"I believed I wanted to be a poet, but deep down, I just wanted to be a poem."
-Jaime Gil de Biedma
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Recently, Francis was invited to present a talk at the C.G. Jung Institute in San Francisco. It was a rich exploration on "An Apprenticeship with Sorrow: Tending the Losses of Everyday Life." |
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Excerpt from a powerful new book by Duane Elgin
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I was recently asked to write the Preface for a forthcoming book by Duane Elgin. It is called, Choosing Earth: Humanity’s Journey of Initiation Through Breakdown and Collapse to Mature Planetary Civilization. The book lays out the coming decades and the challenges that we will most likely face. The central question in Elgin’s writings concerns whether or not humanity will make the choice to pass through the initiatory threshold that we are facing and create a planetary community, or whether we will go on as business as usual, essentially leading humanity and countless other species to possible extinction. Every one of us is a makeweight in the process. Every action we take is important. Every one of us is needed. Here is a brief excerpt from my Preface:
"We are living in turbulent times on this beautiful planet. All pretense of immunity is collapsing as we realize how completely entangled our lives are with one another—with kelp beds and calving glaciers, with wildfires and rising sea levels, with refugees and the anxious dreams of young people everywhere. The disequilibrium shaking the world feels like a continual tremor along the fault lines of our psychic lives. Very few things feel stable. It is like a fever dream. Maybe we have reached the initiatory threshold required to wake us up. Whatever is happening, much will be asked of us if we are to make it through the whitewater of this narrow passage. We do not know what lies ahead, but one thing is sure: This is a time for bold gestures. It is time to wake up and humbly take our place on this stunning planet. The future is speaking ruthlessly through us. |
James Hillman, the brilliant archetypal psychologist, wrote, “The world and the gods are dead or alive according to the condition of our souls.” In other words, the vitality of the animate, sensuous world and our encounter with the sacred depend on our souls being fully alive! A soul that is awake is entangled with the living world—its beauty, allure, and wonder, its sorrows, rips, and tears. Given the state of the world and our soulful lives, we must pause and ask, “What is the condition of our souls?” From all observable accounts, the prevailing condition is desperate, empty, ravenous, impoverished, and grief-stricken. In the language of some traditional cultures, we would diagnose our times as one of soul loss. To lose soul is to feel emptied of wonder, joy, and passion. It is to feel cut off from the vitalizing relationships with the living world, leaving one stranded in a deadened world. The long-standing intimacy with the multiple folds of the Earth—her myriad of creatures, the stunning profusion of color and fragrance—would be forgotten. In place of this, we substitute a frenzied striving for power and material gain. This is the dominant reality for much of white, technological, late-capitalistic culture. Soul loss leaves us flattened and empty, always wanting more—more power, more things, more wealth, more control. We forget what truly satisfies the soul."
The updated version of the book is now available. It is essential reading. You can find it here.
The updated version of the book is now available. It is essential reading. You can find it here.
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Hear psychotherapist and author Francis Weller, discuss the communal nature of grief, the expressive virtue of anger, false happiness, and the two hands of grief and gratitude. Interview recorded at the 2013 Minnesota Men's Conference. |
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A rich and varied conversation between Michael Lerner, founder and director of Commonweal and Francis Weller, exploring the Long Dark that is emerging in our culture and the planet. Recorded November 12, 2021 |
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An exquisite video combining scenes from the film, "The New World" and passages from Francis' book, The Wild Edge of Sorrow. Produced by Tom van der Linden, of "Like Stories of Old." |
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