Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on October 9, 2014
Grieving Could Offer A Pathway Out Of A Destructive Economic System
Is it possible to hold all the grief in the world and not get crushed by it?
I ask this question because our failure to deal with the collective and individual pain generated as a result of our destructive economic system is blocking us from reaching out for the solutions that can help us to find another direction.
Our decision to value above all else comfort, convenience and a superficial view of happiness, has led to feelings of disassociation and numbness and as a result we bury our grief deep within our subconscious.
The consequence is not only a compulsion to consume even more in an attempt to hide our guilt but also a projection of our hidden pain onto the world around us and at the deepest level, the Earth itself.
Just take the recent news from WWF and the Zoological Society of London that we have decimated half of all creatures across land, rivers and the seas over the past 40 years.
We read this and perhaps shake our heads in dismay, and then consume the next news story. The question we should all be asking is why aren’t we on the floor doubled up in pain at our capacity for industrial scale genocide of the world’s species.
The same is true of the human blood and tears that have flowed in continents such as Africa over hundreds of years as a result of our system of economic and cultural exploitation.
It’s time to stop searching for reasons why we are failing to act over the imminent dangers of climate change and other sustainability challenges.
The answer is obvious. We don’t need more scientific data or superficial behaviour change initiatives but to engage individuals at a deep emotional, psychological and spiritual level.
As the mythologist Joseph Campbell pointed out: “It is not society that is to guide and save the creative hero, but precisely the reverse. And so every one of us shares the supreme ordeal – carries the cross of the redeemer – not in the bright moments of his tribe’s great victories, but in the silences of his personal despair.” In particular we need to grieve for the destruction we have wrought so that we have a chance to heal ourselves.
I have just experienced this by taking part in a moving grief ceremony conducted by indigenous people from Africa, North America, Latin America and Australia as part of a conference at Findhorn in Scotland, aimed at creating a narrative of how to transition to a new economy based on social and ecological justice.
The point of recalling the rape, pillage and desecration of communities as well as the destruction of ecosystems and biodiversity is not to get stuck in anger and hopelessness, but to transcend them through the power of compassion and forgiveness.
Patricia McCabe from the Dineh Nation of New Mexico and Arizona, who helped lead the ceremony, says the truth and reconciliation commission in South Africa set up in the wake of apartheid, and the justice and reconciliation process in Rwanda after the genocide, serve as proof that expressing grief can lead to a new beginning.
She says: “Humanity has developed a very deep ability to push devastating information about the impacts of our actions into our subconscious and this is a danger. We are numbing ourselves to this life going out.
“Expressing grief has always been a cathartic experience and a rebalancing mechanism, and I believe it is a part of building the foundation for any new story we might want to tell.”
McCabe believes the techniques used for helping people recover from shocks should be used more widely within communities. While indigenous peoples still suffer terribly from the impacts of past exploitation, McCabe says they can help the world because they still hold a deep and close connection to the land and because they understand the power of ceremony to create transformation.
“Many indigenous peoples have a pact with mother Earth that said we would hold on to the principles of thriving life, and that one day the world would turn back and come to us again,” she says. “To be ready for that, we must also go through our grief in order to truly be able to come back into alignment of our mind, body and spirit.”
11 Comments on "Grieving Could Offer A Pathway Out Of A Destructive Economic System"
Plantagenet on Thu, 9th Oct 2014 12:21 pm
No wonder the transition to a post-carbon economy is stalled and taking so long. People are wasting their time on “grieving” ceremonies rather then getting out and doing the hard work of transitioning.
Davy on Thu, 9th Oct 2014 1:02 pm
Planter a sense a conversion going on with you. Are you molting from a corny caterpillar to a doomer butterfly?
Plantagenet on Thu, 9th Oct 2014 1:57 pm
I’m not a doomer butterfly, Davi—I’m a transition butterfly. Global Warming is a serious problem and we are very near to peak global oil production anyway. We need to transition to alternative fuel sources ASAP.
Perk Earl on Thu, 9th Oct 2014 5:28 pm
“corny caterpillar to a doomer butterfly”
Now that’s some good writing! Off topic, but this is breaking news on Ebola:
http://rt.com/news/194640-briton-ebola-macedonia-dead/
A Macedonian government spokesman told the BBC that a companion of the late Briton told the local authorities that they had travelled straight from the UK and had not visited countries affected by Ebola.
(did you catch that? Did not visit a Western African country. So are we to presume he got it on the flight?)
A Briton with symptoms of Ebola has died in Macedonia, local authorities said. The hotel in Skopje where he was staying has been sealed off, while another Briton and hotel staff are being kept inside to prevent possible spreading of infection.
According to Macedonian authorities the man came to Skopje from London on October 2 and was taken to hospital on Thursday where he died several hours later.
The tests have been carried out to see if he had Ebola and have been sent to Germany’s Frankfurt to confirm the disease.
Plantagenet on Thu, 9th Oct 2014 5:47 pm
If you think thats good writing then I bet you’d love TV wrestling. The scripts for the Wrestlers feature similar zingers for the edification of the simple-minded viewers at home.
Enjoy!
JuanP on Thu, 9th Oct 2014 5:57 pm
Perk, Thanks! I am worried about this Ebola Virus Disease(EVD). It seems completely out of control.
According to the WHO, every person that contracts the disease passes it on to an average of two people, the incubation period is two to 21 days, and the number of sick people is growing exponentially, doubling every three weeks. By January 2015, 1.2 million people are expected to have it.
The WHO does not make any proyections beyond that, but if you proyect those growth and infection rates into the future most of humanity would contract it in a year or less. I guess you can consider that a worst case scenario, but it seems to be where we are headed at the time.
I don’t see how we can make enough vaccines or medications and necessary medical equipment to deal with this fast enough.
So far, the response has been completely inadequate.
ghung on Thu, 9th Oct 2014 6:23 pm
The Telegraph has a thread on this Macedonian incident:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ebola/11152472/Briton-dies-of-Ebola-in-Macedonia-live.html
Davy on Thu, 9th Oct 2014 6:35 pm
I pose a question on the systematic risk of Ebola. We know an international travel quarantine will tank the global economy primarily from loss of confidence. This is the right course of action to even begin to contain the virus. The authorities are in a pickle over effective quarantine or tank the economy. I wonder if today’s fractured multipolar world if such an agreement is possible. I am further wondering at what critical mass of infections an international travel ban will be attempted. We know with the exponential rise in infections this scenario is inevitable. I feel infections outside west Africa of over 100 will tip the authorities into action. Since this is conspiriusy central are some authorities secretly pleased at the prospect of passive population control?
ghung on Thu, 9th Oct 2014 6:48 pm
Follow the money and fear. When the costs of dealing with these ‘isolated’ incidents approach the costs of drastically limiting travel we’ll see incremental changes. What will the costs be of a single case in Macedonia (if it does turn out to be Ebola)?
I expect we’ll see a lot of voluntary reductions in travel as more of these cases appear (goes to the fear part).
Davy on Thu, 9th Oct 2014 6:55 pm
True, G, and voluntary travel reductions could be enough to further reduce the velocity of economic activity to bring on a genuine bear market. I imagine the tanking equity markets are a little more edgy than normal with this Ebola sub current going on.
Makati1 on Thu, 9th Oct 2014 8:50 pm
Plant, transition is what we are doing. It is a transition DOWN the ladder of progress, that’s all. Eventually, those who survive the trip will be living in more of a 1700s or 1800s lifestyle, or, if we are even more unlucky, maybe a hunter-gatherer level. Anything resembling current living will be long gone.