8/8/2019 "In the Face of This Truth" from Yes Magazine, Sep. 17,
2010
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"In the Face of This Truth"
It's time to talk honestly about collapseno matter how others
may respond.
by Robert Jensen
posted Sep 17, 2010
We live in the midst of multiple criseseconomic and political,
cultural and ecologicalposing a
significant threat to human existence at the level we have
become accustomed to. Theres no way to
be awake to the depth of these crises without emotional
reactions, no way to be aware of the pain
caused by these systemic failures without some dread and
distress.
Those emotions come from recognizing that we humans with our big
brains have disrupted the
balance of the living world in disastrous ways that may be
causing irreversible ecological
destruction, and that drastically different ways of living are
not only necessary but inevitable, with
no guarantee of a smooth transition.
This talk, in polite company, leads to being labeled hysterical,
Chicken Little, apocalyptic. No
matter that you are calm, arent predicting the sky falling, and
have made no reference to rapture.
Pointing out that we live in unsustainable systems, that
unsustainable systems cant be sustained,
and that no person or institution with power in the dominant
culture is talking about thiswell,
thats obviously crazy.
Regardless of others' reaction to talking honestly about
collapse, it's essential we continue; no
political project based on denying reality can be viable for the
long term.
But to many of us, these insights simply seem honest. To be
fully alive today is to live with
anguish, not for ones own condition in the world but for the
condition of the world, for a world that
is in collapse. What to do when such honesty is unwelcome?
In June 2010, I published a short essay online asking people who
felt this anguish to report on their
emotions and others reactions. In less than a month I received
more than 300 messages, and while
no single comment could sum up the responses, this comes
close:
I feel hopeless. I feel sad. I feel amused at the absurdity of
it all. I feel depressed. I feel enraged. I
feel guilty and I feel trapped. Basically the only reason why Im
still alive is because there are
enough amazing people and things in my life to keep me going, to
keep me fighting for what
matters. Im not even sure how to fight yet, but I know that I
want to.
I didnt ask for biographical information, so theres little data
on the age, race, or occupation of the
respondents. Nor did I ask specifically about political or
community activism, but the letters
reinforced a gut feeling that dealing openly with these emotions
need not lead to paralysis and
inaction. People can confront honestly a frightening
questionWhat if the unsustainable systems
in which we live are beyond the point of no return?and stay
politically and socially engaged.
8/8/2019 "In the Face of This Truth" from Yes Magazine, Sep. 17,
2010
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One respondent, a longtime community organizer, put it
succinctly:
Recently several of our visionary thinkers have moved from the
illusion that we have 10 years to
turn this around. They now say clearly that we cannot stop this
momentum. It takes courage and
faith to speak so plainly. What can we do in the face of this
truth? We can sit face to face and findthe ways, often beyond
words, to explore the reality that we are all refugees, swimming
into a future
that looks so different from the present. We can find pockets of
community where we can whisper
our deepest fears about the world. We can remain committed to
describing the present with
exceptional truth.
What happens when we tell exceptional truth?
First, we often feel drained by it. Another respondent
observed:
Continue:
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/a-resilient-community/in-the-face-of-this-truth
