Hey folks, thanks for tuning in to the latest episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast. Today’s episode is one that I had in mind when I first started formulating the idea for this podcast about two years ago and is a fitting end to season two of the podcast.
Dr. Susan Murphy Roshi is the founding teacher of Zen Open Circle in Sydney, Australia, as well as a writer, radio producer, film writer and director. I came to know her through two of her books - 'Minding the Earth, Mending the World: Zen and the Art of Planetary Crisis' and her latest book 'A Fire Runs Through All Things: Zen Koans for Facing the Climate Crisis'.
In this episode, we talk about what a Zen perspective on the climate crisis looks like and the concept of Engaged Buddhism, the interconnectedness of all things with a practice from Susan on how to help us recognize that connectedness, and her unique background that brings together Zen and Aboriginal teachings.
This is episode 43 of the podcast and probably is my favorite one yet for a lot of reasons.
The first being that a lot of my contemplation about our human relationship with nature came through my study of Buddhism and Zen. About a decade ago, I was lucky enough to be introduced to an amazing career coach named Michael Carroll who was a high flying human resources executive at a number of well known companies including the Walt Disney Company and an authorized Buddhist teacher who wrote the books 'Awake at Work' and 'Fearless at Work' on bringing Buddhist wisdom to your work and career. The short time I spent with Michael directly and then the much longer time I spent with his books fundamentally shifted my view of not just work, but how I engage the world around me. Susan's books have had a similar impact.
The other reason that this is one of my favorite episodes is that it provides no answers. The natural human inclination when faced with volatility and uncertainty is to look for certainty, to look for the known. Yet, to put it bluntly, what we know is not working for a lot of people and certainly not for the planet.
There are people who would like you to believe that the answer lies in domination. In dominating and extracting from nature and dominating other groups of people. They like to say things like "peace through strength" and we're "at war" with nature, subjugating it for our gain. I don't care for certainty, but I am certain that the notion that we are on this plant to fight it and every other living thing around us is ridiculous.
Thich Nhat Han wrote “Our own life has to be our message.” So as we wrap season two, I am asking myself what I want my message to be about my time on Earth and my relationship with what lives and breathes here.
Links
Buy Susan Murphy's 'A Fire Runs Through All Things'