discovering what it is ours, in particular, to do
A core purpose of this website is to help us help ourselves and each other--as Friends, fellow change makers, activists, and community members--with our collective need for deep discernment about the climate crisis. To help us move beyond paralysis to see and assess all that is needed, all that is possible, and all that is happening.
We persist the longest, are most fulfilled, and do our best work when we can find the best fit between what we do & what we love--in the climate movement as in all else. The key to doing it in the climate movement is to see just how diverse the kinds of actions are that are, each in their own way, critically needed.
There are resources here to aid in what Quakers call a "clearness" process, an effort to help discern a leading--that which we feel we are somehow called to do--and then to find the courage and support to act upon it. One Friend describes it as that thing I find "I cannot NOT do." Friends then have a well established practice of testing leadings with their Meetings via a more formal clearness process with the help of an appointed Clearness Committee. But discerning what is ours, in particular, to do is an important part of preparing ourselves as effective agents of change. We have probably all had the experience of recognizing that we are best used when best fit to the work we are doing and in service to what we care about most.
The Clover Process for Discernment was developed by Santa Cruz Friend Nancy Glock-Grueneich as a simple way to explore the intersection between our passions, our resources, what is needed, and where we might make the greatest impact in service to climate concerns. It asks us to consider what we love doing, and how we want to do it. This process and the queries for each of the petals of the clover can be used by individuals or by Meetings to find the meaningful climate work that will flow from and, in turn, nourish your Center.
We persist the longest, are most fulfilled, and do our best work when we can find the best fit between what we do & what we love--in the climate movement as in all else. The key to doing it in the climate movement is to see just how diverse the kinds of actions are that are, each in their own way, critically needed.
There are resources here to aid in what Quakers call a "clearness" process, an effort to help discern a leading--that which we feel we are somehow called to do--and then to find the courage and support to act upon it. One Friend describes it as that thing I find "I cannot NOT do." Friends then have a well established practice of testing leadings with their Meetings via a more formal clearness process with the help of an appointed Clearness Committee. But discerning what is ours, in particular, to do is an important part of preparing ourselves as effective agents of change. We have probably all had the experience of recognizing that we are best used when best fit to the work we are doing and in service to what we care about most.
The Clover Process for Discernment was developed by Santa Cruz Friend Nancy Glock-Grueneich as a simple way to explore the intersection between our passions, our resources, what is needed, and where we might make the greatest impact in service to climate concerns. It asks us to consider what we love doing, and how we want to do it. This process and the queries for each of the petals of the clover can be used by individuals or by Meetings to find the meaningful climate work that will flow from and, in turn, nourish your Center.
The climate crisis is incredibly complex and multifaceted, and the difficult reality is that even by living lightly on the earth, we all continue to be part of the problem. But if that is true, it means we are all potentially, part of the solution--wherever we are, whatever our situation, whatever our work.
Our lives are complicated and its various parts are interconnected. That's what makes climate change so overwhelming. However, the very complexity of the problem brings an abundance of opportunity. Knowing that others, near or far, are each finding for themselves what is both needed and the best fit for them, means that we're not alone, it's not all on us, and there's a pretty good chance that what's critical will get done, even if we're not the ones doing it (and maybe can't even see how it could get done!) This faith (and it IS faith), frees us to find--and even to enjoy--the parts of the problem that we in particular are most able to do, and most desire to do, that matter most, that is our own leading. And that does not mean then, by the way, that we're on our own in doing it--not unless we really prefer it that way so it's a good fit--but on a team, or at least with our own support circle--where we can ask of each other, "What do you need to best do your part?" while finding the emotional, spiritual, and practical support to get what's needed done.
May each and every one of us identify our cause, know our role, and find our connection.
Our lives are complicated and its various parts are interconnected. That's what makes climate change so overwhelming. However, the very complexity of the problem brings an abundance of opportunity. Knowing that others, near or far, are each finding for themselves what is both needed and the best fit for them, means that we're not alone, it's not all on us, and there's a pretty good chance that what's critical will get done, even if we're not the ones doing it (and maybe can't even see how it could get done!) This faith (and it IS faith), frees us to find--and even to enjoy--the parts of the problem that we in particular are most able to do, and most desire to do, that matter most, that is our own leading. And that does not mean then, by the way, that we're on our own in doing it--not unless we really prefer it that way so it's a good fit--but on a team, or at least with our own support circle--where we can ask of each other, "What do you need to best do your part?" while finding the emotional, spiritual, and practical support to get what's needed done.
May each and every one of us identify our cause, know our role, and find our connection.