I was saddened to read of your disagreement.

We are talking about the same things. But as with all subjects that get dissected more and more finely, eventually scalpels cross.

Here's where we agree:

We don't know the future.
Faith is involved in getting up in the morning.
Faith is connected to everything we do as humans.
Uncertainty leads to doubt.

Here are my quibbles:

Lumping science in with religion under the banner of faith is a bit rough in my estimation. Long ago it was deemed appropriate that science would diverge from the study of interior perception and exclusively focus on exterior measurable results. Science actively maintains a peer reviewed body of agreed upon knowledge or provable experience. The repeatability of scientific experiments is what makes it not faith based. Is it imperfect? Yes of course but the ideal is a mechanism which makes all claims of knowledge assailable. It's the best we can do at this point and I hold it sacred, because it gives me...faith.

Right brain left brain schisms are like right/left politics. Artsies use pro right-brain arguments to justify their weaknesses in math and logic. Left brainy people dismiss right brainies as flakes. I'm left right agnostic.

I trust experience over reading any book. Though I'll take your suggestion and have a look....smiley face.

Alas, I disagree. Intuition CAN be part of experience, but sometimes we follow our intuition for no good reason. Perhaps on a conscious or unconscious level we have "faith" in our intuition as well as memory of a plethora of experiences where it worked for us, but every time we use it, because it is impossible to "prove" the outcome of it---because we do not know if it will lead to a better or worse outcome, we take some leap of faith, regardless of how small it may be.

What I am trying to do here is separate "faith" from religion or spirituality and notice it as part of the human psyche and the human condition. Again, I encourage everyone to read Derrick Jensen's new book, "Dreams" where he travels deeply into the notion of faith as something separate from "belief" in religion or dogma. What I am also trying to do is emphasize how phenomenally uncertain we can be about much of anything that happens in collapse. We can conjecture, and much of our conjecturing can be dead-on, but we absolutely cannot KNOW much of anything about how it will turn out. Our best preparation will be preparation for uncertainty, and with uncertainty comes a lot of doubt, needing to rely on intuition---and invariably, inexorably some moments, however brief they may be, of faith. By the way, faith can also be about faith in oneself, as well as faith relating to anything outside oneself.

Intuition is part of experience, not faith. That is what makes it different from instinct. Faith is what you go on when you have no experience.

I am not suggesting "relying on faith for everything." Furthermore, I'm suggesting that intuition is PART OF FAITH, that is to say, part of all things "uncertain" according to the pundits of religion and science who BOTH rely on faith to "prove" things that no one can be certain about. The challenge is how to navigate a collapsing world where the only thing we can rely on is uncertainty, using intuition and other right brain options.

drumbaker wrote:


Faith comes as a response to risk and the unknown. This is what insurance and the retirement plan are for. These are ponzi scheme's selling assurance that you're taken care of. At 65 you get to claim that pension because we said so. Oh, what's that you say? People only live to 72 years on average. Strange how that works out. What? The pensions are bankrupt!!! So you won't get to live out your final days in a holding tank for the elderly. Sad.

We are so cut off from our intuition which would lead us to reason differently that we are reliant on faith for everything. "There'll be pie in the sky when you die, that's a lie", my grandpa used to sing.

I highly recommend Derrick Jensen's latest book, "Dreams" in which he argues that not only is capitalism a faith-based system, but so is science which claims to be the enemy of religion. Moreover, spirituality of any kind is a faith-based process. Perhaps it is in the nature of being human that we are required to exercise some kind of faith at every turn. It is time that we stop making "faith" synonymous with "stupidity" and explore the notion that as Pascal said, "Faith has its reasons."

Capitalism is a Faith-Based system.

A Promissory note is the promise to pay. And with fiat not tied to gold or anything at all there is actually nothing being promised to pay. Now if that doesn't require faith in the system then I don't know what does.

The system requires this faith. If I loose my job. I have to go and get another one to get money. The system does not include me growing food to feed myself. It does not include me as an independent agent of my own destiny. So, my destiny is wrapped up in the dreams and nightmares of the system. I need to concern myself with the health of the market and what direction the arrow is going (up or down). The markets are variously: sluggish, tentative, euphoric, despondent, upbeat, surging, on a tear, fearful, blah blah blah. This emotional roller-coaster requires that I 'Buy and hold', 'stay the course' 'be rational'. But the main thing is that I have faith that the whole thing goes up. And that my faith remains unshaken.

After one hundred years of oil powered industrialization I think a couple of generations just don't think about faith. If it happens that they do, it comes as a creeping shock to their system and they turn away in denial. Sort of like when you're driving down a two lane highway and as the cars on the other side of the road wizz past you ask yourself: "What keeps them on the other side of the road?". The line. An illusion of safety.

And we love the illusions we've been sold, despite the cost. Look at all the combustion engines that are used to power the dream. Having spent a weekend in the country, I noticed that the number of engines in use for the average family is simply staggering. Everyone drives a Ford F150 (8 cylinders), has an 'office managers tractor'- lawn mower (4-cylinders), a fishing boat (4-6 cylinders), a couple a ATVs (more cylinders), snow mobiles (same and more), It goes on and on. You have to drive everywhere , so everyone is overweight. The young people have to walk on the shoulder of the road, so they are in better shape... till they get a car… or get hit by one. But all of this is taken for granted as part of the dream.

@Degringolade,

"Wow, where do I start? Just another go at having a particular, parochial set of thoughts shoved down the throats of others in a sincere, open-hearted attempt to “help”"

Excellent start, but you get bogged down.

"Folks, there is a reason that there are different disciplines for psychology, sociology, and economics. There is also a reason why all must be taken into consideration when anyone who is intellectually honest makes any call for action in the world of men."

This is where you get bogged down. Those three disciplines used to be one and the same. Just put "political" in front of psychology, sociology, and economics, and you have the basic outlines of the reality of our forefathers (who just called all of it "political economy"). The further division of intellectual labor since then has not changed the nature of politics or power.

"An individual has a chance of figuring out how to rid himself of illogic, to control his baser desires, to use analytical skills to better produce desired outcomes for himself, etc., etc., etc. But that ability is located solely in the individual."

Sophistry. Every individual alive today is define primarily by what society teaches him or her. Societal institutions can easily teach everyone how "to rid himself of illogic, to control his baser desires," but that is not the goal of the modern (or even ancient) state.

"Economics boils down we all want more than our share. Sociology boils down that when you get us together in large groups, all bets are off. Psychology boils down to the fragile and flawed set of tools that we have developed to understand a world well out of our control. "

But the economics, sociology and psychology you define are all based on explaining and maintaining the current status quo. That's a major problem for your worldview.

@Candace,

I think your assumptions about human nature are fundamentally unsound. We are not all of us greedy and self-destructive. The vast majority of us just want to be left alone to the joy we can eke out of the hand that we've been dealt.

Most adult humans are just like children: innocent. They don't understand the way of the world in the same manner as the real "grown-ups" do. There is hope, but it lies in sharing the unspoken knowledge that those who rule rely upon to rule. Marx proved that sharing that knowledge quickly undermines the position of the powerful. The problem is that Marx shared that knowledge through the language of the powerful and, thus, was co-opted.

So, if I understand you correctly you answer is "no" there is no way we will figure out a way to stop ourselves as humans from being greedy and self destructive, but happily it won't matter because we will die down to a small enough number that our self destructive choices and behaviors won't have a significant impact on our environment.

Basically we will just be human - there just won't be so many of us, so that we won't continue to create massive toxic waste lands of nuclear waste or other types of waste that won't overburden our environment.

I will be posting this tomorrow on my own blog, but, as an unwonted display of courtesy I will post it here since it is sort of a rebuttal.
I always take the time to read “The Automatic Earth” and the wonderful commentary and articles that make it a treasure. The post in question is “Ruminations on Faith and Humanity“. But I was genuinely shaken to see the following quote expounded upon by the reader “Alfbell” in the most recent post.

No system will ever be successful until the human mind, and the spiritual being that utilized it, have been isolated and fully understood. Psychiatry, psychology, psychoanalysis, et al. have failed in this area as well. Very too bad because THIS is the key to man’s future survival.

Find the source of evil and destructive intentions; the need to dominate; the need to destroy what another creates; man’s inhumanity to man; man’s illogic; man’s low level of morality; man’s “animalistic” tendencies; man’s inability to predict consequences; etc. and you will save mankind.”

Wow, where do I start? Just another go at having a particular, parochial set of thoughts shoved down the throats of others in a sincere, open-hearted attempt to “help”

The human condition is quite simply not one of perfectibility. That is not the point of human existence. The point of human existence is the messy striving and learning and other such unpleasantness that makes up our sin-stained existence. In a very real sense, the world defined by Alfbell is not one where I wish to live.

We are not proto-gods, trying to build ourselves into perfect, luminous creatures. We are a bunch of apes who are trying to get along in a world where we have overshot (by a large margin) the constraints placed on us by a limited world. We are now just getting this little factoid through our collective thick skulls. What is proposed by the oh-so sincere readers of the Automatic Earth is a more thorough understanding of the animal nature so that we can save mankind. Well folks, I think that it is pretty easy to figure out that a pretty complete understanding of human nature is quite possible. Just ask the folks on Madison Avenue.

An individual has a chance of figuring out how to rid himself of illogic, to control his baser desires, to use analytical skills to better produce desired outcomes for himself, etc., etc., etc. But that ability is located solely in the individual. The ability for an external effect to change or “make right” an individual is laughably limited. But that doesn’t mean most people don’t want to give it a try. But what most people want is for the great mass of other folks to just do whatever the person speaking wants them to do. There is no particular moral suasion that is de facto “right”. There are only personal preferences. What most folks want is to die well-fed and comfortably in bed with a minimum of fuss and bother and pain.

Yet individuals such as “Alfbell” request and beseech over and over again for “more study” to be put into the nature of mankind so that the unwashed masses can made civil and subsequently be invited in for high tea. What will be done with the “additional study” will be what has happened every time. Those who desire power and influence will use that same information to garner their heart’s desire.

Folks, there is a reason that there are different disciplines for psychology, sociology, and economics. There is also a reason why all must be taken into consideration when anyone who is intellectually honest makes any call for action in the world of men. We are not fragments of the divine encased in a vulgar shell. We are messy, somewhat greedy apes with the odd bit of potential showing through. The actions of the individual are different from the actions of crowd and different still from the sciences of greed. Taking all three together and trying to make some “Grand Unified Theory” has been a fruitless and sterile bit of research for going onto 12,000 years.

Folks who come to the Church of the Doomer and its silly assortment of motley priests and deacons are partaking in that oldest of human traits, the tribe. When they do so and folks start coalescing around a one set of sect-leaders or another, they are just looking for the seed to create a movement to shove their flavor of the truth down the throats of an unwilling world. Consider another quote from the same article:

Candace asks…

“What I’m trying to figure out is if we all fail to be our best selves at least some of the time, are there any structures we can impose on ourselves that will at least keep us from causing massive damage to ourselves and the planet?”

Folks, my real and true belief is that, barring alien intervention or a sudden insight into the laws of physics which allows a shortcut around the second law of thermodynamics, our descendants will be living in a world populated by around a billion and a half people by 2200. Now, some of the faint of heart might immediately start shrieking and gibbering and pulling their hair and begin mouthing loaded words like “near extinction”. Nonsense. It will just be Professor Ehlich contentedly having the last word. The earth will abide.

The train has already left the station on the current overpopulation on “Mam Gaia” and the concomitant damage to the environment. The work-arounds and patches that have allowed the current state of affairs are beginning to fray pretty badly. The downslope is now ahead of us. No amount of “spiritual” effort will help anyone in the long run except as helping in the crossing we will all make.

Economics boils down we all want more than our share. Sociology boils down that when you get us together in large groups, all bets are off. Psychology boils down to the fragile and flawed set of tools that we have developed to understand a world well out of our control. When you begin tacking words like spirituality, what you are trying to do is grab some shred of an erstwhile moral high ground and use it as a tool to shove your desires and expectations down the throats of others.

TheTrivium4TW wrote:


Exactly.

Nothing new under the sun...

1 Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.[a]
5 They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity[b];
their evil imaginations have no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.[c]
11 They say, “How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?”

12 This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishments.

15 If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.

18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.

21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.

23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2073&version=NIV

Just remember, no one, no one, makes it out of this alive. Everyone will bite the dust sooner or later. And we can't take that nice house or nice car or a single solitary penny with us when we go.

If there is actually an existence beyond this one, all we can take with us is our legacy and any wisdom gained. So pick your sides carefully as they define you. Make your choices to advance your understanding. Winning and losing is not nearly as important as discovering yourself and developing some wisdom.

Just everybody keep in mind there is grave and proven deadly danger of disappearing into your own navel; permanently, down this road. Ick.

Glennda:
I'm sorry if I wasn't entirely clear, but I see laws and regulations AS a cage. In our case, when banks became self-regulating it was just another step as they escaped the laws put in place to keep the Great Depression from happening again.

I like to think of it like Jurassic Park, where the pessimistic mathematician expects that the dinosaurs will inevitably escape from their pens: "Life finds a way."

Ashvin:
I see what you're saying, but I worry that it's too easy to forget. One or two generations might learn this lesson, but if they succeed in creating a better society, the generations that come after just won't have the experience or the motivation to get them to understand.

I suppose there's a possibility that with some obvious damage to the world and a good narrative we could change how we organize ourselves. It's interesting reading Collapse and comparing how a number of North American societies would expand in a series of wet years - not remembering how dry things normally were in their area - compared to Iceland, where the moonscapes there are a permanent reminder that they need to take good care of their soil.

Patrick wrote:


My belief is that as the scale and complexity of human society increases, the short-term "emotions and appetites" of humans come to the foreground and are also reinforced by centralized institutions. However, I disagree that this is the fundamental "nature" of human beings - that we are no different from any other animal.

When you think about it, that is exactly what one would expect. Higher degrees of social complexity are inherently associated with the concepts of expansion, production, consumption, i.e. materialism. Out of this form of materialism, constantly self-reinforced by societal institutions, grows our destructive thought processes and addictions.

Yet, it is WE who make up the system, and our equally powerful tools of free will, logical/analytical thinking, emotional maturity, etc. are never lost through the increasing scales of complexity. They are still there, laying dormant in many (to varying degrees), but ready to be unleashed at any moment. My faith is in the fact that those tools will always exist and, when used properly (I know, a murky term), will more often than not lead us to the truth... "and the truth will make you free".



I disagree with the idea of a strict carrying capacity limit, but this is really a marginal point of disagreement for our discussion here. Regardless of what the carrying capacity has now become, the question is whether humanity was destined to arrive at this point and/or whether we are destined to repeat the ecological overshoot if we should survive a planetary collapse this time around. Based on the available evidence I have seen, I would answer NO.

davisherb - "Argument about "faith" seem more appropriate to some other blog."

Ash specifically solicited viewpoints on faith and humanity, so I think this thread is appropriate. If you find the subject out of your interest zone (or off-topic for the blog), its a pretty simple matter to just skip this discussion, yes? At least, that's what I do.

The word "faith" has a number of definitions. Many people have unfortunate reactions to the definitions that are tied to God or religion. I think Ash was using some combination of the following two definitions:
1. confidence or trust in a person or thing
2. belief that is not based on proof

Patrick wrote:


Yes, I should have mentioned Catton in that list also. Far as El G is concerned, he is back to writing and has published a few recently on the Diner.

The actual Carrying Capacity given some idealized solutions is open to question. If you accept some of AB's arguments with respect to possible Energy Production and some of Peter's with respect to Hydroponic Food production, even absent Fossil Fuel Energy the current 7B might be maintained long enough for a controlled Die Off over some time, mostly through old age attrition. Assuming of course you also could implement some Birth control at the same time, and maintain demographics well enough.

Unfortunately of course, we do agree that the likelihood of idealized solutons being implemented rapidly enough is vanishingly small at the moment, so a massive knockdown of population is the most likely scenario. It will not however be evenly distributed here, so this is where there is some possibility for the individual to enhance personal probabilities for survival.

The likelihood also is for an Undershoot to follow the Overshoot. How LOW do we GO on this one? That can only be speculated on, but of course if you take the Deer on St Matthew's Island as a representative model, it could be nasty indeed.



I remain convinced the best alternatives are in current Low Population Zones, and the further you can reasonably get away from the center of Industrial Civilization the better off you are. With the exception of ELE type scenarios including Global Thermonuclear Warfare or Multiple Fuk-U-Shimas poisoning EVERYTHING, I think the Inuit in Nunavut and the Kalahari Bushmen and some Amazonian tribes will hardly be touched by all of this. For everybody else though, there will be some effect in your neighborhood.

Most of us, including yours truly, are not ready to go so far out as Nunavut. You can however try to make yourself ready for when Nunavut comes to you. Learn the SKILLS of Survival. Pack some of the Tools available courtesy of the Age of Oil in a Bugout Bag and keep it ready at the front door of your McMansion. When the Nazis roll their Tanks into your little town, head for the Forest, head for the Swamps, head for the Mountains. Anywhere the Tanks cannot Roll easily is a better place to be. Be prepared to SURVIVE out there for as long as it takes, and it won't take long once it really gets rolling. Two growing seasons MAX before the big knockdown.

Good Luck with whatever you choose, wherever you go. Faith may help you to make it though the Zero Point, but Faith alone will not do it. You have to be READY for it on a practical level, and have a PLAN to SURVIVE.

See You on the Other Side.



RE
www.doomsteaddiner.org

Dear Automatic Earth and readers

I don't pretend to understand half of what is talked about on this site, but I do enjoy reading it, because I too have 'doomer' tendencies somewhere in the 2 - 3 bracket.

I believe there is a way humanity can save itself from itself, and that is through an instinctive understanding of the true nature of the mind.

At base we are the ability to know. This is the most incredible thing! What we do however is train ourselves to notice the things that we know and continually overlook the magnificent facility/ability that we are. This is so universal that it appears to be a human fact. It is in the world of 'the things that we know' that all negativity and positivity take place. Our true nature is inherently peaceful and loving, just look at a new born baby. It is in a shift of attention towards this common reality where I place my hope for the future.

Towards this end there are now a few people and organisations making some progress, the most notable of which in my opinion is www.balancedview.org/ .

Please spend a bit of time getting to know what is being said on this site. It is not about faith or religion or spirituality, it is about what we really are before we give attention to those ideas and is so germane to all the pressing issues occurring right now.

I am not a representative of this organisation any more than you are.

Mike

Ash, I think you touch on our point of divergence quite nicely when you talk about "rational processes" and that we are different from other animals. We are blinded by our brain into thinking that yet the evidence I see is that we are not so different.
There is considerable evidence that we are driven more by short term emotion and appetite than by rational thought. Our admittedly wonderful accomplishments in science persuade us that we are the "rational animal." While the wars, economic catastrophes, profound injustices--the list goes on--suggest otherwise.
Perhaps confusion arises from the fact that some people do act rationally. Some of us advocate for peace and the environment, surely rational approaches. Yet what prevails? You know as well as I and much of this blog is occupied with it.

The closest I come to agreement with anyone here is RevEng (and God where is El Gal when we need his humour and wisdom)? And RE I think you need to add William Catton high up on your list. His book Overshoot: the Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change is the most lucid work out there in this realm.

The carrying capacity of the planet is realistically no more than 2 billion people but we've degraded even that. Plus, we would most likely dip well below that in a die-off.

Let me be brutal. In the next 50 to 100 years if not sooner--here I'll be gentle--at least 3.5 to 4 billion people are going to die and not of old age. That is if we don't annihilate each other totally first, or suffer some other catastrophic collapse as have been mentioned above.

Wow, this is really a great ink blot. We are all seeing different things or perhaps just different parts of the elephant.

Not surprisingly I see community efforts, while others see the owners tricking the sheeple.

I think the "discensus" (as coined by JMGreer) here is a good thing, like a variety of hybrid seeds blowing in the wind. Our diversity will be needed, since there is apparently no "answer" to our predicament.

The door to God Consciousness is marked faith.

Of course, facts and truth help one sort out the values one should hold... and since the publication of The Urantia Book it's sooooo much easier to grasp at faith.

Anyone who has a sincere desire for truth will recognize it when it appears.

This post, the comment that inspired it, and many of the comments to it constitute what has to be among the most disturbing things I have read in a long time.

"No system will ever be successful"

It all depends on how you define success, doesn't it? The present system has been very successful at controlling people for thousands of years, in part because people it has trained people to insist on systems to control them. And when the "old" system breaks down a "new" system arises that is cosmetically different but materially, and for all practical purposes, the same.

Let's expand the quote to its full glory:

"No system will ever be successful until the human mind, and the spiritual being that utilized it, have been isolated and fully understood. Psychiatry, psychology, psychoanalysis, et al. have failed in this area as well. Very too bad because THIS is the key to man's future survival."

The human mind has been well understood for thousands of years. Plato and Aristotle clearly understood the human mind, as did the author of the Tao Te Ching. The problem is that this knowledge is not generally shared but is, instead, used to exploit the masses through the very type of "system" you insist upon like a slave pleading to be shackled.

In very simple terms, all modern states are based on four things: myths, laws, ethics and hidden truths. The first three are for the masses, who are conditioned to them through our social institutions. The hidden truths, the esoterica that Aristotle insisted to Alexander could not be found in his public writings, are what transform the first three things into a lie that allows the masses to be controlled. From the Roman Empire to the Roman Catholic Church to Classical Liberalism to Neoliberalism, in each case there has been the realization by the masses that their myths, laws and ethics are being used to chain them, but they are so conditioned to being chained that they insist on a new set instead of questioning why they are chained.

"Find the source of evil and destructive intentions; the need to dominate; the need to destroy what another creates; man's inhumanity to man; man's illogic; man's low level of morality; man's "animalistic" tendencies; man's inability to predict consequences; etc. and you will save mankind."

False certainty is the source of evil, and it is precisely what you seem to want. Human beings are very simple creatures: they compare what they observe to what they expect and react based on the magnitude and direction of the perceived difference between what they just saw and what they expected. If you define "rational" to encompass how human beings actually reason, then human beings are clearly rational, and what is irrational is to insist that human beings reason like mathematical machines.

The only thing that is certain in this world is uncertainty. Unfortunately, we have been trained to insist on false certainty which leads us to engage in acts-- often evil-- to force our world to conform to our expected "true" vision of the world. Anybody who insists on false certainty will construct their "truth" and tyrannize those around them to make that truth reality, and damn the consequences.

The new boss will be the same as the old boss. In the meantime, people will suffer and lament at their lost innocence. If they'd only embrace that lost innocence and accept the uncertainty of the world and what it means to us as a species, you might have the beginnings of a system that does not exploit the masses because it cannot be created or controlled by sociopaths, con men and women who sell us false dreams.

I am delighted to see this topic being discussed; however, I have no interest in faith or religion. I have enormous interest in spirituality which is very different from religion. I proudly identify as a Doomer, and at the same time, the core of my work is emotional and spiritual preparation for the collapse of industrial civilization. I like to say that on one level, one can have all the doom without the gloom---well almost.

I have written two books which I believe must be considered in this discussion: Navigating The Coming Chaos: A Handbook For Inner Transition (2011) and Sacred Demise: Walking The Spiritual Path Of Industrial Civilization's Collapse (2009) I invite the reader to read both of my books which are not books of information, but rather studies, providing an extensive toolkit for inner transition alongside external transition.

We are living at the end of one paradigm, but also the beginning of a new one. The new one hasn't yet been constructed, but it is very important to hold a vision of it alongside all of the horrors that are likely to unfold. Otherwise, we can easily be overwhelmed. There are no guarantees that any of us will survive them, but physical survival alone isn't the point. The deeper questions that must be asked are: Who do I want to be as I navigate this collapse? and What did I come here to do?

Meanwhile, we must focus on creating beauty in our lives and in the world at every opportunity through art, music, storytelling, poetry, dance, and more. With these, we nourish ourselves and the community. Likewise, it is important to practice gratitude for the smallest moments of goodness in our lives and in the world. Creating beauty and practicing gratitude are twin practices that steady and enrich us as we move through the end of the world as we have known it and as it will never be again.

For more tools, please visit my website at www.carolynbaker.net

It is fine to have faith. It is a blurred lens with which to view the world. Scientifically verified reality seems better. If you suspect or believe that it is likely some humansd will survive the coming catastrophe, don't confuse that with reality. Reality exists today and beliefs about the future are not currently verified or verifiable.
Argument about "faith" seem more appropriate to some other blog.
Thanks and God Bless

Awesome posting. What is your own personal faith, except the lens through which you view the world.

How we all view the future depends on how we imagine the universe is constructed. So here's what I think:

I think we are here for a reason. Each life we live is a class, and we decide for ourselves before embarking on each class what we want to learn.

On a planetary level, I think humanity is at a turning point here in history. I think we've reached the end of one particular road of travel - the Big Oil Big Pharma Big (indebted) Consumer path we've been on since (say) 1900.

What comes next? The ones in charge say that the end of their particular road means the end of the world as we know it. Is that so bad?

What do we imagine is outside our current matrix? Our cultural cues give us nothing - its a desert. Either we've got Mad Max, or the indebted-consumer happy Status Quo, with nothing in between.

I have the sense based on my world view, that something interesting will turn up once the old paradigm ends for good. Is that faith - "belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence?"

You bet. We are not here by accident. And there's just no point in the wholesale destruction of humanity.

But I don't think the current world as we know it will survive as is.

But that's just my world view.