Interesting, isn’t it, that mainstream economists need a so-called
economic guru like Alan Greenspan to confirm that the U.S. economy is
in recession? If the maestro says it is so, then it is. If he doesn’t,
then the “downturn” has a silver lining. And now we have the Treasury
Secretary, Hank Paulson, stating what the American public has known all
too well during the past year: “The economy has taken a sharp
downturn.” Gee, Mr. Paulson, you get the understatement of the year
award because what Americans have also discovered is that the middle
class is now almost extinct after only a few decades of having
one—thanks to you and your friends at Goldman Sachs.
No one walking away from a foreclosed home, no one declaring
bankruptcy, no uninsured person staring in the face tens or hundreds of
thousands of dollars in medical bills needs a maestro or any other
member of the ruling elite to tell them that not only are we in a
recession, but we are on a fast-track to a depression that is going to
make 1929 look like living in the lap of luxury. It’s called the
collapse of Western civilization, and it is well underway.
Oh, you don’t like my use of the word “collapse”? Then please listen
up.
One of the most inspiring but also heart-wrenching stories I’ve seen
this past week when Truth To Power was in the midst of its spring
fundraiser and was not reporting much news was the CBS report on
Tennessee-based Remote Area Medical’s efforts to bring health and
dental care to the uninsured or underinsured not only throughout the
world, but now more than ever, in the U.S. As I watched this must-see
video clip, my heart soared, even as I wept. What was confirmed in
every cell of my body was that the American healthcare system has
already collapsed, and that every other institution in this nation is
rapidly succumbing to the domino effect of empire’s unequivocal
unraveling. Watch the CBS report for yourself, and I’m certain you will
agree.
In looking honestly at these realities, it is impossible not to feel
fearful, and some may once again accuse me of fear-mongering. However,
I argue that fear is not necessarily a negative emotion or an
unproductive waste of energy. I’m not talking about fear for the sake
of fear, but rather, fear as a motivator—fear as a force that compels
us to act. Gavin De Becker’s 1997 book The Gift Of Fear was written to
assist readers in detecting violent behavior in the workplace, in the
street, or in the home, for the purpose of protecting themselves. In
contemplating collapse we are not dealing up close and personal with
violence—at least not in this stage of collapse, as much as we are
attempting to read the signals it is sending so that we may wisely
prepare ourselves for navigating it. Among the author’s suggestions
are:
• Recognizing the survival signals that warn us of impending danger
• Relying on our intuition
• Separating real from imagined danger
• Moving beyond denial so that one can tune in to one’s intuition
As we witness collapse and experience its impact on our lives, the
fundamental concept of De Becker’s book may serve us well. He argues
that fear is an evolutionary gift imbedded in our DNA for the purpose
of assisting our survival. Becoming overwhelmed with it or wallowing in
it is indeed not useful, but neither is attempting to hermetically seal
ourselves off from it. In fact, as De Becker argues, fear helps us move
out of denial so that we can really tune into our intuition which
facilitates our becoming proactive on our own behalf. What we need is
not exemption from fear but a way of integrating it into our current
reality in balance with other emotions.
What I want the reader to understand is that collapse is already
happening. Your resentment of the word doesn’t change the fact that it
is occurring. Like Greenspan and Paulson, we all have the option of
masking the realities of meltdown and continuing to wait for someone or
something to “prove” to us that the world as we have known it is over.
Is talking about collapse scary? You bet. Does that mean we should
avoid the word or “re-frame”
it into something more “acceptable.” Only if we insist on living in
denial. If we feel fear about collapse, does that mean that we are
“living in fear”? Only if we feel nothing else about it except fear and
allow the fear to paralyze us.
OK, so collapse is happening, it’s real, and it’s going to get worse.
So now what? How can I utilize that fear to take action? Keeping in
mind that this is all scary to talk about, let’s feel the fear and keep
talking.
The first step, in my opinion, is to take a long, hard look at what
action, in the face of the collapse of Western civilization, is
realistic and truly useful. I believe we must approach this on two
levels. First, what will actually make a difference in the world at
large? Will using cloth shopping bags, changing my light bulbs, or
shopping locally make a difference in the macrocosm? Quite frankly,
probably not, although these may facilitate one’s adaptation to a
drastically new way of life and make that transition less traumatic.
But then I must ask myself what my intention is. Am I trying to prevent
the collapse that is already in progress? Am I trying to make it less
severe than if I did nothing? Do I think I have some control over the
collapse missile now that it has been launched and probably has a life
of its own? If I don’t have control—if control of the macrocosmic
outcome isn’t even possible, how does that feel? Even more scary? OK,
so let’s step back from the macrocosm for a moment and make this more
personal.
Let’s address the second level, my personal and immediate milieu. Who
and what is in my personal world? Who do I love and trust and want to
share my life with? What fears come up as I think about this? Fear that
I can’t talk to them about collapse? Fear that I will lose them, and
they will lose me? Fear of separation from loved ones? Fear of making
major changes like relocation, scaling down, bankruptcy, losing
insurance, quitting a job or losing it? Ooops, I think we’ve hit the
big one: Fear of death—well, maybe not literal death, maybe not the
“big one” but fear of the “little deaths” of loss which may feel like
the “big death” of our own extinction. OK, time to take several deep
breaths. As we hit this rock-bottom fear, we must now ask ourselves if
our ultimate objective in facing, talking about, and preparing for
collapse is pure survival, or if it’s larger than that. You see, this
is the part that many people who are talking about “collapse
preparation” fail to discuss. It’s much easier to talk about
stockpiling food and water or where one is going to invest one’s money
or how one is going to purchase precious metals or what skills one
needs to learn for survival. It is far more risky and scary to talk
about emotional and spiritual preparation for collapse. All of the
other preparations are pretty much about making rational decisions
based on adequate information. But when we begin preparing our souls
for collapse, we’re in a completely different dimension, and I argue,
the most frightening as well as the most replete with potential.
Potential for what?
The moment we begin discussing collapse and the notion of preparing for
or surviving it, we enter the territory of meaning and purpose. Like
someone stranded on a desert island or trapped in a downed airplane
miles from nowhere, we are faced with those troubling “Who am I?” and
“Why am I here?” questions that civilization has so masterfully
assisted us in escaping. It is because humans have evaded and avoided
dealing with those questions that we have created cesspools of
government and financial corruption, the depletion of virtually all of
earth’s resources, the extinction of 200 species per day, oceanic dead
zones the size of some states, the horror of genetically modified
foods, and the destruction of our own and the earth’s immune systems.
In a recent teleseminar offered by Life After The Oil Crash, Dmitry
Orlov, author of the forthcoming Re-Inventing Collapse and a series of
articles highlighting the similarities between the collapse of the
Soviet Union and the collapse of the U.S., stated
that more important than figuring out where we’re going to put our
money or deciding where we might relocate is our psychological
preparation for collapse. If we are not working on that aspect of
preparation, then we are likely to discover that other forms of
preparation do not fortify us in the ways we had hoped.
If we continue to avoid dealing with the reality of collapse, we get to
escape those troubling “Who am I and why am I here?” questions a little
longer and thereby perpetuate the underlying cause of the nightmares we
have created for ourselves and for succeeding generations. On the other
hand, if we are willing to talk about collapse, live and work with it
alongside all of the other aspects of our lives that bring us joy and
meaning, we open ourselves to a stunning opportunity that we may never
have discovered were it not for the end of the world as we have known
it.
There is very little we can do about collapse, but there is much that
we can do with it. That does not necessarily mean that we can create a
clean, compassionate, just, humane planet in our lifetime. I believe
that to presume we can do so without the demise of Western civilization
is an illusion. Unfortunately, empire has set the earth community up
for dissolution, and collapse will bring forth the “great sorting out”
but hardly in ways we’d prefer.
Bearing in mind the poet’s political incorrectness around gender and
possibly the reader’s sensitivity to the “G” (God) word, I offer the
words of Rilke: At once the winged energy of delight Carried you over
childhood’s dark abysses, Now beyond your own life build the great Arch
of unimagined bridges. Wonders happen if we can succeed In passing
through the harshest danger; But only in a bright and purely granted
Achievement can we realize the wonder. To work with Things in the
indescribable Relationship is not too hard for us; The pattern grows
more intricate and subtle. And being swept along is not enough. Take
your practiced powers and stretch them out Until they span the chasm
between the two Contradictions…For the god Wants to know himself in
you.
The world we wanted to have is not within our reach; the world we
deeply dread is upon us. Meanwhile, the world we have known, ugly as it
may be but nevertheless familiar, is vanishing before our eyes. Herein
lies an opportunity to experience deeper layers of who we really are
and what we are really made of. Collapse is compelling us to confront
these issues, whether we want to or feel ready to do so or not. While I
do not welcome the suffering this will entail, I do welcome the
transformation of human consciousness and thus the evolutionary quantum
leap it may offer us. For a deeper understanding of this metamorphosis,
I highly recommend an article that Truth To Power sent to subscribers
earlier this week by Sarah Edwards and Linda Buzell entitled, “The
Waking Up Synrdome.” It confirms that instead of being the enemy, fear
may be a powerful ally. If we can face the fear and take action, we may
be able to “build the great arch of unimagined bridges.”