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  • Who We Are Becoming Matters: The Courage, Wisdom, and Aloha We Need in a Timeplace of Collapse

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Who We Are Becoming Matters: The Courage, Wisdom, and Aloha We Need in a Timeplace of Collapse

by Norma Kaweloku Wong (Author) Format: Paperback
4.6 out of 5 stars (18)

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What makes us human? And why does it matter? Poetic and practical advice on who we are—and what we need to become—to move forward in togetherness and mutual responsibility in an age of uncertainty and climate chaos

Zen and Indigenous Hawaiian wisdom for navigating the timeplace of collapse—the highly-anticipated follow-up to When No Thing Works

With piercing clarity and poetic force, Zen teacher and Indigenous Hawaiian leader Norma Kawelokū Wong offers a profound call to reckon with what she calls the Human Quotient: 4 essential inner capacities—courage, compassion, aloha, and strategic wisdom—we must cultivate and embody to not just survive, but shepherd ourselves through an age of climate crisis, social fracture, and accelerating collapse.

Part visionary framework, part story-poem-instruction manual, Who We Are Becoming Matters invites readers into a deeper examination of how we grow, relate, and lead in times of uncertainty. Drawing on decades of Zen training, Indigenous Hawaiian knowledge, political strategy, and community practice, Wong explores the internal and collective shifts required to evolve with intention. Her teachings challenge us to release the logic of othering and splintering, to root ourselves in the mutual responsibilities of aloha and kuleana, and to step into the messy work asked of us in a timeplace of collapse.

Like the highly lauded When No Thing Works, Who We Are Becoming Matters is both balm and blueprint: it's a vital disruption of the status quo. It's a generative map for moving forward. And it's a realistic look at what it may take for humanity to evolve and embody the historic role of stewarding this urgent moment: we take the leap together, eyes wide open, and tend to the job placed before us.
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  1. Print length
    136 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    North Atlantic Books
  4. Publication date
    February 10, 2026
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.3 x 8.49 inches
  6. ISBN-13
    979-8889843214
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From the Publisher

Who we are becoming matters

With eyes wide open, we can tend to the job at hand.

Will we choose humanity?

Strategies are needed for big leaps.rategies are needed for big leaps.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A tone poem that touches ancestral wisdom to teach us how to meet the present moment. It’s a meditation. Read slowly."
—The Reverend Canon Mpho Tutu van Furth, author of Forgiveness and Reparation and coauthor of Made for Goodness

"Such an extraordinary voice of prose and poetry that demands the reader’s attention. And what a profound and brilliant use of our attention. I am well-familiar with the teachings but I was riveted by Wong Roshi’s style that woke me up. Thank you."
—Margaret Wheatley, author of several books, including Restoring Sanity, Leadership and the
New Science, and Who Do We Choose to Be?

"Who We Are Becoming Matters reads like an invitation; a set of gentle nudges to think and act in radically different ways. It is in part an analysis of the current state of the world and in part a series of reflections on how to improve one’s daily practices so that life is better aligned with nature, ancestral wisdom and courageous dedication to a peaceful future. Activists, cultural workers, scholars, parents and spiritual leaders alike will find something in these pages that will affect our collective work to improve the human condition."
—Dr. Beth E. Richie, author of Arrested Justice and distinguished professor of criminology, law, and justice and Black studies and inaugural chair in the humanities and social sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago

"The future of our species and all species depends not only on what we do, but who we are and who we evolve to become. Norma Wong gives us practical and inspiring guidance for how to show up in this timeplace of collapse of everything we think we know. A prophet for our time, she instructs us in the necessity and pleasure of meeting this moment in history wide awake—with courage, community, compassion, spaciousness, creativity, and wisdom."
—Deepak Bhargava, president of The Freedom Together Foundation and coauthor of Practical
Radicals

"Wong Roshi’s follow up to When No Thing Works is so timely and needed given the startling speed at which systems and institutions continue to collapse. Who We Are Becoming Matters offers volumes of wisdom in an accessible and engaging form. Norma reminds us, consciously and with great care, to take the time to shift our own patterns and habits and lean into the full gifts of our humanity. In doing so, she presents an alternative to the chaos, inviting us instead to seize the opportunity found in the path of aloha. An enthusiastic 999-33-7777 (see chapter 6) is my response when asked if you should read this stellar book. While sharing my enthusiastic book review over breakfast with my husband, he replied, 'Ah, so this is not a how-to manual, it’s a how-to-become manual.'"
—Pam Omidyar, The Omidyar Group

About the Author

Norma Wong, a life-long resident of Hawaiʻi, is a descendant of Native Hawaiians and Hakka Chinese immigrants. She has decades of experience in organizing, policy, strategy, and politics in Hawaiʻi, particularly in the area of Native Hawaiian issues, serving in the Hawaii State Legislature and as a policy lead and negotiator for Governor John Waiheʻe, Hawaiʻi’s first Native governor. Norma began her spiritual practice at the same time as her political life unfolded. These days, it is the intertwined application of Zen practice and an indigenous worldview that Norma brings to provoke practical inquiry and redirect work. She is a thought partner, a strategist, and a teacher.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0F88XKCSC
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ North Atlantic Books
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 10, 2026
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 136 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8889843214
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.3 x 8.49 inches
  • Best Sellers Rank: #151,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars (18)

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Norma Wong

Norma Wong

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Norma Wong (Norma Ryuko Kawelokū Wong Roshi) is a Native Hawaiian and Hakka life-long resident of Hawaiʻi. She is the abbot of Anko-in, an independent branch temple of Daihonzan Chozen-ji and serves practice communities in Hawai‘i, across the continental U.S., and in Toronto, Canada. She is an 86th generation Zen Master, having trained at Chozen-ji for over 40 years.

In earlier years, Wong served as a Hawai‘i state legislator, on the policy and strategy team for Governor John Waihee with federal and Native Hawaiian portfolios. She led teams to negotiate agreements on the munitions cleanup of Kahoʻolawe Island, ceded land revenue for Native Hawaiians, and the return of lands and settlement of land issues for Hawaiian Home Lands. She was active in electoral politics for over thirty years.

In recent years, Wong has been called back into service to facilitate breaking the impasse and transforming policy and governance on issues of seeming contradiction. In the conflict between native culture/science and western discovery science posing as a dispute over the construction of a telescope on Mauna Kea, Wong was a team member narrating and facilitating a path forward through mutual stewardship. She is currently an advisor to Speaker of the Hawai‘i House of Representatives Scott Saiki, serving in policy development and facilitation roles on issues such as the protection of the aquifer from fuel contamination at Red Hill, and the long-term response to the Lahaina wildfires.

Norma has spent many years in the applied space – the direct application of indigenous and Zen ways, values and practices to living and transformational change critical to our times. Norma is part of the Collective Acceleration community of practice.

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