The Worst Has Happened. Now What?

You know the old saying “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”? Well, the worst has happened and keeps happening.

Ongoing wars rage and conflicts keep escalating around the globe; fascism and autocracy are again on the rise; a convicted felon, sexual abuser, hateful demagogue, and overall scoundrel just got re-elected president of the most powerful nation on earth; and the nations of the world are irretrievably behind on ever meeting our so-called ‘climate goals.’

Yes, the worst IS happening — now. It may not be the ‘absolute worst’ we can imagine — think global nuclear war or a large asteroid striking the earth — but it’s pretty damn bad.

So, the question naturally arises: what next? What can we (concerned, anxious, aware humans) do, going forward?

Fact: humanity has blown it and FAILED spectacularly

First, I think we need to be unflinchingly honest and direct, both with ourselves and open-minded others. We have to ‘own’ the evident fact that humanity as a whole has failed, spectacularly, both in its quest for endless ‘progress’ and ‘growth’ and in its efforts to control or rein in the devastating global effects of our manic ‘progress.’

We’ve known for many decades, already, that our culture’s haphazard, oil-based ‘progress’ is toxic to our planet’s ecological and climate systems. As scientists’ grim warnings grew shriller and darker, we pretended to be actively concerned and pretended we’d do the ‘needful things’ to rein in global warming/climate change.

For decades we held conference after conference and endless international gatherings, all of them well-intentioned, and all toothless and ultimately useless. It turns out, they’ve all been mere ‘greenwashing.’

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Meanwhile, decades passed, international efforts to ‘combat climate change’ stalled and then slipped into reverse — and the very real climate crisis kept worsening. Just a few years ago, scientists predicted that climate change effects wouldn’t get truly awful until around 2100; then they moved up their predictions and thought we had until 2050 before the worst effects manifested; and today, it appears that the timetable has gotten even shorter and the entire climate change/disruption process is intensifying much faster than we ever imagined.

If we then add into the mix — into an already dark picture — the fact that the president-elect of the U.S., Donald Trump, is a climate change denier and oil industry advocate who plans to gut the EPA and “Drill, baby, drill”… and that, in many significant ways, ‘as goes the U.S., so goes the world’… it’s not unreasonable to say that humanity as a whole is now well and truly screwed.

There is simply no way we are going to stop, limit, or slow down climate change, at this point — especially since most ‘advanced’ nations won’t even try to do much about it. And even if they DID try hard — which they won’t — our current oil-based economies and manic consumerism ensure the failure of all such efforts.

Yes, humanity blew it, totally — and now we are truly fucked.

The death of hope and the birth of the ‘new realism’

So, where does this leave us? Short of utter despair and deliberately offing ourselves, what are our options? ARE there any ‘good’ options?

Here’s my take on our predicament: all hope that humanity will ‘get its act together’ and work together to heal our societies and our planet is simply gone. That version of ‘hope’ was never realistic or practical, but now it has totally collapsed and is just kaput… over.

Notice, I said ‘that version of hope.’ There are other, more realistic versions — or rather, there could be. The pipe dreams of humanity rapidly ‘waking up’ and ‘healing our planet’ may have disintegrated, but that doesn’t mean we’re doomed to despair, apathy, and slow collective suicide.

No, at this point, I think the only rational course of action is to find open-minded souls and work together to ameliorate the coming horrors. The time has come — urgently — to find our ‘tribe,’ renew our sense of community, and together co-create a viable path forward. Not a long-term ‘sustainable’ path — that’s too ambitious for our present moment — but one that’s minimally viable. And sadly… it won’t ‘save’ everyone, only those ‘with eyes to see and ears to hear’ and who sense what needs to happen next and are willing to ‘go there.’

In truth, the time for deep preparation isn’t over — it’s just now beginning.

Committing to deep inner and outer preparation

What does such ‘deep preparation’ entail?

First and foremost, I’d say our #1 job is to ‘get honest’ with ourselves and others and embrace the coming (awful) challenges as much as possible. The time for denial, avoidance, and self-deception is over. And the time for deep inner preparation, as well as ongoing outer preparations for accelerating calamity, is here. Now.

This ‘inner work’ necessarily involves community (including online connections) and open, honest communication. Instead of withdrawing into our inner pain and fear, it’s crucial to intensively ‘work on ourselves’ and keep processing our inner pain, anxiety, fear, and grief. Instead of sinking into denial and apathy, now is the time to connect, communicate, share, and co-create.

In terms of ‘outer’ preparation, we’re fortunate that global supply chains and our national economies are still fairly functional, and probably will be in the short term (meaning the next 1–2 years). This means the supplies and goods we need to gather together and store — perhaps 2–3 months’ worth — are still readily available. But very soon… they may not be.

Climate disruptions and global economic tensions are both ratcheting up, so we should not take any remaining economic stability for granted. Rather, we should start implementing a plan ASAP to have several months’ worth of cash, food, water, and other supplies on hand, to help us weather intensifying economic disruptions and/or collapse.

I’m not suggesting ‘hoarding’ vast amounts of food, ammo, water, toilet paper, or anything else — just making wise preparations and gifting ourselves some time if/when things go south rapidly. Nor am I suggesting ‘doomsday prepping’ and turning our entire focus to physical ‘survival.’ Mere self-centered ‘survival’ won’t cut it either, in the long run.

People, get ready: collapse is accelerating

Those who are ‘collapse aware’ and moving toward ‘collapse acceptance’ are the ones most likely to make it through the coming hard times and ‘tribulations’… with their sanity and their humanity fairly intact. Finding and nurturing the inner ‘space’ of calm acceptance and calm, deliberate preparation will be vital during the challenging years ahead.

Rather than fighting and fighting to keep the (insane) status quo going, aware and wise humans now must turn their attention to surviving these dark times, educating and guiding others, and assisting ourselves and others in maximizing our happiness, when possible, and minimizing extreme pain and stress as much as possible.

In times like these, that’s a tall order — but apparently, it’s what many of us came here to confront or accomplish. Some of us were made for times like these.

But that doesn’t mean it all happens automatically — quite the opposite. Now we need to focus our attention and our love, work to prepare both inwardly and outwardly, and keep at it.

For we can still fail at this new task, too. But humanity and we ourselves can’t afford abject failure in this new ‘unknown country.’ That would truly mean the end of humanity and human compassion as we know it.

In a sense, the future now rests with US — those awake and aware enough to engage with and pursue deep preparation.

Let’s not blow it, people. Rather, let’s step up, wake up, and get ready for what’s coming.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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