Remembering Joanna Macy (1929 - 2025)

“The heart that breaks open can contain the entire universe”- Joanna Macy

It is with great sadness that the Editors of The Holistic Education Review wish our readers to know that author and educator, Joanna Macy, age 96, has transitioned from this life. Joanna was a brilliant holistic thought leader, and we know that her work, rooted in peace, compassion, ecology and community, has been inspirational to many of our readers.

The following words were shared from Joanna’s Work that Reconnects Network:

With full hearts, we share that Joanna Macy, our beloved root teacher, mentor, and friend, passed away peacefully at home on July 19th, at 3:56PM Pacific Time.

 

Over these past weeks, Joanna continued to inspire us through her presence, clarity, and deep love for life. She chose to remain at home, where she was held in love, as she gently let go.

Joanna gave us a profound understanding of the gifts of grief and a vision for resilience. She offered the Spiral and the larger body of the Work That Reconnects not just as a framework, but as a way to move through the world with courage and tenderness. She reminded us, again and again, that the world is alive and we belong to it.

 

Though her body has left us, her work pulses in every one of us. In every moment of truth-speaking, in every gathering that dares to feel, in every act of sacred activism - we will keep her message alive.

 

May we carry forward her love of life. May we grieve with open eyes. May we continue the Great Turning she so faithfully named.

 

And from Joanna Macy’s website: joannamacy.net

JOANNA MACY PH.D, AUTHOR & TEACHER, IS A SCHOLAR OF BUDDHISM, SYSTEMS THINKING AND DEEP ECOLOGY. A RESPECTED VOICE IN MOVEMENTS FOR PEACE, JUSTICE, AND ECOLOGY, SHE INTERWEAVES HER SCHOLARSHIP WITH LEARNINGS FROM SIX DECADES OF ACTIVISM. 

Her wide-ranging work addresses psychological and spiritual issues of the nuclear age, the cultivation of ecological awareness, and the fruitful resonance between Buddhist thought and postmodern science. The many dimensions of this work are explored in her thirteen books, which include three volumes of poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke with translation and commentary.

As the root teacher of The Work That Reconnects, Joanna has created a ground-breaking framework for personal and social change, as well as a powerful workshop methodology for its application. 

Based in Berkeley, California, close to her children and grandchildren, Joanna has spent many years in other lands and cultures, viewing movements for social change and exploring their roots in religious thought and practice.

Since the early 1980’s her travel was governed by invitations to teach the group work that she and a growing number of colleagues were developing. Many thousands of people around the world have participated in Joanna’s workshops and trainings. These methods, incorporated in the Work That Reconnects, have been adopted and adapted yet more widely in classrooms, community centers, and grassroots organizing. 

 

In the face of overwhelming social and ecological crises, this work helps people transform despair and apathy into constructive, collaborative action. It brings a new way of seeing the world as our larger living body. This perspective frees us from the assumptions and attitudes that now threaten the continuity of life on Earth.

 

A few short quotes from Joanna:

“If the world is to be healed through human efforts, I am convinced it will be by ordinary people, people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear.”

“The most radical thing any of us can do at this time is to be fully present to what is happening in the world.”

“Of all the dangers we face, from climate chaos to nuclear war, none is so great as the deadening of our response.”

“To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe -- to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it -- is a wonder beyond words.”

 —

Thank you for keeping Joanna Macy’s family in your thoughts at this time and for continuing to be inspired by her brilliant contributions.

~ Paul, Renee, Annie, Fawn, Emilie and Anu (The HER Editorial Team)