The Buddha taught that Friendship is not half of the holy life. It is the holy life. (Upaddha Sutta)
As we deeply listen through the emergence of accelerated change in our world, we often feel unclear about what specific actions to take to make impact. We forget that community-building is skillful action in itself. Community is the mycelial network of the visible and invisible relational field of interdependence. A friend reminded me recently that in nature, while the mycelial network is vibrant, alive, and constant, it is rare to see the appearance of the fruiting body. I believe there is power in nurturing our mycelial networks of support in this time… in a devoted and unrelenting way… trusting the act of coming together rather than grasping for action/result.
One of Joanna Macy’s gifts was the recognition that community-building is sacred activism in a world of disconnect. The first treasure Joanna gave me as a young person was the understanding that turning towards our pain—together, in community and in ritual—opens the portal to freedom from the trance of separation. She gave me permission to turn towards, rather than away from my pain at a time when I thought my pain was a weakness that might swallow me whole. The motion of turning towards began to fortify a spiritual agency I could not access alone, or when numbing out to any part of my lived experience.
Perhaps the deepest, most painful human experience is the experience of believing we are alone, of feeling alone through whatever we might be going through. Entangled in the illusion of isolation, we try to “hold it all together.” While this is understandable, it is when this effort is dissolved, that we can truly experience “holding it all together,” as in knowing Interbeing through our joy and grief.
I first read World as Lover, World as Self by Joanna Macy when I started college, and felt ignited by its core message: We begin to see the world as belonging to us as intimate as our own bodies. In 1992, it had just recently been published and I was eagerly discovering the teachings of deep ecology, engaged Buddhism, and the seeds for a new (ancient) paradigm based on interdependence. This book deepened my inquiry into the embodiment of Interbeing, from the micro to the macro. The radical responsibility of Interbeing calls us to both show up to be of greater service, and to be available to receive support.
When I first met Joanna Macy in person at the age of 22, after graduating college, I was working for Helena Norberg Hodge, Swedish activist, at the nonprofit organization International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC), focused on biological and cultural diversity. ISEC was based on the Ladakh Project, which celebrated the holistic traditions of indigenous Buddhist cultures high in the Himalayas, living in partnership with nature, and we advocated for indigenous cultures across the globe. Helena was part of a group of inspiring people running the International Forum on Globalization, who were some of my new heroes taking a stand for compassionate action in our world and the protection of ancient ways of knowing. Joanna Macy was one of them.
The first time I met her in person, Helena and I went to Joanna’s home for tea and cookies, and I remember feeling equally delighted, awkward, and intimidated. At the time, I tended to project all over teachers I most respected, before dropping into a more authentic way of relating with them. I had started guiding community education groups for ISEC, and also started working with The Work That Reconnects spiral. Every time I engaged in the work, something in my perception lens shifted—and I felt more connected to myself, ancestors, people I would never meet across the globe, and the more-than-human world. Joanna’s work affirmed a portal bridging the inner and outer work, and this has been the foundation of my practice and teaching since.
While my own path called me to pause in activist work at the age of 26 in order to move to a Zen Buddhist monastery to train in a more supportive, distilled, and radical spiritual community, The Work That Reconnects was always with me. When I exited the monastery 7 1/2 years later, I reconnected with Joanna and attended her facilitator training in Ojai, California. Soon, she invited me to assist her with a workshop and, on the long drive home afterwards, we dropped into a conversation I'll never forget. I opened myself to knowing Joanna more deeply and letting her know me more deeply.
That time in my life, post-monasticism, was a deeply creative, visionary, and pioneering time. It was also uncomfortable and scary, as I navigated coming into my own expression as an engaged Buddhist teacher in a world of so much complexity. I saw unique qualities in Joanna that felt outside-the-box in formal Buddhism. I saw a fierce tenacity, playfulness, and expressiveness alongside a humble heart, a vibrant recognition of the power of imagination and poetry alongside stillness, and an immeasurable warmth and generosity in her embodiment of community.
Our relationship deepened when Joanna invited me to support her through a particularly hard time. I had internally blocked this kind of reciprocity with some of my own teachers, and witnessing Joanna avail herself to support from a mentee in this way made a huge impact on me. One of the topics we explored during that time was the gift of failure, and this topic, which seemed so taboo in our culture, was immeasurably transformative and healing for me.
One only needs to glimpse online to see how widespread Joanna’s work is globally to know that this was an extraordinary woman. Her work inspired thousands of us. Those of us who knew her personally knew that beyond her accomplishments, just the quality of presence, authenticity, and zest that she showed up with day in and day out was revolutionary. She was not just an extraordinary leader, but was also willing to show up constantly in child-like wonder. It felt that she was on the same page with all of us, an equal explorer, student, and discoverer, as she simultaneously guided us. She recognized awe as a true expression of shared power — and modeled looking through the lens of beginner's mind and seeing with new eyes.
In the aftermath of losing her, I will miss Joanna greatly. I have a lot to sit with, as do all of her disciples, about what is called for and required of us in these times. Her teachings and memory will always point me to the power of community and turning towards, rather than away, together.
I had a visit scheduled with Joanna the week after she died, a yearly visit that I had been deeply looking forward to. In the last conversation we had prior, she had spoken of how much excitement, curiosity, and awe she held about her own moving towards death. She recognized Death as yet another sacred threshold. Joanna truly lived in gratitude for every moment, including gratitude for the final crossing her spirit would take in this lifetime.
Thank you, Joanna, for being a great teacher to so many of us and for taking a seat in the ancestral throne of shared power in our world. I believe the need for Joanna’s teachings and The Work That Reconnects has never been more potent, and I bow in appreciation to everyone who is helping to carry out this work.
On August 23, 2025, Purpose Guides is hosting Remembering Joanna Gathering, an invitation to celebrate Joanna Macy online. This event is also a fundraiser to support Joanna’s legacy and the Work That Reconnects. Mindful Living Revolution is honored to be one of the chosen organizations to be a beneficiary of this fundraiser! All are welcome!
Lastly, I want to acknowledge and express my endless appreciation to Anne Symens-Boucher, an extraordinary woman, foundational to the Work That Reconnects movement, who was also Joanna’s long-term executive assistant. Over the years of knowing Joanna, I have learned so much from Anne (co-founder of Canticle Farm) and her embodiment of Community, Sacred Activism, and True Service.
