predicament
the elephants in our room
Ecocide and ecological overshoot
Militarism and genocide
Extractive capitalism and corporate power
Radical social and economic inequality
Runaway digital technology
Evolutionary mismatch
The elephants are bad enough, but even worse, we’re also suffering from a crisis of discourse, the inability or unwillingness to have the hard conversations about what we’re actually doing on this planet. This is the painful paradox of the modern age: everyone’s talking almost constantly now, but we’re failing to address the most substantive, consequential issues of our time.
This is obviously a political failure, but it’s also a failure of our individual willingness to take on the inconvenient truths in our lives. And in this sense, it’s also a psycho-spiritual failure and a failure of our collective imagination.
the path of engagement
What happens when we encounter the elephants in our room, the massively inconvenient truths of our age? Sadly, most of us turn away. The realities are overwhelming, even terrifying, so perhaps it’s no wonder that so many of us follow the path of avoidance. But avoidance is a path to nowhere. It’s a path to passivity, resignation, disempowerment, and ultimately, learned helplessness.
In contrast, the path of engagement tells the truth and takes responsibility. It faces the music and bears witness. To be sure, there’s hardship on this path and battles to be fought. There’s adversity, doubt, and stress as we put our lives up against the destructive machinery of our age. But ultimately, this is where the growth and meaning live. The path of engagement is never easy, but it makes our lives far more interesting and substantive. This is where we discover ourselves, our power and our ability. This is where we find a sense of relevance and efficacy. This path can be difficult, but it’s also honorable.