In this conversation with Michael Dowd and Ganga Devi Braun, I share my personal evolution toward a life of activated presence in these times of social, ecological and climate collapse. This interview is part of the Post Doom Conversation series that will be released later this year.
According to Michael Dowd, creator of the Post Doom Conversation series, the theme of the Post Doom conversations is as follows:
“A foreboding sense of climate chaos, societal collapse, and ecological “doom” is now widespread. Acknowledging our predicament and working through the stages of grief takes one only to the midpoint: acceptance. What lies beyond? Michael Dowd (with occasional co-hosts) invites guests to share their personal journeys along this trajectory and especially the gifts they have found on the other side of the post-doom doorway.”
Michael describes a post-doom heart and mindset as follows:
“Living, loving, and relating honorably with full awareness that there are levels of climate chaos beyond human control, our predicament encompasses all aspects of life, human-centered measures of “progress” are ecocidal, technology and the market are false gods, and the near-term extinction of Homo colossus is both inevitable and necessary and the extinction of Homo sapiens is possible.
A post-doom mindset is a hard-earned and perhaps fluctuating state of being. For many, classic stages of grief are among the stepping stones; the darkness of despair can rarely be avoided. Nonetheless, mere acceptance of “doom” (civilizational, ecological, our own species) need not be the endpoint. Indeed, what we hope to explore in this series are possibilities other than emotional detachment, stoic resolve, and spiritual transcendence. Rather, what shifts in perception, understanding, relating, and identity become possible when we walk through a post-doom doorway? How do priorities, lifeways, and outer-world involvements shift and clarify on the other side? And how do such changes call forth genuine equanimity, even joy?”
This is an important conversation that I feel will resonate with those who have chosen a different way in the face of biosphere collapse. Those who have chosen a path of deeper connection to their Selves and to Life—both embodied and beyond—will no longer feel so alone.
To listen to this conversation, simply click the audio link at the top of this post. Alternatively it can also be viewed with embedded video above this post.
NOTE: Michael has granted me permission to share this interview before its official release.
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