Coping with Collapse
There has been a lot of talk about various forms of “collapse” lately -- economic, ecological, political -- and many of us are involved in ongoing conversations, arguments, debates, and the like about said same.
Well, whether or not you’re talking about it, you’re more than likely thinking about it. Here are four articles that address, in some form, the main “collapse” themes we have been discussing over the last six months, and how we might want to respond to these growing realizations. They contain incredible nuggets of wisdom and information. Each presents a very different kind of approach about coping with our current predicament, along with unique, honest and certainly surprising perspectives on hope and optimism. I don’t agree with everything that is said here (particularly in the Gitlin/Monbiot interview) , but I think these are honest and say a lot, and I have found them incredibly helpful. I hope you do too.
# # # #
“Economic and planetary collapse: Is it a therapeutic issue?” by Kathy McMahon, Psy.D.
A study of Panglossian Disorders and Their Subtypes (“Panglossian Disorder” - (n.) “The neurotic tendency toward extreme optimism in the face of likely cultural and planetary collapse)
"Recession, Depression, Collapse: What's Fear Got To Do With It?"
by Carolyn Baker
"The Waking Up Syndrome"
by Sarah Anne Edwards and Linda Buzzell
"How to be Radical? - An interview with Todd Gitlin and George Monbiot"
Here, leading voices of different generations – Todd Gitlin (‘Letters to a Young Activist’) and George Monbiot (‘The Age of Consent’) – discuss activism, nationalism, violence, and world government in an interview with Anthony Barnett and Caspar Henderson of openDemocracy.
- 9-23-08
- Charles Shaw's blog
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Action now
I don’t think for a minute that what is going on in the markets is unintentional. Furthermore I think it’s another step in the unwinding of our liberties.
I’ve asked myself time and again what’s going on with this never ending succession of crazy steps that US and UK government keep taking into war, civil injustice and ecological negligence and I can only conclude (given assessment of the information available through a variety of sources) that it is part of a longer program - I don’t have any answer to what that might be, but I know I’d like to try for an alternative.
I think it’s almost crunch time. I think the time to actually do something is overdue. So many things are going to slip…and soon. We can’t stop that but can we hook up now to at least be practical?
I’m in London and wish to start a loose network in the city of like minds that could at least formulate ideas based on our local circumstances.
I’ve written and re-written that last sentence because, even now, it seems unreal. Anybody in?
thatriverthing@hotmail.co.uk
An crash course introduction to interconnectivity. pun intended
I find this collapse interesting as an expression of the conflict of idea that is the heated topic of our current age.
The blame game is being played, all sides wanting to find blame on the other. This is an act both of projection and an example of how we got into this problem in the first place. WE ARE ALL TO BLAME FOR THIS CRISIS.
Our economy is a synergy of our society. Our society is based upon win lose troubleshooting and problem solving. this manifests as the blame game.
Just because we support a progressive idea or two does not mean that we are immune from this responsibility. http://www.highintelligence.com
Point taken, bubblefish,
Point taken, bubblefish, but i don't hear many thinking people saying that they are somehow above the fray and not thoroughly implicated in the most serious of the problems that affect us.
If you wear mass-produced clothing, eat food produced on a factory farm, drive a car to work, or use electricity produced by burning coal, you are contributing to ecological collapse. Maybe by driving a Prius, eating vegetarian, and assiduously policing your light switches, you're a little less heinous than the McDonald's eating, SUV-driving dude in the lane next to you, who left enough light on at home to be seen from outer space. But, you're implicated.
If you have a banking/checking account or own stock or have a retirement account, you have been, however unwillingly, providing liquid assets to the very people whose greed has brought on the economic debacle that's been unfolding for the past year.
The vexing question is: what realistic choices does any of us have? Just to live and work in the world as it currently exists, one must kill other entities to live, consume natural resources, provide money in the form of taxes and investments to war-mongers and greedy bastards, and hasten the day (probably less than 2 decades away) when the lack of cheap oil destroys the global economy and casts us all on our own resources for survival in a world where even food and clothing cannot be shipped from point A to our neighborhoods.
Barring some magical transformation in consciousness and replenishment of natural resources, a Collapse and a die-off seem inevitable. At which point, who cares, really, who is to blame?
proteus
The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, & breeds reptiles of the mind. —William Blake, "The Marriage of Heaven & Hell"
Jump out the way
As vexed as I am regarding these numerous axes above my neck, I reckon i'll at least wriggle on the block.
If we really do believe the situation is as bad as we think what have we got to lose?
Otherwise we're only picking a collective scab
You know at first I didn't get you...
...but now you make more sense than most people. >:0)
Thanks, CJ.
It's weird. When I first put that post together, last winter '07, I was full of fear and anxiety about the collapse.
Now, I have accepted it and am working on how to survive it.
Once you let go, everything follows with complete certainty, even in the midst of chaos.
Charles Shaw
Contributing Writer - Reality Sandwich
...to those of us who see ourselves as enlightened.
Wow, I'm just thankful for a workday that has allowed me to read all four of these pieces. The final bit in the last article was perfect:
"The only people available to change the world are the people now living in it, with all the beliefs they bring along – however retrograde those beliefs may appear to those of us who see ourselves as enlightened."
The Bums Lost :(
compelled to collapse
This quote from the 2nd article pretty well summed up my feelings
"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."
Why is it so hard to grasp?
Indeed. "The people” have been conned. Once again... (sigh)
Some of us know that what's been happening (Iraq, 9/11 et al) has all been *carefully planned* for many, MANY decades, if not LONGER… It’s another CON in a long line of cons, in fact.
Fact is, boys and girls, the destruction of the economy is just another step on the march towards a One World Dictatorship (not “government”).
Why is this so hard for the masses to SEE? I mean, it's ALL out in the open – IF one happens to be Awake and Aware, of course.
Here. I'll explain it in case some are still in the dark: You see, first “THEY” SYMBOLICALLY brought down the PILLARS of the World Trade (center) on September 11th, 2001 (the Twin Towers).
Now, in 2008, the World Economy is being brought down just AS planned and *related* to 9/11. Starting with the mighty USA (the USA is now reminiscent of the Titanic, which, supposedly, not even God could sink)…
Ironically, folks keep talking about a “super leap in consciousness” that is going to result from all this mess that has been CREATED for you and your families. Well guess, what? When THEY get through with what’s happening (stealing through ponzy schemes and imaginary numbers, murdering innocent women, men, and children in so called “wars,” lying – I could go on and on...) it WILL be a superleap... into a whole “new world:” the New World Order!! (to use a jazzy term used by poppy Boosh from a speech given in 1991).
Don't be a fool: it is THEIR “Freedom Tower” that is being built over at Ground Zero. (It will SYMBOLIZE their *independence* from us "the people" - at 1,776 feet in height, don't you know. After this, THEY will do *anything* they DESIRE with "the people," as THEY will be the new Law (and **owners**) of the Land. (can you say emminent domain, anyone?) "Coincidently," the Freedom Tower will be *inaugurated* in the year 2 - 0 - 1 - 2... to go with THEIR leap into a new reality. THEIRS. Okay?
(Another "coincidence" is Whitley Stribber's new book, 2012, when, according to this novel, reptilians having been at war with humans, go on to take over the world...)
Indeed. They do intend on The World (like the tarot card) – OWNING everything and everyone in it!
(Sadly, They already OWN Americans (THEIR "cash cows"). The cattle are you and me, your kids, your grand kids, and even your grand kids' kid's kid's... to the tune of SEVERAL TRILLION dollars which they cannot ever repay. Americans have been living on CREDIT, including credit for all the so called “wars” (read: unprovoked *attacks*). Again, these TRILLIONS (with interest accruing every day) cannot ever, EVER be repaid! Not the interest, not the principal. It is mathematically IMPOSSIBLE given our "monetary system." HA! In other words, and to quote the immortal words of Public Health profesional and author Dr. Leonard Horowitz (www.tetrahedron.org)
"Time to wake up folks... We've been HAD!"
What’s more, since “the American people” DID NOT hit the streets in droves and by the MILLIONS in protest to the 9/11 BIG LIE (vaporized airplanes.... pulverized 110-story buildings from "fire and jet fuel," etc) and DEMANDED justice for our brothers and sisters who were mass murdered on 9/11 in cold blood (and live on TV), then guess what's going to happen as a result of this? What do you think the KARMA of this *innaction* on our part will be?
I'll tell you this: What’s coming around the corner (next year at the latest) is the result of wishful thinking, immaturity, and the ILLUSION of having "knowledge." (Hint: the 1930’s Depression together with VERY similar happenings in Nazi Germany during Hitler's time (and worse, which I don't want to get to, as it will scare the heck out of all of you) was a *rehearsal* for what’s coming...)
And nothing can or will be done or change about ANY of this UNTIL the **psychopaths** responsible for the engineering of this soon-to-be catastrophic world wide mess are brought to justice! Nothing.
Some folks think that ignorance is bliss... so they don't want to know about any of what I'm saying. They think, "Out of sight, out of mind." Others are deluded enough to think that this November they will help things turn around by voting! Oh really? With rigged elections and *paperless* touch screen voting??!!! Ha!
When will these folks wake up and grow up? There is NO Santa Claus!!!! (Didn't you know?) No "good folks" that want to help you and your community by taking public office and working for you, "the people."
After all these years and all the shannanigans some of you (most??) still don't get it? Here. Here’s some reality for those still hoping that “voting” is going to help accomplish or do anything at all…
America's political system is a large and complex criminal conspiracy. Most voters enable it without benefiting from it. Voting is a ploy of the two-party power elites to keep the population docile, delusional and duped. Our government has been hijacked in plain sight, despite elections. We cannot get it back by voting. All the main candidates are part of the conspiracy. Voting only encourages them. In our fake democracy corrupt politicians use doses of voting as a political narcotic. We must free more Americans of the addiction. Otherwise they will keep hallucinating that some Democratic or Republican President or controlled Congress will actually give us the changes we crave for.
More at:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/433426/
voting_as_political_narcotic.html
So "voting," is going to do it, eh?
Hmmm. Wishful thinking DOES get you EVERY TIME, don’t it?
I know you're angry...
Yep. I'm angry and upset...
Somantics wrote:
but given the far reaching autocracy you're decribing where could you go to get the justice you seek?
Exactly. THIS is one of the many reasons for my state of mind. It seems as there is no way out.
Given my field of research, I delve into the paranormal/supernatural. From a September 3, 2008 ouija board session done over in France... ("Q" for question, "A" for answer)
Session Date: September 3rd 2008
(List of those present deleted for privacy)
(planchette begins to move... )
A: USA heading for destruction!
Q: (L) Hello. Can we say hello first?
A: Hello
Q: (L) And who do we have with us this evening?
A: Yeaionnia of Cassiopaea.
Q: (L) Do you transmit through Cassiopaea?
A: Yes
Q: (L) Okay. Why do you introduce tonight's adventures with "US is headed for destruction"?
A: Passed the point when anything could possibly be done to change the outcome.
Q: (L) What is this outcome?
A: Increasing inner turmoil. Review what happened in Germany.
Q: (L) Well, what happened in Germany in what period?
A: Towards the end of the war. Hitler's madness and the hatred of the world towards Germany.
Q: (L) Wasn't a pretty picture, was it? (J) In Germany, the rest of the world bombed Germany...
A: Yes. Expect it in the USA ultimately.
Q: (J) Would that be nuclear bombs?
A: And more.
Then, after the anger comes depression and sadness. And then I get ANGRY again...
EDIT: From Democracy Now, September 22:
Beginning in October, the Army plans to station an active unit inside the United States for the first time to serve as an on-call federal response in times of emergency. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent thirty-five of the last sixty months in Iraq, but now the unit is training for domestic operations. The unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. The Army Times reports this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control. The soldiers are learning to use so-called nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds.
Somethings happening here
You’ll have to accept the sick machinations of our society – we’re outraged and many people are increasingly sharing that emotion – but you’ll drive your self mad contemplating every single crime; there are so damn many since the second world war.
I don’t believe much framed by all these rectangles we peer into but I do believe there is a real network of like minds emerging out of the frictions of these problems. The only consolation we have is that we’re finding each other and that is something to embrace. There’s a real opportunity now to shift the direction we’re going in.
No matter how annoyed I get as I’m pummelled daily by headlines, I know that possibility exists.
Energy descent
Hi there
Permaculture co-founder David Holmgren has an interesting and I believe ultimately positive vision for life after the peak oil/consumer age we live in. It's summed up eloquently at this site: www.futurescenarios.org
He can also be found explaining the same thing verbally on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFjFG24BeX8 keywords 'beyond sustainability' if that link doesn't work
Towards ecotopia! It is true there will be collapses, and attempts by the unscrupulous, the narrow minded, the power hungry and lazy to exploit others and hang onto this linear, draining, materialistic way of life, but they will fail in the end. The power of love will overcome the love of power because it will endure. Mothers and Mother earth keep the shambling, shameful apparatus from collapsing right now!
They patiently wait for the little men to come down from their intoxicated state and take a look around. There is no better teacher than Nature. If you want an antidote to anthropo-information overload, take a look outside at millions of years of evolution happily providing your oxygen or breaking down waste or just looking beautiful. It is said experience realises what words and ideas imagine... bring on the experiences!
AS OF LAST NIGHT -- USA UNDER MARSHALL LAW???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7B4laX1E70&eurl=http://lj-toys.com/?journalid=15486053&moduleid=712&preview
=&auth_token=sessionless:1222635600:
embedconten
If true, it would explain this...
"Why is a U.S. Army brigade being assigned to the "Homeland"?
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/
09/24/army/index.html
Dark times indeed.
Not quite...
Martial law in this context refers, I believe, to the enforced suspension of the usual day that congress (and the public) get to digest proposed new legislation.
This means that congress will have to vote on something they haven't had time to read - and which may run to hundreds of pages of small print. Still a crazy situation, but not quite as bad as troops on the streets.
Nephilim
meltdown indicator
First, I'm an investor (the meltdown hurts me financially), scholar & observer (I saw this coming), and systems engineer (I understand systems working & failure).
I've been watching out for this type of human system meltdown for a few years now. This event has happened a bit sooner than I expected but the timing is fuzzy anyhow. WHY: Our core human value systems drive us in certain directions - to achieve, grow ($$, population, BIGger things/activities). That's humans for you. We learn along the way but we also forget (culturally) some vital historic lessons - the lesson of extending our particular population/idea beyond its ability to control &/or keep itself healthy.
We are at the boundary of another culture change.Bubblefish offers some scenarios... good ones! WE (collectively) have to choose wisely. WE now more than ever need to become WE the collective once again to survive/thrive - & WE can, but in the mean time some individuality will be lost (temporarily) but it MUST. For the last few generations individuality has been the prize at the expense of family/community. Well, community will keep you alive now. TRUE community where you really CARE for each other's survival & well-being.
To Somantics: keep up hope... we just need to change our mindset and do today what is needed today to prepare. First prepare your mind/emotions. This WILL get worse when the oil prices rise (perhaps 2 economic cycles away yet - 10-15y MAX). This crash is an indicator of things to come if humanity does not work together. Form your local group to learn what you can about our most likely situation and formulate a group survival plan (preferably out of any city).
There has been a lot of focus on Global Warming. Global warming will become *irrelevant* soon (let me explain - it IS part of the big picture). The human contributed part of global warming is sitting on a 120,000 y cycle high so things were warming up naturally - bad timing for us. The real cause of human contributions is passing - fast! Oil-based growth & living... (just google peak oil & do a thought experiment - finite resource, increasing users/consumption - what timeline, arrgghh???).
Yes we humans are in the poo! But what to do about it. No complaining! Action needed.
First, accept that massive cultural /emotional /social change is needed - F a s t. Be a part of the changing mindset. Prepare for it. There is good reason for hope "should we choose to look ahead sufficiently NOW". Have a look at this site - a pile of research just being made public so rather unstructured still about culture changes. http://valuesjourney.googlepages.com
We are on a human journey together.
We have the knowledge, skills, wherewithal to create a safe, wholesome, healthy world we have come to expect. To do that, we need to STOP thinking we need to grow, consume, go faster. It isn't easy but help each other through this.
It's time for stability - no growth, no consumerism!
Back to making stuff that lasts - back to taking responsibility for our own food & health (i.e. not buying a quick fix).I have a small network of people who generally understand the current implications for humanity - that gets me through the day. Build your own networks (communities) who are open-minded enough to ask tough questions about our reality with a BIG picture perspective. Humanity, not just nation; cooperation, no longer competition; holistic, not just MY needs/wants...
Prepare: baby-step by step, day by day.NOTICE how the global community leaders (PMs, Presidents, etc) are drawing together like never before to attempt to resolve the current financial crisis - we can do that at grassroots level too. We can support our global community - our planet - which we all share. If you want to know why - just look up the Great Depression! Now there's hardship for the west!
Help: Look at your neighbour, how can you help prepare them. Be gentle, be caring, be patient.
In my own way, I am preparing my family & local & global neighbourhood to grow and live through the ensuing critical changes to our lifestyles. I have my survival kit, my health & medical notes, my exit strategy, my community.
What small step will YOU take to help humanity?
enuf for now,
enjoy, M
(read on the link - there IS a solution - let's look for it together)