[R-G] [BillTottenWeblog] Rapid Unraveling

[Bill Totten]

And the Demise of Adolescent America

by Carolyn Baker

carolynbaker.net (May 23 2008)


Well here it is folks - the great unraveling so many of us have been
forecasting during the past five years as we've read the tea leaves and
researched the unprecedented convergence of myriad natural, political,
economic, and environmental realities. As most of you know, I'm
traveling, yes on the road, across this country. I was going to wait
until arriving at my final destination before writing about my
experience, but with oil rapidly heading for $200 a barrel, it feels
important to do so sooner rather than later because our lives have just
changed more dramatically than we can imagine, and we will only be able
to comprehend to what extent as the repercussions of the end of the age
of oil reverberate through what is left of industrial civilization.

In my travels I've seen exactly one RV on the road, a few SUVs and vans,
a number of small cars and motorcycles, and lots of eighteen-wheelers
going 55 miles per hour. Motels have a record low number of guests, and
few people are eating in restaurants. I thought about writing an article
entitled "Ghost Town USA: Echo Across America", but that was before oil
reached a new record of $135 yesterday. The speed of collapse is taking
even a seasoned collapse-watcher like me by somewhat of a surprise, and
I feel compelled to talk about it as it unfolds in this moment.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of what we are witnessing - and there
are oh so many, is the ubiquitousness of blame. Attending almost every
report on skyrocketing gas prices is the question: "So whose fault is
it?" I certainly am not surprised by this, but I find it unsettling to
say the least. Because Americans in particular have been absolutely
recalcitrant and incapable of looking at collapse, they are being and
will continue to be increasingly blindsided by it. Sadly, when humans
are traumatized, their functioning becomes progressively more primal and
animal-like, and their capacity for taking in and assimilating new
information is markedly reduced.

When Peak Oil experts first began sharing their research, they told us
that food, perhaps more than any aspect of our lives, would be impacted
by it, and so it is. The double-barreled trauma now hitting Americans
which is putting both gasoline and food out of their reach, is certain
to result in reactive, vindictive behavior that will irrationally target
a plethora of scapegoats. Add to this a foreclosure or two, a
bankruptcy, car repossession, job loss or loss of health insurance and
you have a recipe for mayhem. Such behavior, understandable as it may
be, is adolescent in nature and therefore, untempered and unwizened,
making acting-out individuals exceedingly dangerous to themselves and
others.

Like me, you are probably witnessing the barrage of blame in your
community and nationally if you are paying attention to mainstream news.
Dmitry Orlov has given us a treasure-trove of information about human
behavior in the throes of collapse chaos. What is and will be different
from the collapse of the Soviet Union for Americans, however, is the
level of violence that is likely to proliferate as collapse accelerates.
Russians were never intoxicated with affluence and entitlement as
Americans are. Their history has been replete with suffering; ours
marinated in privilege reinforced by gun culture and firearm fetishes.

What those of us who comprehend collapse must understand as we navigate
the daunting days ahead is that what is happening to America and the
human species is an initiatory experience similar to those which have
been structured and honored by indigenous peoples for thousands of
years. The very best explanation I have read of this process is Nature
And The Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness And Community In A Fragmented
World (2007), an extraordinary book by psychologist Bill Plotkin in
which he illuminates the stages of human development and emphasizes how
they have been skewed by a capitalistic, consumer-driven culture - and
how each stage might be lived in fulfillment in the context of a
holistic community. The current planetary initiation differs from the
traditional, tribal initiation in that the former is involuntary and
unwanted, whereas the latter is perceived as essential for the well
being of the initiate and the tribe.

In tribal cultures young people have the opportunity to experience
ritual rites of passage from adolescence to adulthood, that is, an
initiation, which involves some type of ordeal created and supported by
the tribe's elders. Ordeals may include rugged endurance challenges in
the wilderness, treacherous hunting experiences, or isolation for a
period of time in nature. In all instances, the experience is one of
discomfort and danger and literally sets up a brush with death for the
initiate. Many traditional societies, and some psychologists such as
Carl Jung, believe that the human psyche requires initiatory experiences
in order to develop in a functional manner and that without them, one's
emotional and spiritual development is impaired.

Since cultures are comprised of individuals, it follows that when the
individuals of the culture have not been initiated, the culture itself
is likely to remain in an adolescent state. Many cultures that have
experienced collective suffering such as protracted wars, famines, and
disease have in the process, experienced a collective initiation which
may produce some of the results of an individual initiation. This may be
the reason that some European countries that endured two world wars
appear to have a more mature relationship with the earth community. For
example, many of those countries are far more aware of environmental
issues and have taken more profound steps to live consciously in harmony
with the ecosystem as noted in a recent National Geographic survey which
ranks the US last in environmentally conscious behavior.

I believe that the collapse of civilization, now accelerating at
dizzying speed, is indeed a collective, planetary initiation of the
human species. It involves all of us, not just those "clueless Americans
out there", and it will deliver to each of us countless unwanted ordeals
on every level-physical, emotional, financial, social, and spiritual.
What traditional cultures which practice ritual initiation understand
about it is that what matters most in the initiatory process is not
whether the initiate survives physically, but that that person's
consciousness is transformed - for her own enhancement and for that of
the tribe.

What I want to reinforce for all of us is how imperative it is in the
days ahead for us to walk consciously, cautiously, and compassionately
through the fires of this long, protracted initiation. Beyond our
physical, financial, and logistic preparations, we must continuously
work - and it will be work - to open our hearts and minds to the larger
purpose behind the ordeals. We must ask ourselves what each particular
experience wants to reveal to us, how it comes to us to open our eyes
and cleanse the doors of our perception. We will be incessantly reminded
that civilization has come to all this - depletion and exhaustion of the
earth community and all of the suffering that attends that. In a sense,
I believe, we are fortunate to be living in this time and on this planet
because something greater than our finite human egos is delivering a
message with unmistakable clarity: Living estranged from the earth
community as if we are the only and the most important species on earth
does not work, and collapse wishes to make certain that we understand
unequivocally and irrevocably that our only survival and our only
serenity will be found in living as if we and the earth are one.

Moreover, because we and the earth community are one, it is imperative
that we reach out to our neighbors and community members. Their
awareness may range from totally clueless to that of fellow collapse
watcher, but bonds must be made and trust built - for our well being and
for theirs. In the days ahead, we will need them, and they will need us.
The more familiar we are with each other, the less likely that any of us
is scapegoated or victimized by panicked, hungry people who feel
victimized and powerless to cope with what they perceive they have been
dealt.

The time for a sense of entitlement is over. We are not entitled to
anything; I repeat: We are not entitled to anything. Each day, each
moment, each breath, each bite of food and drop of water, each smile or
warm hand on our shoulder, if we are fortunate enough to have them, are
precious gifts to be savored, treasured, and given thanks for.

As I have been writing in recent months, I hold a vision of possibility
- the potential for small pockets of survivors to create local outposts
of conscious community in which individuals can live compassionately,
practicing out of necessity and choice, those behaviors that sustain
themselves and the earth. Those who have already begun this process may
have an advantage, but none of us will be immune - nor should we be, in
my opinion. It appears that this momentous initiation is the only way in
which humans can fully and finally comprehend the toxicity of civilization.

Many citizens of the former Soviet Union discovered through the
experience of collapse what ultimately mattered most. Yes, there was
violence, crime, paranoia, hunger, thirst, deprivation, and astounding
loss, but unprecedented compassion, trust, bonding, cooperation, and
support flourished in the midst of total societal disintegration. For
me, collapse is the opportunity for an outpouring of the latter
qualities that causes me to at least partially welcome the demise of all
that has prevented us from living and sharing them. Perhaps finally,
amid a frightening unraveling, we will grow up - becoming mature human
beings who ultimately find it impossible to tolerate anything remotely
resembling industrial civilization because we will at last have become
adults.

http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/504/


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