Moving Beyond the Spectacle: finding our own stories

[claire_58]

We are surrounded by a multi ring circus of fear-porn and bad news. According to the media the larger world is a maelstrom that threatens to draw us and obliterate us. In one ring we have the evil Russians threatening the Ukraine. In another we have the Mid-East. There’s one for “Economic Collapse” featuring the stock markets; currency deflation, bitcoin, and the real estate bubble. There’s one being set up for the “Next Pandemic” and another for “War with China.” Outside the Big Tent there is an entire midway offering sideshows, entertainment, and distraction of every type and flavour.

 

Our so-called leaders have abandoned any attempt to make any effective response to the real challenges that most of us face. They have consistently chosen to enrich themselves at our expense and have just as consistently stirred up international conflict to distract us from the resulting in poverty and immiseration. It is clear that they are unwilling or incapable of doing anything useful. Instead, they have offered us the equally destructive choice between paralyzing fear and mindless distraction. They cannot save us. The only help available is what we can provide for ourselves and share with the people around us. 

 

The good news is that outside all the noise and confusion something else is happening. It is quiet and hard to see. Even if you do see it you may not realize how important it is. Outside the circus there are individuals, families, and small groups of people who are doing something different. They are living their lives. They are rejecting both fear and distraction and they are finding ways to make the best of their situation. They are doing what people have always done: they are adapting to the unalterable circumstances that shape their lives.  

 

Adaption is our superpower. We are the most adaptable species on earth. We have adapted to and survived dramatic changes in climate many times in the last 200,000 years. We have developed new ways of living for every new climate and every bioregion we’ve encountered. We were creating sustainable cultures with stable populations in some of the most extreme regions on earth, including the Australian outback and the high Arctic long before the discovery and widespread use of fossil fuels. 

 

Most of us have forgotten our strength. The stories we commonly hear or tell or “know” about who we are, how we fit into the world, and the challenges we face, are stories of shame and blame. They focus on our “innate” flaws. They are stories that lead to guilt and paralysis. But they are not the whole story or the only story. The stories shaping our ideas about ourselves and our  world are by nature only partial truths. They reflect some aspects of reality and they ignore and distort others.

 

There is a better way to understand ourselves and what we’re up against. There are better stories, empowering stories. Stories that can help us shake off helplessness, grief, and despair. Some of these are stories as old as humanity itself. They are stories about our inherent human strengths and abilities; about how we’ve used those traits in the past; and about the time tested strategies that have helped us thrive. They are stories about what we can do as individuals, families, and small groups to help ourselves. Stories that can help each of us formulate our own best response to the soul crushing weight that is the future currently on offer. 

 

We have the potential to be a positive force for regeneration and renewal in our sadly damaged world but before we can go on to finding our own stories we must take a deeper look as some of the false assumptions holding us back. The stories we have right now are not empowering. Recognizing the flaws in our current understanding is the first step to co-creating a future worth having. 

 

Next: Fallacies, Fantasy, and Fiction or What’s Wrong with this Picture?

Comments

outside the rings

[kallianeira]

People tend to chide one when they learn one does not follow the news. I think they are often unaware of how much their imaginations are constrained by the "facts" they accept from those sources. The chiding itself is a demonstration that they have been trained to act as watchdogs against possible heresy.

As it is I feel the narrative and tone from stories in power are able to contaminate the general atmosphere and despite not watching and listening it is necessary to make extra effort to discover and tell better stories. Thanks for the reminder.

Re: outside the rings

[claire_58]

I think that's part of why I like JMG so much. He's not entranced by the spectacle and he tells better stories.