- This past week I attended another screening of "What A Way To Go: Life At The
End Of Empire" [1]. My intention was not to see the documentary
yet again-perhaps for the fifteenth time, but to support the film makers,
my friends Sally Erickson and Tim Bennett, who were completing the last
leg of their West Coast screening tour in my state. However, I did watch
most of the film again, and this time, my experience was different. No
doubt that had something to do with the walk Tim and I took during part
of the film, bouncing around the narrow, vintage streets of Silver City,
New Mexico and filling our lungs with the chilly night air. Maybe it was
Tim's comment that when people ask "What can I do?" they don't
really want the truth but rather ten easy steps that will require no sacrifice,
no pain, and certainly no change of lifestyle.
-
- Tim's comment resonated with my experience in teaching
history to college students who incessantly ask, "But what can we
do?" when I systematically lay out the reality of the corporatocracy
the United States has become, energy depletion, climate change, and of
course, the police state in which we now reside. When I answer the students
with my perception of options rather than solutions, they tend to sink
in their chairs and tell me that they feel overwhelmed not only with the
daunting reality of the planetary situation but even worse, that they wanted
me to offer them "hope", and are disappointed that I instead
offer them responsibility. I tell them that since I don't have any "hope"
it would be disingenuous of me to attempt to offer it to anyone else.
-
- Along with showing them "What A Way To Go",
I've been showing another documentary lately, "Escape
From Suburbia"[2] which focuses on individuals and communities
who are either relocating to other countries or areas of the U.S. or are
digging in to relocalize their communities for sustainable living. It seems
that when students or most Americans for that matter realize the enormous
personal responsibility that telling the whole truth about the collapse
of civilization requires and the commitment, courage, and action that is
necessary in order to navigate collapse, they can't wait to turn their
attention elsewhere. Perhaps if they don't think about it, it will all
go away-or so they wish.
-
- By the end of the semester my students usually realize
that the future they thought they had doesn't exist, and they admit, albeit
reluctantly, that the class has caused them to ponder profoundly their
career path, their values, their desire to have children, and the very
reasons they are on the planet. While it's true that they may leave my
class and repress everything they learned, it's also true that they will
not be totally surprised by collapse and that they will have some tools
for preparation they might not have otherwise had.
-
-
- What The Question "What Can I Do?" Prevents
Us From Experiencing
-
- As I teach, write, and travel throughout America, I have
come to understand that Tim was right: No one who asks "What can I
do?" really wants an answer-at least not a real answer. For this reason,
the charade of political candidates, elections, and the corporate media
that guarantees the success of that particular con game has hypnotically
entranced the electorate who overwhelmingly prefer to remain delusional.
The majority take little interest in the candidates anyway, perceiving
them as yet another group of celebrities. Yet even more delusional are
those who call themselves progressive. These individuals are desperate
to keep the show on the road and sanction its validity, and they are the
ones who least want to know the answer to "What can I do?" because
of what it would cost them. Consequently, they must pre-occupy themselves
with "solutions" that have nothing to do with the actual state
of the earth and its inhabitants but which offer a false sense of making
a difference. When I think of them, I cannot help but note that as the
Titanic was sinking it would have made no difference if hundreds of its
passengers had collected endless buckets of water the ship had taken on
and emptied it back into the sea, but it may have provided them with a
momentary sense of participating in a "solution."
-
- Tenaciously grasping for solutions serves no other purpose
at this point in human history than distracting us from the myriad layers
of feelings we have regarding the death of planet earth. As Americans we
are more afflicted with "death phobia" than are other cultures
around the world. Most indigenous traditions have some sort of "good
day to die" perspective, but we heroically persevere in our war on
death. It seems this is what Tim Bennett meant earlier this year when he
wrote a blog piece in which he stated that the switch had flipped and that
it is now time to let go of the shore, sailing into the unknown in the
lifeboats we have created. As we do so, we exit the paradigm of suicide
and opt for survival, knowing all the while that there are no guarantees
that we will not succumb.
-
- Whereas many collapse watchers disparage feeling feelings
as extraneous and insist that we must focus on taking action dispassionately,
I argue that action must be informed by emotion. Otherwise, we will only
perpetuate the paradigm of doing estranged from feeling, that is, living
from the head while disowning the heart-one of the fundamental premises
of the culture of civilization which has brought us to where we are now.
Thus, as one part of us may minimize the importance of our actions being
informed by emotion, the seasoned sage in us must continually ask ourselves
how different we want the new world/community/individual that we are becoming
and shaping to be? If we merely pour new wine into old bottles, we fundamentally
change nothing. If we take action without feeling the full impact of our
fear, grief, and anger, as well as our gratitude for what resources we
do have in our lives, we are likely to re-create the culture of empire
in another form elsewhere.
-
- Lose The Word "Solutions"; Embrace The Notion
Of "Options"
-
- At the same time that I'm pleading for the end of "solution
obsession", I'm suggesting re-focusing on options. We cannot "solve"
the issues of climate change, energy depletion, species die-off, global
pandemics, global government, or the rampant proliferation of fascism.
For those awaiting a mass awakening or mass resistance, I fear you wait
in vain. We would be hard-pressed to find any population in the history
of the human race that is as comatose as that of the United States in this
moment. In my opinion, focusing on "mass" anything is the opposite
of where our attention must be, namely, local and community survival. Notice,
I did not say local "solutions" but rather, survival. As I have
stated repeatedly, the issues are: Who do I want to be in the face of collapse?
Who do I love and trust and want to share my life with? Who do I need to
reach out to in order to enhance all of our well being? As the "I"
becomes "we", we all must ask: Do we need to remain where we
are in order to survive, or do we need to go elsewhere? What actions should
we be taking? Have we put in place a structure or process for practicing
and improving our communication skills and resolving conflict? What is
our level of food and water security? What is our access to alternative
or traditional medicine?
-
- These are merely a few of the plethora of questions that
must be addressed, and putting our attention on "solutions" will
only distract us from doing so. In other words, "What can I do?"
is not only not useful, it could actually get you dead.
-
- More Options
-
- I borrow again from the film makers of "What A Way
To Go" when I offer "Five Things You Can Do" from their
website:
-
- ·1) "Fully acknowledge and internalize
that the culture of Empire is destroying the support systems on which the
community of life depends, and robbing us of our essential humanity."
-
- I suggest mulling the words "internalize" and
"humanity." Then ask yourself how electing presidential or Congressional
candidates, not unlike putting lipstick on a pig, can stop the evisceration
of your essential humanity. Ponder the system that nominates and owns those
candidates and determines their political positions during their terms
in office. Notice that all candidates, in order to be nominated or elected,
must participate in the evisceration of your humanity.
-
- ·2) "Talk about your concerns with everyone
you know." Notice
-
- their reactions. Notice the incredulity, the apathy,
the denial, the false hopes of "solutions." Then notice how
you feel. Notice also the individuals who hear you and sense that what
you are feeling is valid because they feel it too. Continue to connect
with those individuals; they are inestimably valuable to you.
-
- ·3) "Find your work in the world to preserve
life, change this culture
-
- and /or create restorative ways for individuals and communities to
live in harmony with each other and the non-human world."
-
- Start asking yourself why you are here. What did you
come here to do? Why did you show up on planet earth at this time and not
another?
-
- ·4) "Assess what you actually need during
this transition in order to
-
- live and do your work. Only buy what you need and buy
from local sources in order to support the creation of local economies."
To what extent are you powering down and simplifying your life? Do you
know your neighbors? Local farmers? Local business people?
-
- ·5) "Find or deepen your spiritual connection
to that which is greater
-
- than you. Ask and then listen for guidance about how
to live joyfully and creatively in the face of these unprecedented
times."
-
- Notice that none of these has anything to do with
mass movements or political candidates. In fact, they are all about you
and your internal and local worlds. Could it be that for some of us it
might be easier if the options were all about the macrocosm instead of
the microcosm? Is it not more comfortable to focus on mass movements and
political candidates instead of the personal responsibility that collapse
throws in our faces?
-
- Options Engender Opportunities
-
- Collapse is a multi-faceted word which I frequently use
in my writing and speaking. It is important to use the word and not resist
it because the entire construct of civilization is collapsing in front
of our eyes. For example, the U.S. has not "entered a recession"
but rather the first stages of global economic collapse. Our public schools
are not merely turning out undereducated students, the entire educational
system is collapsing. It's not that energy depletion will make it more
difficult to "grow our economy," but rather that in reality,
growth is over! Although we refuse to recognize our limits on planet earth,
planet earth is setting limits whether we like it or not. As James Howard
Kunstler says in "Escape From Suburbia" in response to Dick Cheney's
maxim that "The American way of life is not negotiable," if we
refuse to negotiate our way of life, then energy depletion will make sure
that we get a new negotiating partner called "reality."
-
- When we refuse to accept the fact of collapse, we armor
ourselves from endless opportunities for personal and community growth.
Perhaps other collapse watchers would prefer not to hear about "opportunities"
inherent in collapse, but I feel compelled to name them!
-
- I would be the first to admit the possibility that nuclear
war may erase all potential for human survival as collapse more fully unfolds.
However, I would also adamantly insist that it may not be inevitable and
that local communities and families who have consciously prepared for collapse
can not only navigate it but create mini-societies where an entirely new
paradigm prevails. In the latter scenario unimaginable opportunities (a
word very closely connected with "options") abound for remaking
human relationships, human connection with the earth and the non-human
world, and the reclaiming of our ancient memory of living within limits
as partners with, not dominators of, the earth.
-
- Paradoxically, "solutions" obfuscate opportunities
whereas options nurture them. Not only is it too late for "solutions"
but the process of collapse, which is well underway, challenges us to revere
and seize options in which reside unfathomable opportunities. The switch
has been flipped; there's no turning back to antiquated means of addressing
unprecedented challenges. Time to stop asking "What can I do?"
and start doing the five things you can. It could mean the difference between
suicide and survival.
-
-
-
- http://carolynbaker.net/site/#_ednref1[1]
- See
- http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/03/01/p14846
- review of "What A Way To Go: Life At The End Of
Empire" by Carolyn Baker
-
- http://carolynbaker.net/site/#_ednref2
- [2] See
- http://www.energybulletin.net/35377.html
- review of "Escape From Suburbia" by Mick Winter
-
- http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/203
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