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Only modern humans have imagined ourselves as gods…
And come to the edge of destroying life on earth.
Open Reality speaks to the world behind and beneath our daily collective trauma. It opens practical possibilities for creating a shared, flexible culture that knows the natural world both as family and as a working partner. It invites the reader to a world of possibility. What if industrial civilization isn’t the best that humans can do? What if we weren’t alone in the world, but embedded in a universe of conscious, intentional, powerful beings?
Open Reality: Meeting the Polycrisis Together With All Beings
Shodo Spring has belonged to the natural world for as long as she can remember. She grew up running half-wild in the fields and woods of northeastern Ohio, with early mornings on the shore of Lake Erie and long days outdoors alone in the woods and creeks. Civilized human society was more difficult. She studied physics hoping to understand the universe, then psychotherapy to understand humans, then Buddhism to free herself, all while voraciously reading in history, anthropology, archaeology, political science, philosophy, and spirituality. She joined a series of political movements, finally focused on environment and environmental justice, what would be called deep ecology.
"This is a book about possibility and hope—so much needed—as we go forward uniting humanity to survive, while learning to live in harmony with ourselves and Nature, our life-supporting environment in a holistic world." —Allan Savory, ecologist and President, Savory Institute & Savory Global
"This brave and important book has found its way into our hands and our hearts just in time. Please read. We need the wisdom of Shodo’s deep practice and insight in the times we are facing. A must read today. "—Roshi Joan Halifax, Abbot, Upaya Zen Center and the author of many books, including Standing at the Edge, Being with Dying, and The Fruitful Darkness
"Shodo Spring invites us to reshape reality—not by deploying AI and carbon nanofibers, but by nurturing our deep roots in nature and Indigenous wisdom. This book can help us awaken from the nightmare that is modern industrial life; every chapter is a not-so-gentle nudge."—Richard Heinberg, author of Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival, The End of Growth, and other books
"This book of beautiful, contemplative reflections offers keen insights into the deep, underlying roots of the convoluted network of crises we face both as individuals and as members of a single global community. The path out of our impasse, out of this overwhelming “polycrisis,” Shodo argues, does not lie in more sophisticated technologies or more finely tuned policies but in a recognition of our kinship with—indeed, our identity with—the totality of life on this planet and the entire ever-unfolding mystery of the cosmos. She proposes not only theoretical principles to guide us, but also practical exercises to literally return us to our senses."—Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Buddhist scholar and the author and translator of many books
"Open Reality offers a credible antidote to the despair that deflates our creative powers and disconnects us from each other. It reminds us of who humans are, have been, and can be again, and imagines a respectful loving and working relationship with the other beings who share this earth. "—Kritee Kanko, Climate scientist, Zen Teacher and Cofounder of Boundless in Motion
