Environmental activist Joanna Macy reminds us that, “We live in an extraordinary moment in Earth.” She says, “We possess more technical prowess and knowledge than our ancestors could have dreamt of. Our telescopes let us see through time to the beginnings of the universe; our microscope pry open the codes at the core of organic life; our satellites reveal global weather patterns and hidden behaviors of remote nations. And our electronic surveillance capacity leaves no aspect of anyone’s life safe from corporate and governmental scrutiny.”
However, at the same time, she points out, “We witness destruction of life in dimensions that confronted no previous generation in recorded history. Certainly, our ancestors knew wars, plagues and famine, but today, it is not just a forest here and some farmlands and fisheries there. Today, entire species are dying, and whole cultures, and ecosystems on a global scale ...”
She puts this dilemma into perspective. Defining the urgency of our situation, she laments, that “Humanity has come thus far and the life that is in us has survived so many millennia of trials and evolved through so many challenges, and there is so much promise still to unfold – yet, we can lose it all as the web of living systems unravels.”
She wants us to ask ourselves how our generation can choose a life-sustaining world. In this it is critical that we know how we can meet our needs without destroying our life-support system and our social relations. Macy affirms us, that we have the scientific knowledge and technical means, the savvy and resources, we know how to protect clean air and water, to generate energy, to exercise our moral imagination and so on. But, most of all, she says, we need the collective will in order to consciously sustain life.
The collective will is the sum total representation of the individual voices of the many people who share a common concern for the human worth of all and wish to express their desire through action and thought. The collective will recognizes the ‘immediate need,’ as well as appreciates the ‘bigger picture’ which is calling out for collective human action that thrusts new consciousness, and which by nature is transforming.
Hence, each one of us is being challenged to dream new dreams and to create a shared imagination of a JustPeace. This means that JustPeace refers to a vision that recognizes that there can be no peace without justice. This vision emerges when all forms of injustices that destroy human dignity are addressed and overcome through genuinely inclusive, fair and nonviolent means. JustPeace requires replacing unjust systems with new paradigms where peace can be lived, and one in which we become fully human.
This is the challenge of our times. We are confronted with many trials and issues like no other generation before us. But these challenges have also given us an opportunity to transcend this status quo, to enter into relationships where people share power and are not dominated or subordinated as they journey towards a shared humanity together. The question is whether we have the collective will to do so, and whether we have the courage to imagine.
