by Blair Gelbond
We hope in these pieces to look forward to the daunting marathon ahead. As a species we face a nearly overwhelming and frankly frightening cluster of conundrums. While our attention may be given to the politics and catastrophes of the day, we will not be thinking much about the upcoming decades. But the problems we are facing are not going away and, if we proceed with business as usual, are likely to worsen.
Although Donald Trump has left the White House, he and many other neofascists continue their destructive trajectory. He has evoked the demons in the most character-disordered among us. He has also given cover to influential sociopathic personality disorders and those harboring the desire to abuse power. Many of us understand that the American experiment in democracy is teetering on the edge and during the next election cycles may well be damaged beyond repair.
Such an outcome will invariably speed up other deadly threats that are already present: the collapse of world civilization and the destruction of much of the Biosphere. The deep-seated drive to destroy will predictably synchronize in a ghastly way with the devastation the world systems we have so far taken for granted: species diversity, access to food, fuel and water, a relatively stable climate, and economic (even though grossly inequitable) stability.
Many of us still do not want to hear this: in the next decades the human species will be facing some grim realities. We may tell ourselves that this description is hyperbole, exaggeration or hysteria.
We may be able to slow down some of the more shocking realities, but given the insane, obscene greed of corporations and our own penchant for inertia and denial, it appears that a massive breakdown is coming.
Human population and consumption are increasing at the same time as essential resources, such as freshwater, fish stocks, topsoil and oil reserves, are in decline. While reversals in the economy have left many feeling desperate about how they are going to manage, trillions of dollars are spent on the making of war. It is no surprise that so many of us are experiencing a profound loss of confidence in the future. We no longer can take for granted that the resources on which we depend - food, fuel, and drinkable water - will be available. Or even that our civilization will survive or that conditions on our planet will remain hospitable for complex forms of life.
Given the complexity of the situation, it can seem quite appealing to remain ignore-ant, addicted to keeping busy and remaining distracted - even with the news of the day.
We are facing the persistence of a global nuclear threat and bioweapons, environmental degradation the world over, overpopulation and an apparent de-population strategy, the widening gap between and the rich and the poor around the world, and the role of malignant narcissist political, military and business leaders. All these need to be regarded in light of the inter-retroactions between these and other problems, crises, and threats. When taken together this state of affairs can be accurately labeled "a poly-crisis."
As if hypnotized, we are rushing as fast as possible toward self-destruction and destruction of the Biosphere. We seem to be suffering from a monomaniacal persistence in error and a stubborn inability to learn from our mistakes. We are acting out our destructive impulses virtually without restraint. We are attacking the continued viability of life on Earth in so many different ways that it seems as if we are determined to make our suicide attempts be successful.
We are truly living through the beginning of a world-transforming evolutionary crisis, a planetary rite of passage.
To see our predicament from this perspective may be the first step in using our situation much like a tribal initiation - capable of functioning as an ordeal that will help catalyze our maturity.
Whether the human species and the Biosphere will remain viable remains to be seen.
As the world crisis deepens, we will need to learn to honor our pain for the world and bring our compassion to bear on daily life. Simple as it may sound, what we need is to open our hearts and experience the tender love we often feel for our animal companions and the affection they reciprocate. Without rejecting what we have learned in life, we each can rediscover our innocence. Our actions to preserve our world need to come from this place.
The obvious question for each of us to ask ourselves and each other: How can we strengthen and support our intention to act so we can best play our part in healing our world?
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