When No Thing Works

A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse

By: Norma Wong

Narrated by: Norma Wong, Na'alehu Anthony

Between falling apart and coming together lies the threshold—step through with a Zen master's invitation to practice hope in chaotic times.

Take a breath. Take a step.

In this time of collective acceleration—when institutions crumble, climate chaos intensifies, and polarization hardens hearts—Zen Rōshi and Native Hawaiian guide Norma Wong offers something different than solutions. She offers a way of being.

Part poetry, part strategy, part spiritual teaching, When No Thing Works reads like sitting with a wise friend who sees both the falling-apartness and what's arising. With stories that spiral and return, with humor that lightens without dismissing, Wong invites us to:

• Lift our gaze from urgent chaos to see the horizon beckoning
• Move from "I" to "we" through breaking bread, sipping tea, sharing stories
• Find the critical juncture (机) where change begins
• Practice the leaps that collective transformation requires—not alone, but as "one and one and one"

Rather than offering answers, Wong opens doorways—showing us how to be at the threshold between a devolving world and an emergent one, how to hear what cannot be heard, how to move in the slipstream of these times with both urgency and patience.

For those feeling the weight of "too much going much faster," for those seeking a different rhythm, for those ready to cocreate rather than merely resist—this book is invitation and companion.

"What we do with this, matters."

Brilliant

This book changed my perspective in fundamental ways and helped me feel more hopeful about possibilities for humanity’s future.