we can use to activate those circuits in our own brains.
The authors claim to have identified specific neurological mechanisms and practices associated with an enlightenment - as well as practical strategies we can use to activate those circuits in our own brains.
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FOUR BOOKS by Michael Singer. Someone gave me a copy of The Untethered Soul and if you can believe it, I never read it and in truth, gave it away. But then it came back and back again into my life, so I bought a copy and wow... what a wise and useful message from an Enlightened Lover. I outlined the book and read it three times. Then I grabbed Singer's other three books. First I read his autobiography, The Surrender Experiment. Then I turned to The Search for TRUTH, and Three Essays on Universal Law.
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LEARNING TO DIE: Wisdom in the Age of Climate Crisis. Bringhurst and Zwicky. 2018. University of Regina Press. This little book has three chapters, each of article length. The first establishes how the "wild" is in trouble. The second recounts the virtues that Socrates' embraced as he died. The third is a rebuttal to Steven Pinker's book that asserts the inevitable progress that we can look forward to as enlightenment unfolds. I have been especially been helped by the middle chapter and will write a blog post on each chapter.
THE FUTURE WE CHOOSE: Surviving the Climate Crisis. Figueres and Rivett-Carnac. 2020. Alfren Knopf. The authors were the "Architects of the 2015 Paris Agreement." The authors tell us what the earth will look like in 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris targets, and then what the world will look like if we choose to regenerate Mother Earth. We get to choose.
THE PASSIONATE LIFE: Stages of Loving. Sam Keen. 1983. HarperCollins. Chapter 10 of LOVING MOTHER EARTH uses, in part, Keen's model of stage development. Child > Rebel > Adult > Outlaw > Lover. Keen is a philosopher and theologian that comes from my Christian tradition. An older book now and you can pick one up used for pennies. I've read it and re-read it numerous times in my quest for Enlightened Love.
CLIMATE: A NEW STORY by Charles Eisenstein. 2018. North Atlantic Books. This wonderful book showed up at the right time. The fundamental divisions of separation and greed emerged in my thinking after reading this book. Here is a quote from page 199: "All of the regenerative practices I've described in this chapter partake in a common sponsoring idea. Earth is alive. What is alive, we can love. What we love, we wish to serve. When what we love is sick, we want to ease its suffering and serve its healing. The more deeply we know it, the better we can join its healing."
THE TAO TE CHING: Books by William Martin. Here are a series of books that have come from the mind and heart of a dear friend. Bill and I were fox-hole-buddies right out of seminary in 1974, and we have been dear friends ever since. Bill is a student of Taoism and his books are just wonderful. I've given scores of his books away. The Parent's Tao Te Ching to new parents, The Couple's book to newly weds, The Sage's to anyone who wants to travel toward Enlightened Love. The Caregiver's (written with Nancy) has given me solace and wisdom during those days when I have cared for family. A Path and a Practice is Bill's translation of the Tao with commentary. The Activisit's Tao Te Ching is the book Bill values the most. Beyond creeds and codes, dogmas and doctrines... is that which cannot be named. The Tao. You can find more of Bill's books here.
CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE GLOBAL GREEN NEW DEAL: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet. Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin. 2020. Verso. Chomsky is a leading intellectual, and Pollin a progressive economist. Together they present a blueprint for avoiding economic disaster while sustaining our social wellbeing. All the fears that have been stirred up, they say, just encourages denial. Instead they lay out a plan, the New Green Deal, that they argue, is entirely feasable.
The Evolutionary Process Explained Briefly. "An Evolutionary Transition Is Coming—Are You Ready?"
I have read and re-read... and re-read this article from Kosmos, a journal for global transformation. The first move was the introduction of life on our planet. The second was sexual reproduction. Now, the third - Consciousness is mindfully observing and witnessing itself, and thus is capable of engineering its own evolutionary process. This is the largest context for grasping the reality within which we are becoming Enlightened Lovers. The article is reproduced below, with the link to Kosmos.
I have read and re-read... and re-read this article from Kosmos, a journal for global transformation. The first move was the introduction of life on our planet. The second was sexual reproduction. Now, the third - Consciousness is mindfully observing and witnessing itself, and thus is capable of engineering its own evolutionary process. This is the largest context for grasping the reality within which we are becoming Enlightened Lovers. The article is reproduced below, with the link to Kosmos.
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I thoroughly enjoyed Wes’ book, WITHOUT OARS, and found myself wondering why I could hardly put it down. It is true that if you are following a path on your spiritual journey, then it is not your own journey. Wes’ is his own, but it just resonates at so many points with my own that I couldn’t help but feel affirmed. Companionship is like that. Of course, I’ve not walked where he has walked, but the visitations and awakenings have been similar to my own, and thus validating. A critical step along the way is coming to trust your own experience of the Truth, and Wes has done so, which has supported me in trusting my own.
In ten chapters, which are part travelogue, from one actual pilgrimage to another Wes shares his experiences of awakening, inviting you to companion him on his journey. As I walked with him, I found myself reflecting on my own passage into a deeper awareness of the Presence that has been our essential companion all along the way.
I’m grateful for Wes’ vulnerability and transparency, both of which are hallmarks of a soul that has come to a mature place of relative peace. WITHOUT OARS is a call to revisit your own journey, as well as an invitation to “Cast off into a Life of Pilgrimage.” If you feel drawn to go forth, or if you have been stumbling along for years as I have been, then Wes’ book would be a worthy companion.
In ten chapters, which are part travelogue, from one actual pilgrimage to another Wes shares his experiences of awakening, inviting you to companion him on his journey. As I walked with him, I found myself reflecting on my own passage into a deeper awareness of the Presence that has been our essential companion all along the way.
I’m grateful for Wes’ vulnerability and transparency, both of which are hallmarks of a soul that has come to a mature place of relative peace. WITHOUT OARS is a call to revisit your own journey, as well as an invitation to “Cast off into a Life of Pilgrimage.” If you feel drawn to go forth, or if you have been stumbling along for years as I have been, then Wes’ book would be a worthy companion.
Richard Rohr's newsletter devoted a week to the environment. Here you will find that week.
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The Drama Triangle - Integrated from Karpman + Emerald + Atwood
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