Consciousness in Action: The Power of Beauty, Love and Courage in a Violent Time

Andrew Beath

Lantern Books, 2005 - Environmental ethics - 293 pages

Consciousness in Action features the thoughts of Julia Butterfly Hill, Deena Metzger, Joanna Macy, Ralph Metzner, John Mack, and many others in an inspiring dialogue between environmental and spiritual activists. Their subject is the seven attributes of consciousness that they have employed in their activism and that have demonstrated their viability across time and cultures to bring about change.

The seven attributes discussed are:

• Nonviolence amid passion
• Introspection and self-discovery
• Not knowing and spontaneity in the moment
• Eros, the way of loving-kindness
• No enemies and co-creating a healthier world
• Vision free of reaction to others
• Joy in opening of the heart

Andrew Beath writes: "Our actions reveal our depth of connection. I define conscious activism as engagement in the world that expresses our most profound understanding of the nature of reality. It is imbued with appreciation and reverence and encourages compassionate connection--the basis for lasting social change." Consciousness in Action is a vital contribution to ongoing efforts toward a peaceful, habitable earth.

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Consciousness in action: the power of beauty, love and courage in a violent time

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The only way to end destructive human tendencies like ecological degradation and economic imbalance is for individuals to undergo spiritual self-examination and recognize their responsibility to ...

Contents

• Awareness: 3
• Relationship with the Earth: 21
• Dislocation and Disruption: 34
• Social Ecology: 48
• Conscious Business The Trouble with Corporations: 63
• The First Attribute Nonviolence Kindness in the Midst of Passion: 79
• The Second Attribute Not Knowing: 95
• The Third Attribute Introspection for SelfDiscovery: 113
• Expanding Personal Consciousness: 125
• Personal Transformation and Social Change: 141
• Liberation Pathways: 161
• The Evolution of Consciousness: 183
• The Fourth Attribute Eros the Art of LovingKindness: 199
• The Fifth Attribute CoCreating a Healthier World There Is No Enemy: 215
• The Sixth Attribute Vision Free of Reaction: 230
• The Seventh Attribute Being Joyful without Attachment to Goals: 252
• Conclusion and Seven Attributes Summary: 267
• About the Author: 281
• Index of Contributors: 282
• Bibliography: 289

Popular passages

Page 3 - Gaia as a complex entity involving the Earth's biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and soil; the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this planet.

About the author

Andrew Beath is the founder of the EarthWays Foundation in Malibu, California, as well as several other nonprofit social justice and environmental organizations. His foundation has initiated projects to protect wilderness and assist threatened communities in South, Central and North America.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Consciousness in Action: The Power of Beauty, Love and Courage in a Violent Time
• Author: Andrew Beath
• Editor: Andrew Beath
• Publisher: Lantern Books, 2005
• ISBN: 1590560795, 9781590560792
• Length: 293 pages