April 5, 2009 -- (CarolynBaker.net) -- It's
happening daily now, almost hourly -- rampant eruptions of violence
throughout the so-called developed world. As civilization unravels, the
uncivilized behavior of humans is becoming viral, and the culture of
empire is quite simply going mad as its values, assumptions, and
reasons for existing are evaporating with dizzying speed. For those who
are and have been collapse-aware for some time, it is important not
only to make sense of the epidemic violence, but to incorporate
skillful responses to it.
First, I believe we need to deeply
discern what is actually happening psychologically. The current
outbreaks of violence are about more than unemployment and financial
stressors. Yes, job loss, bankruptcy, foreclosure, homelessness, and
loss of health care are breaking people and communities in pieces. Yet
something even more fundamental is seething beneath the
surface -- something of which these losses are symptomatic.
Underlying the chaos is the reality of civilization's dissolution. But what does that actually mean?
For one thing, it means that
civilization has been inherently infantilizing. It teaches its members
that their reason for existing on earth is to consume-that they have
absolutely no other meaning or purpose but to produce money in order to
spend it and thereby incessantly oil the machinery of maniacal,
unrestrained growth. A world view of this kind can only result in a
culture that has virtually no inner life -- a culture in which one's
reason for being lies entirely outside of oneself. We're not talking
compassion or altruism here as in mindfulness of the well being of
others. That results only from a highly developed inner life
that understands that consuming is a miniscule aspect of life based on
fundamental survival needs and that is willing to put even survival
needs on the back burner in order to support other members of the earth
community.
Empire, which I use synonymously
with civilization, is all about keeping the focus external to oneself
for the purpose of enhancing the wellbeing of a few dominant
individuals in a strictly prescribed hierarchical system that encompasses all of the culture's institutions. From birth, citizens of
empire are taught to serve that system by way of education, career
choices, work, marriage, family, home ownership, political
participation, and religion. When citizens reach a certain age, they
are thrown away by the culture because they no longer have value in
perpetuating the system but now require service from the
system. Until that time, throughout adult life, one's primary identity
is that of a producer who willingly focuses above all else on working,
consuming, and paying taxes. Any other role the producer has -- parent,
spouse, volunteer -- must be secondary to the role of
worker/consumer/taxpayer. Naturally, to maintain the level of growth
the ruling elite of the culture believe is necessary, a certain level
of production/consumption is required. I hasten to add that as I use
the word "producer," I'm not referring to producing anything
sustainable, but rather the production of whatever is of value to the
system which that system compensates in the form of money which then,
by way of the system, becomes debt.
Citizens of empire are taught that
the total abdication of inner life on behalf of decades of servitude to
the needs of the external hierarchical machine is not only normal and
natural, but their fundamental duty as human beings. In other words,
traversing any other path than this one is synonymous with "failure,"
"ingratitude," "slothfulness," even "treason." Nowhere is this more
exquisitely depicted, in my opinion, than in the recent film "Revolutionary Road" by actors Kate Winslet and Leonardo De Caprio.
Moreover, citizens are constantly
rewarded for refusing to question these assumptions. To question would
be to demonstrate disturbing symptoms of adulthood. Empire needs
infantile servility in order to perpetuate itself indefinitely.
The psyches, then, of empire's
citizens are ill-equipped to deal with variation from the system's
proscribed roles or functions. Empire, like a "good" parent, gives one
everything one "needs" in return for production -- until it doesn't, and
when it doesn't, the citizen has no recourse emotionally because he/she
has lived in psychological symbiosis with empire since birth. Does this
sound like the relationship between an abuse victim and the abuser?
"I've been used!" cries the
abused, having believed that to keep quiet and play by the rules would
be better than breaking silence. But we have only to ask the currently
unemployed, homeless, foreclosed upon, and bankrupt how well credit
scores and paying their bills on time served them.
So now it becomes clearer to us
what is happening in the psyches of millions of individuals who are
losing their roles in the imperial system -- and in the psyches of those
who are not. The entire culture is under unprecedented stress, except
perhaps for those old enough to have lived through the Great
Depression. On some level, many of them "grew up" and stopped being
infants during their ordeal. The 1930s in America was an enormous
initiation which they moved through and became wiser and more
authentically adult for having done so. This is not to say that every
person now alive who lived through the Great Depression is a paragon of
wizened maturity, but rather to notice that their survival of it has
informed their behavior and attitudes since and actually equipped many
of them to face the current crisis more skillfully than younger
generations.
As for those in the present moment
who have jobs, homes, and healthcare, they realize on some level how
precarious their position is. They have these things now, but it's only
a matter of time until they may not. And consciously or unconsciously,
this is creating gargantuan levels of stress among "more fortunate"
Americans.
But none of this is likely to be
new information for those reading this article, and you may be
wondering much more about the second half of the title than the first.
Before addressing that, however, I believe that it's important to
understand that the current epidemic of violence is likely to become
far more severe and widespread. Understanding why it's happening is
crucial, but if you have a beating heart, you have to be concerned
about when and where it's going to erupt next. You also need to
understand that as the violence exacerbates, more individuals and
groups will be perceived as scapegoats. Currently, in France, CEO's are
being taken hostage as they are perceived as the primary culprits of
that nation's economic crisis. In the United States, we are likely to
see as we did in Binghamton, New York, this past week, the targeting of
immigrant groups -- even by other immigrants, or just intensifying family
or random violence.
Some collapse-aware individuals
have chosen to purchase weapons for protection. In a culture gone mad,
it's debatable how much protection firearms can actually offer, but if
it feels right to do so, in my opinion, one should respect that and act
accordingly.
Dialog at this point is still an
enormously important option, especially as we interact with folks
who've been telling us for years that we are lunatics for preparing for
collapse. In fact, the timing couldn't be better for these kinds of
conversations, but we need to maintain an innocent, open attitude, not
one of "I told you so," as much as some part of us might wish project
it.
Equally vital and life-supporting
is our involvement in community efforts such as Transition Town and
relocalization groups which offer us the opportunity to take local
action, develop deep connections, and delight in the healing energy of
validation and support from our peers. I believe that as cultural
violence spreads in reaction to the trauma of collapse, these groups
will be forced to strategize methods for looking out for each other's
well being. Dmitry Orlov has a great deal to say about this in Re-Inventing Collapse which I highly recommend reading.
Shamelessly, I must recommend my book Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse
which is not primarily a book of information, but contains at the end
of nearly every chapter, experiential exercises that both individuals
and groups can engage in and which could be very useful in alleviating
stress and promoting understanding.
I wrote Sacred Demise
specifically to offer the kind of introspection in the face of collapse
that is going to be crucial for all of us in order to navigate it
emotionally and spiritually. Empire has stolen so much of the inner
world from us, and in order to make sense of the turbulent unraveling,
we must reclaim our interiority. John Michael Greer brilliantly titled
his recent review
of my book, "Facing Decline, Facing Ourselves." In truth, we cannot
face one without facing the other, for only both in tandem will allow
us to navigate the madness.
Speaking Truth To Power is a
website owned and managed by Carolyn Baker. Carolyn is an adjunct
professor of history, a former psychotherapist, an author, and a
student of mythology and ritual. This website offers up-to-the-moment
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