Blessed Unrest
…How the Largest Movement in the World Came Into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming
by Paul Hawken
Viking Penguin, 2007
The books that matter most to me are those that do not diminish or attempt to downplay the extent of the crises we face, but offer hope in the face of them.
Hawken’s book is a good jolt of hope, which is why this website loves this book. What he describes is a movement that spans the planet, responding to the exigencies of human rights and justice, and to the ecological crises manifesting all around us. The movement has arisen almost spontaneously, thousands of groups, local, national and international, grassroots and NGOs, with no central authority, leadership, or plan. Yet it is coming together around this moment of crisis.
Hawken compares this phenomenon to biology, and with this we heartily agree. In many ways it is a response of human biology and spirit to the sense of danger. It is an organic, planetwide call for renewal at the very roots of human existence.
“Evolution arises from the bottom up — so, too, does hope.”
Hawken sees three aspects of this movement coming together in a way that could reshape the human spirit and how we address our crises: the environmental movement, the social justice movement, and the indigenous movements all around the globe. As they come together, they present the potential for a profound renewal.
“…a worldwide gathering of ordinary and extraordinary people are reconstituting the notion of what it means to be a human being.”
And he says of this movement that it is “relentless and unafraid… [it] is the breathing sentient testament of the living world.”
His description of what this means, who we are, what we are a part of, is exhilarating. “In the chaos engulfing the world, a hopeful future resides because the past is disintegrating before us.”
Hope in the midst of the disintegration. Hope because of the disintegration.
“…cooperation must be on the planet’s terms.” And that is the conversion required of us — to alter the way we do business in every part of our lives so that we are in sync with the needs, processes, realities of the living planet of which we are a part and separate from which we are, well, not at all.
After you read this book, if you haven’t done it already, you will want to join this movement — with a leap of faith and even joy.
October 28th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I’m lovin’ this book too and the website born out of the researching and writing process: http://www.WiserEarth.org.
Paul Hawken recognized the need for WiserEarth when he said: “I knew that if we could understand the connections and visualize the breadth of global efforts on behalf of social and environmental justice, we would recognize the largest movement the world has ever seen. WiserEarth is where this movement can begin to see itself.”
Go here for videos on WiserEarth http://www.wiserearth.org/article/39e2617797c71f21012376684220ebc4
and don’t forget to join the WiserEarth community.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Thank you for this. Folks, I just checked out WiserEarth.org and I think you should, too. If you want a burst of hope, this will do it for you. Take time to watch the Paul Hawken videos. They are source of much encouragement.
I have put this project into the WiserEarth network. If you are a group working on behalf of the earth community, the human community, on behalf of our ecological future, justice and peace, consider joining ‘the movement.’
Margaret