Bad news, difficult wisdom

My latest for Collapse Club.

We are faced with bad news, lately, and there's a lot more coming. This week, we learned that a vital sea current might stop in a matter of months. We witnessed the cruelty of unmitigated war on a civilian population. And beneath it all we heard the unceasing drumbeat of Global Industrial Civilization, pumping poison into the air, the water, the soil, and our bodies.

But for those of us who practice 'Collapse Acceptance,' the news is not new. The conclusion is forgone. The outcome is already known. We need not be dismayed by the latest reports of chaos, disaster, and loss, because we have already accepted all those terrible things into our understanding of the world. Karen Perry describes the benefit of "Calm Grounding," whereby we are "not disrupted by catastrophic information." "Can you believe it?" "Yawn, yes I can!" 

Strangely, it is the doomers who have true hope, though we cannot say what it is we hope for nor how it will come about. When we give up false reassurances, we bring ourselves close to reality, and in reality is redemption. Each bit of bad news serves to enrich our wisdom about the natural ordering of the Earth and the history that plays out within her generous embrace. It is a difficult wisdom, encompassing the barbarity, the cruelty, the waste of our species. 

But also, if we allow it, we are brought in touch with something bigger than ourselves. We arrive by many paths and call it by many names: Nature, Creator, Higher Power, the psychedelic quantum field — it doesn't matter! All as one, we have faith in the undying power of Life, and in the underlying principles of order that bring forth truth, beauty, and goodness. All this we see in the world, and in our own lives we feel the everlasting adventure of freedom, opportunity, and joy.

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This message went out to the members of Collapse Club, where people share their experience of collapse in a safe and structured meeting format. Please feel free to join us at one of our three weekly meetings. For complete information and to sign up, please visit the Collapse Club website.

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