{"id":433,"date":"2014-01-22T21:18:23","date_gmt":"2014-01-22T21:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=433"},"modified":"2014-08-12T23:22:13","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T23:22:13","slug":"living-positively-on-mother-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/living-positively-on-mother-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Positively on Mother Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Chose a positive attitude, engage habits that contribute to your life goals, be good to Mother Earth in all your endeavors (and maybe even make her your chief priority in life), partner with others who are doing the same, and enlist as many as possible to join the journey! \u00a0(Oh, and by the way, do a little yoga and meditation and you will really move forward.)<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Now that I have unloaded my angst, here is the rest of my post on Active Hope by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone. \u00a0I usually review the table of contents carefully before reading a book in order to get a sense of how the author(s) approach their topic. \u00a0Some of the chapter headings did not reveal their meaning and others did. \u00a0I was fairly encouraged by the chapter headings and hoped to learn some different approaches to developing hope, particularly a hope that is dynamic (active) in the course of navigating a difficult world. \u00a0I was, however, very disappointed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>My disappointment is not because the book approached the subject of hope from other than a biblical worldview, it is because 1) every chapter and every supporting idea where no more than trojan horses that exported the author\u2019s ecological ideology, and, 2) no new positive thinking approaches were suggested; old ones were simply relabeled. \u00a0The correlation between their idea of \u201cActive Hope\u201d and positive thinking doctrine is easily identified in their description of active hope: \u201cIt is a process we can apply to any situation, and it involves three key steps. First, we take a clear view of reality; second, we identify what we hope for in terms of the direction we\u2019d like things to move in or the values we\u2019d like to see expressed; and third, we take steps to move ourselves or our situation in that direction.\u201d* \u00a0Kindle Location 272.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Some constructive ideas sounded in the book were:<\/div>\n<div>\u2022 The importance of choice, choosing our intentions, \u201cThe guiding impetus is intention; we choose what we aim to bring about\u201d \u00a0Kindle Location 274.<\/div>\n<div>\u2022 The importance of breaking free of a \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d lifestyle.<\/div>\n<div>\u2022 Acting pre-emptively, intentionally, towards a preferred future. \u00a0\u201dWe don\u2019t wait until we are sure of success. We don\u2019t limit our choices to the outcomes that seem likely. Instead, we focus on what we truly, deeply long for, and then we proceed to take determined steps in that direction.\u201d \u00a0Kindle Edition. \u00a0Page 37.<\/div>\n<div>\u2022 The most significant point made in the book was the \u201cnew power\u201d which has to do with what we do rather than with what (resources) we have to leverage. \u00a0\u201cRather than being based on how much stuff or status we have, this view of power is rooted in insights and practices, in strengths and relationships, in compassion and connection.\u201d \u00a0Kindle Edition. \u00a0Page 108.<\/div>\n<div>\u2022 Another great insight, \u201cResearch has shown that when people approach a problem by imagining that it has already been solved and then look back from this imagined future, they are more creative and detailed in describing potential solutions.\u201d \u00a0Kindle Edition. \u00a0Page 172.<\/div>\n<div>\u2022 Very helpful tool, \u201cTRY THIS: CREATING A SUPPORT MAP\u201d \u00a0Kindle Edition. \u00a0Pg. 205. \u00a0I thought this was particularly helpful. \u00a0It could be reproduced on a napkin to communicate to others the importance of team.<\/div>\n<div>\u2022 \u201cIf we take action only when we are reasonably sure of success, uncertainty can be paralyzing.\u201d Kindle Edition. \u00a0Pg. 229.<\/div>\n<div>\u2022 The people of God, of all people, should be very engaged in \u201cshepherding\u201d our planet! \u00a0It is our God given responsibility. \u00a0But viewing our planet as God\u2019s creation under our care and view our planet as Mother Earth are two very different concepts.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Questions:<\/div>\n<div>What world view is forcefully communicated?<\/div>\n<div>How can believers rightly and responsibly get engaged in \u201cgreen\u201d causes?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>*Macy, Joanna; Johnstone, Chris (2012-02-22). Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We\u2019re in without Going Crazy (p. 3). New World Library. Kindle Edition.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chose a positive attitude, engage habits that contribute to your life goals, be good to Mother Earth in all your endeavors (and maybe even make her your chief priority in life), partner with others who are doing the same, and enlist as many as possible to join the journey! \u00a0(Oh, and by the way, do [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,173],"class_list":["post-433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-macyjohnston","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1761,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions\/1761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}