Silent Screams: We’re Stuck in a Slow-Motion Train Wreck

The frightening image of a ‘slow-motion train wreck’ has been around for decades — to the point that it’s become a well-worn cliche. But these days, as the U.S. and the world experience numerous forms of social and environmental collapse, it occurs to me that now is a perfect time to deeply examine the ‘slow-motion train wreck’ idea and what it indicates.

Today is an especially appropriate time to explore what’s happening to us, all the witnesses and/or unwilling participants, as we find ourselves stuck in such an ongoing, intensifying ‘train wreck.’

The thing is, images like ‘slow-motion train wreck’ become popular for a reason — and that’s because they reflect and ‘capture’ a grim, scary reality. Yet, as noted, we’ve gotten used to the idea and barely pay attention to it anymore. “Yeah, yeah, another day, another ‘slow-motion train wreck’… who gives a crap anymore?!”

But in our current dire circumstances, I think such cavalier dismissiveness works against us and prevents us from coming to grips with what we’re facing. Plus, there are multiple minor ‘train wrecks’ that the media focus on and exploit, day after day — but they hardly ever touch on or investigate the HUGE, intensifying ‘train wreck’ engulfing our nation and our world.

The environmental movement became… a colossal failure

Any sentient, well-informed person is now aware that our social and natural worlds have gone seriously awry. Many of the positive social and environmental movements of the last 50 years are now in tatters, and the progress they initiated is being swiftly undermined or even reversed.

This applies to areas as diverse as racism, voting rights, social justice, environmental issues and degradation, the sixth extinction, and the ‘biggie,’ intensifying climate change. The sick, sad truth is that, while the environmental movement achieved a few initial successes (improved air and water quality come to mind), over the past 30 years it has increasingly failed on a global scale.

In addition, overpopulation and over-consumption are still accelerating, all over the world. Every year, we add 70–80 million new human beings, and simultaneously, we’re still expanding (via incessant marketing) human expectations of greater ease, comfort, and the wonders of ‘mass consumption.’ It’s a classic case of an unstoppable force — human overpopulation and over-consumption — slamming into an immovable object: the limits and ‘laws’ of the natural world we live in.

Or perhaps, I shouldn’t call natural limits and ‘laws’ immovable — since we humans ARE moving them, to a degree, and not in a good way. Or… are we?

Our collective actions are altering the entire climate of the planet, true, and have set in motion a series of profound changes and environmental collapses. However, these ecological shifts are the direct result of the collision between human activities and our planet’s natural ‘laws’ and balance — and it is precisely because of these immutable ‘laws’ and ecological realities that the climate IS changing rapidly.

In other words, we are not moving the goalposts or changing the rules. Nature and her ‘laws’ are winning — and will always win such an absurd, destructive contest. We puny humans are no match for the combined powers of the natural world surrounding us.

No, science and technology won’t ‘save us’

Given all of the above crises and looming collapse(s), it’s safe to say that we — humanity as a whole, and especially denizens of the U.S. — are now ‘stuck’ in a vast slow-motion train wreck/disaster. It’s a terrifying and all-consuming spectacle encompassing politics, our societies, morality, our economies, nature, and many millions of other species.

To continue with the train wreck metaphor, we are ‘stuck’ on a fast track to certain destruction. Yet, amid all this chaos and building calamity, most of us carry on with ‘business as usual.’

Most of us are in big-time denial, and are just hoping against hope that somehow science and technology will ‘ride to the rescue’ and miraculously save us.

However, science and technology will not and cannot save us. Our misguided faith in science and technology is actually one of the great barriers to human growth and transformation. Why? Because it places all the power outside of us and makes us dependent on some imagined future ‘breakthrough’ that will (supposedly) do the trick and save us.

That’s utter nonsense. What could save us is a deep commitment to human growth, awareness, slowly reducing our global human population, and decreasing our voracious ‘mass consumption.’ But, as you’ve probably noticed, we are doing none of those things and have NO desire or will to do so. The truth is, we have irredeemably screwed ourselves — and our planet.

Photo by Stefano Pollio on Unsplash

We also face an INNER ‘train wreck’

Where does this tsunami of terrible news and information leave us? The endless, horrifying conundrum posed by all this chaos leads us straight to the inner aspect of our slow-motion train wreck. Our usual reactions often include several of the following inner states (singly or in ‘clumps’):

* Fear

* Denial

* Rage

* Despair

* Deep sadness

* Hopelessness

* Depression

* Avoidance

* Terror

* Feeling utterly helpless

* Wanting to run — yet knowing there’s nowhere to run to

* Fury

* More fear

* More despair

What we’re faced with, now, is the ultimate inner task of gradually shifting from ‘collapse awareness’ to collapse acceptance. This is the great inner challenge we’re facing, collectively, and it’s already clear that most of us will never embrace or seek this acceptance.

Rather, the vast majority of us seem destined to wallow in an ever-changing miasma of the above-listed emotional reactions. Fear. Rage. Denial. Terror. Avoidance. More denial. Etc. But none of these inner states is desirable, long-term, and none of them can feed our souls or help us navigate these trying times.

What will heal us and feed our souls?

So, what will work? What can feed our souls and help us plan and act intelligently?

I must admit, up front, that I’m not often able to access full ‘collapse acceptance.’ I, too, experience the daily run-through of dark, negative emotions and reactions. And how can I or we not react, given all the crazy crap, nonsense, and terrifying news we’re exposed to daily?

Yet, I’m clear that I don’t want to stay ‘stuck’ in such dark, painful reactions, even if our society IS speeding down a fast track to hell. I don’t want to remain ‘stuck’ and miserable, even if I’m trapped in the middle of a slow-motion train wreck I’m powerless to stop.

I want my mental health back, dammit. I want my inner equilibrium and spiritual health back. I refuse to have my inner life and inner balance destroyed by the idiotic decisions, habits, and practices of others.

Moving beyond a miserable life that’s always ‘at effect’

I want my mental health back. That may be the most profound and difficult issue facing those of us who are ‘collapse aware.’ Is such an inner renewal even possible today?

So far, I have to say: while possible (and I know it is, since I’ve experienced it in small doses or glimpses), it seems to be extraordinarily difficult to reach that place and stay there more than very briefly. The inner and outer challenges we face are SO daunting that dealing with them effectively, and in ways that honor and support our humanness, can be both frustrating and deeply disturbing: “Wait. Whaat?! Am I supposed to just ‘give up’ on humanity? Am I supposed to just accept all the horrors and insanity we’re inflicting on our planet and each other?”

No, these dark ‘solutions’ are also no good. Somehow, the answer — if there is one — has to lie in between total acquiescence to the horrors of collapse and endless inner resistance to these horrors. In truth, neither acquiescence nor inner resistance will change our near-term destiny or shift our direction in a meaningful way. (Outer resistance, in the form of social or environmental activism, may help in some small ways — which is far better than nothing. But it’s also no ‘solution’ to our intense inner and outer conundrums.)

What can we do when there are NO ‘solutions’?

Increasingly, it appears that there are no ‘solutions.’ This being the case, perhaps the only thing left that I can deeply affect is my own mental state and inner well-being. If neither action nor inaction can fundamentally alter humanity’s path, anymore — well, I might as well aim for true acceptance and increased happiness.

If all I really have, and can affect, is my own inner life and close-by social world… then why not do everything in my power to ‘transcend’ (not run from) our collective train wreck?

Why should I let a vast collection of fools, power-hungry idiots, and ‘consumption addicts’ dictate how I live, feel, and react? Why should I keep giving them that power?

These are the questions that keep my spirit alive and growing during this tumultuous and frightening time. I have no definitive ‘answers’ — but I’m open to finding or creating them. I’m keeping my mind and heart open to healing and inner transformation.

Perhaps I’ve stimulated a similar resolve in you, dear reader.

End note: There are several helpful online groups dedicated to ‘collapse awareness’ and acceptance. I can personally recommend a program I’ve been involved with for a while, the Living Resilience online program (livingresilience.net). It’s sponsored by a very dear and deeply caring soul, Dean Walker, and provides a great forum for exploring these issues and challenges.

—

This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.