Council for All Beings
Turn ecological despair into care for one chosen part of life
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 98%
Kornfield recounts Joanna Macy's Council for All Beings, part of her despair and empowerment work. Participants first meditate and discuss climate or environmental concerns, then spend a day or two in silence and seek a profound connection with one element of the natural world. That connection may come from a forest or stream, or through imagination, such as polar bears. Participants return, playfully represent what they chose, form a circle, and speak on its behalf. They voice what it needs, the grief they feel, and what they are now empowered to do. The process narrows an overwhelming global problem into felt relationship, expression, and a particular commitment without claiming that one person can repair the entire world.
Origin
Kornfield credits Joanna Macy, John Seed, and other environmentalists with developing these practices as despair and empowerment work.
Core principles
- 01Despair must be faced rather than bypassed
- 02Care becomes actionable when it has a concrete object
- 03Speaking from another being's perspective deepens connection
- 04No individual is responsible for fixing the whole world
How to run it
- 1
Face the concern
Meditate and speak honestly about climate change or the environmental issue. Allow despair and apathy to be acknowledged rather than hidden.
Watch out Do not rush directly to solutions as a way of avoiding grief.
- 2
Enter silence
Spend sustained quiet time in nature or reflective solitude. Let attention move from the abstract crisis to direct relationship.
- 3
Choose what you serve
Find one being, species, place, or living system with which you feel a profound connection. Let the choice be specific and personally meaningful.
Pro tip The connection can arise from the immediate landscape or imagination.
- 4
Give it a voice
Represent the chosen being and speak from its perspective in the council. Name its needs and the grief connected to its condition.
Pro tip A playful costume or symbol can make the perspective shift tangible.
- 5
Name your empowerment
State what you are empowered to do now. Keep the commitment tied to your care and capacity rather than the impossible task of fixing everything.
Watch out Claiming responsibility for the whole world turns service into hubris.
In the wild
In the council, a participant rises and speaks for the salmon, naming what the salmon need, the participant's grief, and what they are empowered to do. Others speak for redwoods, monarch butterflies, or other parts of life.
→ A vast crisis becomes a specific relationship and a personally owned response.
Common mistakes
Trying to fix everything
Kornfield calls fixing the whole world hubris; the practice asks for one particular expression of care.
Stopping at grief
The council includes grief but explicitly moves toward what each participant is empowered to do now.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for groups or individuals immobilized by the scale of climate and environmental problems.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for people seeking a complete technical policy plan or a promise to fix the whole crisis.
From the transcript
“And in that circle, they were asked to speak for that part of life that they felt so deeply connected to.”
“And yes, here's my grief. And here is what I am empowered to do now.”
“It's not your task to fix the world. That would be hubris.”
From the episode
#601: Jack Kornfield — How to Overcome Apathy and Find Beautiful Purpose
Jack Kornfield