COMING BACK TO LIFE: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World
TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD by Matthew Fox

PREFACE by Joanna Macy

PREFACE by Molly Young Brown

1.  TO CHOOSE LIFE

The choice for a sustainable world

The Great Turning

2. THE GREATEST DANGER: APATHEIA, THE DEADENING OF MIND & HEART

Pain for the world

Psychological sources of its repression: fear of pain and despair, distrust of our own intelligence, belief in the separate self, etc.

Socio-economic sources of repression: the mass media, job and time pressure, social violence. 

Consequences and costs of repression: fragmentation and alienation, blaming and scapegoating, political passivity, diminished intellectual performance, and burn-out.

Breaking free

3.  THE BASIC MIRACLE: OUR TRUE NATURE AND POWER

Living Systems Theory: how life self-organizes, the holonic shift in consciousness, Gaia Theory, positive disintegration

Deep Ecology:  beyond anthropocentrism, the ecological self, three related movements– ecofeminism, ecojustice, ecopsychology.

Ancient Teachings: the Abraham religions, Earth-centered religions, Buddhist teachings

The Nature of Our Power:  Power-over, power-with, feedback and the power of disclosure and refusal, synergy and grace

4. THE WORK THAT RECONNECTS

The Goals of the Work

Theoretical Foundations

The Shambhala Prophecy

5.  GUIDING GROUP WORK

6.  AFFIRMATION: COMING FROM GRATITUDE

The value of gratitude

Exercises

The presence of gratitude throughout the work

7.  DESPAIR WORK: OWNING AND HONORING OUR PAIN FOR THE WORLD

Notes on guiding these exercises

Exercises

8.  THE SHIFT: SEEING WITH NEW EYES

Nature and significance of the Shift

Part I. Brain Food: key concepts, pointers for teaching them

Part II. Exercises

9.  DEEP TIME: DRAWING ON PAST AND FUTURE GENERATIONS

A healthier relationship to time

Exercises

10.  THE COUNCIL OF ALL BEINGS:  REJOINING THE NATURAL WORLD

The genesis and purpose of deep ecology work

Exercises

11.  GOING FORTH

Learnings we bring back into our lives and communities

Exercises

12. MEDITATIONS FOR COMING BACK TO LIFE

APPENDIX A: Chief Seattle's Message

APPENDIX B: The Bestiary

APPENDIX C: A Council of All Beings: "The Site Speaks"

RESOURCES