In its brief history, EcoFaith Recovery has already created powerful life-changes within individuals and is beginning to impact the cultures of institutions as well. Here are some testimonies from participants in EcoFaith Recovery’s many ongoing groups.
From Solveig Nilsen-Goodin
My experience of participating in the Organizing in the Biocommons Course was like wandering in the wilderness: assumptions and frameworks constantly disintegrating and re-integrating as I struggled to understand the core of what is “wrong”: what is driving this ecological-economic-spiritual crisis we are experiencing. I “hit bottom”in the session on capital, where the immensity of the crisis felt completely overwhelming. But all throughout the course, we had also been grounding ourselves in the sacred story and power of our faith tradition, of the biosphere, of the cosmos, of what is in the universe! And by the final session, something within me shifted.
On the other side of the despair, I discovered an inexplicable joy, a joy in the experiential discovery that the story of what is “right” is so much bigger and more powerful than the tragedy of what is “wrong.” In the context of this learning community of people willing to look at the sources of the crisis, I discovered that that bigger, more powerful story is not only accessible to us in community, but is urgently calling out to us like a voice crying in the wilderness: there is another way! In the OBC process, we are discovering and creating that way together.
From Cecil Denney (Member of the Lake Oswego United Methodist Church Metropolitan Alliance for Common Good)
I heard about the Organizing in the Biocommons class from a good friend, who knew a couple of the instructors and I wanted to expand my understanding of some of the root causes for the state of our world affairs. It was well worth my time. The classes themselves were well organized, very informative, interactive, and introduced me to a number of people I would not otherwise have known. Of particular value to me was the integration of several brief spiritual exercises that integrated the “knowing” about a topic and the “experience” of that knowledge. These exercises were not doctrinal, did not compel me to believe, just to experience the wholeness of creation in a way that informed the study. The readings between class were challenging and enriching. This is by far one of the best studies of the crisis our civilization faces. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of their place in our world today.