by Isabel Smyth

On 19th July a remarkable woman died.  Her name was Joanna Macy and she was 96 years old.

There have been many tributes to her and her work.  One from the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology described her as ‘an extraordinary teacher, writer, and activist whose work will influence many people and projects for years to come. She was a luminous being with an extraordinarily generous spirit. Her Buddhist-inspired wisdom and compassion gave her the energy to work in the areas of ecology, justice, and peace throughout her life’.

I have a sense of sadness at her death and feel that the world is the poorer for her passing, but her influence will carry on.  I didn’t know her personally, but she was influential in my life through her writing, workshops and lectures, many of which can be found on YouTube.

Interrelated

I first came to know her work when I bought a book of hers thirty years ago on Iona. It was called World as Lover, World as Self. It focussed on our interrelatedness and interdependency with nature, something which we must embrace if we are to have a sustainable future for humanity and our world. What I remember most about the book is a meditation which I have often used with groups. It guides us to connect with our parents, grandparents, our ancestors, travelling in our imagination through all the stages of history to that point when homo sapiens sets forth in its journey into the world.

Isabel Smyth is a Sister of Notre Dame. You can follow her interfaith journeys on https://interfaith-journeys.weebly.com/