How do we keep our hearts open and balanced when so much is out of our hands? A reflection on equanimity and the small acts that help us stay grounded and connected.
Where Grief and Beauty Meet: Honoring Joanna Macy
(Photo by Adam Shemper)
We live in a tenuous age. Amid a spiraling ecological crisis, authoritarianism, and genocide, we need voices that help us face the truth without losing heart—voices that can hold both our heartbreak and our hope.
Joanna Macy, who died last month at the age of 96, was such a voice. For more than half a century, through her teaching, writing, and organizing, she embodied a rare combination of moral clarity, fierce compassion, and unshakable devotion to a just and thriving future.
She leaves behind a profound legacy and a living invitation to each of us: to take our place in the healing and transformation of our world. Through the Great Turning and the Work That Reconnects, she offered a road map for answering that call. Her life’s work nourished myriad communities and touched countless lives, including my own.
I first encountered Joanna through one of her books, World as Lover, World as Self. During a period of despair over the environmental crisis, her words dissolved my isolation and helplessness into a vast sense of belonging to the web of life, and reminded me that we are each entrusted to do our part as one node in a great network of healing.
When we met in person, I was struck by how she wove intimate care for the heart with an uncompromising commitment to future generations. Over the years that followed, we stayed loosely connected—sharing tea, a poem, or a milestone from my life.
To spend time with Joanna was to dwell in a space where grief and beauty meet—where the sorrow and joy of being alive dance together. She carried an extraordinary balance of unflinching wisdom, warmth, playfulness, and childlike wonder.
She joined me for an interview in 2016, sharing powerful insights into the role of meditation, sangha, and collective action in meeting the crises of our time. You can read and excerpt from it here. Below, you'll also find links to her websites, books, and other interviews if you wish to explore further.
As Joanna taught, we are never alone on this path. Our love, our grief, and our action are most powerful when we walk together.
In care,
Oren
An Interview with Joanna Macy
Joanna Macy on Meditation, Democracy, and The Great Turning
"We are at a point where we are called to understand – more than ever before – the inherently communitarian character of the Buddha's path."
Learn more
Joanna Macy’s Website
The Work that Reconnects
Tributes and Conversations
A Wild Love for the World, On Being Podcast with Krista Tippett (2010)
We are The Great Turning, 2024 Podcast with Jessica Serrante (2024)
In Honor of Joanna Macy, 1929-2025, Tribute by Rebecca Solnit
Selected Books by Joanna Macy
World as Lover, World as Self (1991)
Widening Circles: A Memoir (2007)
A Year with Rilke (2009, with Anita Barrows)
Coming Back to Life (2014, with Molly Brown)
Active Hope (2022, with Chris Johnstone)
Like what you've read?
Get seven guided meditations plus an eBook.
