Summary: Joanna Macy is a Buddhist philosopher of ecology and an exquisite translator of the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke. We take that poetry as a lens on her wisdom, at 81, about the great dramas of our time: ecological, political, and personal. Rilke sought the shape of meaning in a now-vanished central Europe at the turn of the last century. Joanna Macy's vision took shape in crucibles of the 20th century; she sees us at a pivotal moment in history -- with possibilities of unraveling, or of creating a life-sustaining human society.
