The Rev. Wendy Watson recently came across a moving tribute to Joanna Macy, written by author Rebecca Solnit, and wanted to share it with our community. Macy, who died on July 19 at the age of 96, was a Buddhist scholar, activist, teacher, and author of seventeen books. She helped people navigate the deep emotions that come with living in a time of ecological and spiritual crisis—especially grief, fear, and despair—and guided them toward clarity, purpose, and hope.
Solnit wrote her tribute while staying in a forest in British Columbia, surrounded by towering trees, fallen trunks, and mossy undergrowth—what she calls a landscape where “the inextricability of life from death is gorgeously evident.” In these forests, old trees fall and decompose, nourishing the next generation. Some even become “nurse logs,” giving structure and sustenance to young saplings growing from their trunks. Solnit uses this image to describe Macy’s legacy: a life that gave strength to others, even and especially in its aging and ending.
At 96, Macy’s death was not unexpected, and Solnit reflects on it with both reverence and peace: “She died, by all reports, surrounded by those who loved her best and was lovingly cared for, and she lived about as fully as anyone can.” Her long life—intellectually rich, spiritually grounded, and full of service—offers an image of aging not as decline, but as deepening.
Macy believed deeply in the power of “falling apart” as part of the human and natural journey. She once wrote: “It is good to realize that falling apart is not such a bad thing, indeed, it is as essential to transformation as the cracking of outgrown shells. Anxieties and doubts can be healthy and creative… because they permit new and original approaches to reality.”
She taught that despair, uncertainty, and grief are not things to be pushed aside but rather companions on the path toward clarity and action. They are signs of love—for the planet, for humanity, for what is possible.
Solnit extends Macy’s wisdom about transformation to the larger world: “[In] forests… things are forever falling apart and working together. I think of what a forest without death would be, imagine trees that grew endlessly and never died, never gave their nutrients back to the soil and the next generations so wholly, never fell to create openings in the canopy younger trees could reach toward.”
This ecological metaphor mirrors Macy’s view of civilization itself. She believed that just as individuals grow by releasing old patterns, so too can societies—especially when they begin to unravel. Macy saw the collapse of modern systems not only as a tragedy but also as an opening. She commented: “What’s amazing now for us, why you can be glad, is that it is falling apart. It is encountering the limits itself, and some of them have to do with climate, of course.”
In other words, the unraveling of extractive, unjust systems may be exactly what opens the door to more sustainable, compassionate ways of living. Macy invited people not to fear collapse, but to enter it with eyes open, hearts engaged, and hands ready to help build something new.
Joanna Macy’s own spiritual journey began in Christianity, lost its footing, and found new depth through her work with Tibetan refugees in the 1960s. A defining moment came when she discovered Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Book of Hours.” The poem opened a new path for her:
I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one,
but I give myself to it.
This image—of circling around the sacred, of continuing a path even without guarantees—is one that defined Macy’s approach to faith, activism, and aging.
As Solnit writes, “The woman that was Joanna Macy is gone. And still here.” Her life continues in the work of those she taught and inspired. She was, and is, part of what nourishes a better future.
You can read Rebecca Solnit’s full tribute here:
👉 In Honor of Joanna Macy, 1929–2025
You can listen to Joanna Macy’s full interview with Krista Tippet here: Joanna Macy on On Being with Krista Tippett (2010)
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