THE WORLD THAT RECONNECTS
About a year ago, we quietly retreated for a sabbatical to reflect and redirect. As an organization built around offering a faith-based response to climate change, we wanted to answer for ourselves, what is needed from us in these times? We listened to the experiences of our friends, families, congregations, and communities all over Rhode Island, as well as environmental, social and climate justice community organizers and activists. As we all live with accelerating instability, insecurity, inequity, and the overwhelming scale of the climate crisis, we cannot stay engaged, let alone cope with these circumstances, without spiritually grounding ourselves, building unity and connection with each other, and with the Earth. Entering into this new decade, we will focus our efforts toward growing spiritual capacity and resilience in our communities to heal, strengthen, and empower us to action during these unprecedented times. We hope you will join us in this important work. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at our new email address, contact.riipl@gmail.com .
We begin by partnering with the UUCSC to offer this perspective-changing, life-affirming workshop “The Work that Reconnects”. Please come (registration link below) and please share this event info with your friends!!
“The Work that Reconnects” is a perspective-changing, life-affirming workshop designed to help us face and feel our deepest, most healing responses to the world’s crises within a supportive group context. It helps reclaim the energy for action that is thwarted when we put our emotional responses to the crises on the back burner.
We invite you to reopen to your inherent sense of interconnectedness with humans, other species, and as an integral part of ‘life in earth.’ Then head home with new inspiration and vision of your part in the healing of the world.
Starting with gratitude for living in earth, we’ll move into honoring our pain for the state of the world, then see with new eyes–looking at the world through a holistic, systems-based and life-affirming paradigm–and finally end with exercises to help us go forth into the world with renewed passion, clarity, and a sense of ‘power with’–instead of the prevailing ‘power over.’ This process, developed by Joanna Macy and colleagues, is called the spiral of The Work that Reconnects . Developed in response to the nuclear threat and environmental degradation, Jim and Karina also apply it to anti-oppression and other social justice and cultural healing issues. It’s all connected, truly.
The presenters: Lifelong social change advocates Jim Tull and Karina Lutz have been facilitating this workshop for seven years. They were trained in The Work that Reconnects by Buddhist eco-philosopher Joanna Macy.
Jim is a teacher and social activist with 35 years of experience in confronting local, national and international social problems.
Karina is a workshop leader, poet, yoga teacher, permaculturist and co-founder of People’s Power and Light, which is now known as the Green Energy Consumers Alliance .
Jim and Karina are co-founders of Listening Tree Cooperative , an intentional community in Chepachet, RI, focused on living and demonstrating the Great Turning .
And please forward to others you think may be interested