At the end of a troubled year, and after COP21, what is the meaning of light in the darkness, of solstice, of the return of the sun, of stretching more light into these next coldest months of the year? And in these troubled times, how do we become light in a culture clinging to the darkness of ignorance, anxiety, and fear, walking blindly toward an abyss? Can we point our lights toward a new path for the human journey?
“Hope is about what is not predictable, what we see in dreams but is not yet realized, what we believe can be true even against the weight of the evidence. Hope is how we choose to live in this dance of darkness and light, in which we are gifted to be conscious participants. It is who we choose to be in the world, how we decide to act.”
One of the longest essays we’ve ever posted here. I hope you will take time for a long, reflective, contemplative read, then share your thoughts with us and our readers.
Tags: christmas, climate change, COP21, enbridge, indigenous environmental network, light in the darkness, the great turning, winter solstice
Fostering Ecological Hope Today from Margaret Swedish: [Reflecting the moment of mindful transition from darkness towards light, from one human-measured year to the next, I will post just once this week and once next week, taking some time in between for quiet and rest. As we honor these sacred days, may our hope be renewed, […]
Tags: abundance, child born in a manger, christmas, ecological hope, economies of growth, joanna macy, kohler and harley-davidson, light in the darkness, rising poverty, savage capitalism, scott walker, solstice, temporary workers, the great turning, winner-take-all politics
Fostering Ecological Hope Today from Margaret Swedish: [This is my last post until after Christmas.] I find it odd how we have divided into good and bad this notion of ‘light in the darkness.’ It is a strange western construct. Since without darkness there is no light, darkness must not be a bad thing, but […]
Tags: cassini-huygens, christmas, light in the darkness, meaning of the human, saturn, winter solstice
Fostering Ecological Hope Today from Margaret Swedish: Have you seen this commercial? This is Reality. I absolutely love this! Congratulations to the creators. I just want to add that there will never, ever, be such a thing as ‘clean coal,’ even if ‘capturing and sequestering’ carbon dioxide emissions actually worked, even if we could bury […]
Tags: appalachian voices, co2 emissions, coal river mountain watch, diry coal, ecological hope, ilovemountains.org, light in the darkness, ohio valley environmental coalition, winter solstice