The Love in Deep Adaptation – A Philosophy for the Forum

Posted on by jembendell

By Jem Bendell and Katie Carr

Many more people are waking up to the predicament we are in, where rapid climate change threatens the future of our societies – and even our species. Hundreds of thousands of people have downloaded the Deep Adaptation paper and thousands joined the Facebook group. Launching the Deep Adaptation Forum is one means of enabling that interest to become useful collaboration.love

As people begin to work with our colleagues and discuss what “Deep Adaptation” could mean (and what it doesn’t), we wish to clarify some core ideas that have been expressed in more detail elsewhere.

Deep Adaptation refers to the personal and collective changes that might help us to prepare for – and live with – a climate-induced collapse of our societies. Unlike mainstream work on adaptation to climate change, it doesn’t assume that our current economic, social, and political systems can be resilient in the face of rapid climate change. When using the term social or societal collapse, we are referring the uneven ending to our current means of sustenance, shelter, security, pleasure, identity and meaning. Others may prefer the term societal breakdown when referring to the same process. We consider this process to be inevitable, because of our view that humanity will not be able to respond globally fast enough to protect our food supplies from chaotic weather. People who consider that societal collapse or breakdown is either possible, likely or already unfolding, also are interested in deep adaptation.

Four questions guide our work on Deep Adaptation within the forum:

  • Resilience: what do we most value that we want to keep and how?
  • Relinquishment: what do we need to let go of so as not to make matters worse?
  • Restoration: what could we bring back to help us with these difficult times?
  • Reconciliation: with what and whom shall we make peace as we awaken to our mutual mortality?

These questions invite exploration of Deep Adaptation to our climate predicament in order to develop both collapse-readiness and collapse-transcendence.

  • Collapse-readiness includes the mental and material measures that will help reduce disruption to human life – enabling an equitable supply of the basics like food, water, energy, payment systems and health.
  • Collapse-transcendence refers to the psychological, spiritual and cultural shifts that may enable more people to experience greater equanimity toward future disruptions and the likelihood that our situation is beyond our control.

Uncertainty and lack of control are key aspects of our predicament; we do not know whether what we do will slow climate change and societal collapse or reduce harm at scale. It looks likely to us that many will die young and that we may die sooner than we had expected. That does not mean we do not try to extend the glide and soften the crash – and learn from the whole experience.

One thing that rapid climate change can help us to learn is the destructiveness of our delusions about reality and what is important in life. Key to this delusion is the emphasis many of us place on our separate identities. Since birth we have been invited to “other” people and nature. We often assume other people to be less valuable, smart or ethical as us. Or we assume we know what they think. We justify that in many ways, using stories of nationality, gender, morals, personal survival, or simply being “too busy”. Similarly, we have been encouraged to see nature as separate from us. Therefore, we have not regarded the rivers, soils, forests and fields as part of ourselves. Taken together, this othering of people and nature means we dampen any feelings of connection or empathy to such a degree that we can justify exploitation, discrimination, hostility, violence, and rampant consumption.

The ‘othering’ of people and nature is something that arises from a human habit to map and control reality in pursuit of feeling safer or better. In part, that habit arises from our sense of separation, which can also mean we sense threat almost constantly from our surroundings. We believe we are entering a period where there will be more disruption and less ability to control, or to think or to pretend that we can control. Our concern is that in reaction to this situation, some people will seek to maintain a sense of security in unhelpful ways. For instance, by thinking that oneself is right, or better, or owed something, and so on, are all ways people can seek some sense of safety in their self-identity, and yet, such ways are a micro form of violence because they involve othering. Over time, such micro violences can develop a conceptual framework that permits or encourages much wider violence, including physical violence.

As we see more pain in the world, and sense that it will get worse, it is possible that we will shrink from it. It is easier to consider other people’s pain as less valid as one’s own pain or that of the people and pets we know. But there is another way. The suffering of others presents us with an opportunity to feel and express love and compassion. Not to save or to fix, but to be open to sensing the pain of all others and letting that transform how we live in the world. It does not need to lead to paralysis or depression, but to being fully present to life in every moment, however it manifests. This approach is the opposite of othering and arises from a loving mindset, where we experience universal compassion to all beings. It is the love that our climate predicament invites us to connect with. It is the love in deep adaptation.

Therefore, in our work with others on deep adaptation, we wish to pursue and enable loving responses to our predicament. Every interaction offers an opportunity for compassion. It can seem difficult when it feels as if someone is trying to criticise your view, perhaps because they prefer to see collapse as unlikely or human extinction as certain. But to return to compassion, even if we fall away from it in the moment, feels an important way of living our truth. And it is something we can do at any time. As leadership coach Diana Reynolds recently explained, “the incredible compassionate revolution starts here, starts now.”

As this topic involves questions of mortality, impermanence, insecurity and uncontrollability, everyone who is finding themselves navigating their way through is experiencing many strong emotional responses, which may feel turbulent, overwhelming, exhausting as well as energising or enlivening. Often these emotions affect us, including ourselves and our colleagues, in ways that we may not be aware of. Therefore, in the small team working in the Deep Adaptation Forum, and the wider group of volunteers, we invite each other to consider three principles:

  • Return to compassion. We shall seek to return to universal compassion in all our work, and remind each other to notice in ourselves when anger, fear, panic, or insecurity may be influencing our thoughts or behaviours. It is also important to remember to take care of ourselves, especially when the urgency of our predicament can easily lead to burnout.
  • Return to curiosity. We recognise that we do not have many answers on specific technical or policy matters. Instead, our aim is to provide a space and an invitation to participate in generative dialogue that is founded in kindness and curiosity.
  • Return to respect. We respect other people’s situations and however they may be reacting to our alarming predicament, while seeking to build and curate nourishing spaces for deep adaptation.

We hope that all of us in the team continue to provide useful information, avoid negativity, and invite everyone to engage as peers. We also apologise in advance for any times where we do not seem to be living these principles.

If you would like to help the team financially, and have a small fund for such support, then please use the contact form.

If you would like to volunteer with us, please start by joining a relevant group within the Forum and demonstrating your commitment, effectiveness, and aligned approach within that space.

Professor Jem Bendell and Katie Carr co-lead retreats as well as leadership courses related to deep adaptation, at the University of Cumbria.

The photo is of the sculpture entitled “Love” by Ukrainian artist #AlexanderMilov and was found at the 2015 #BurningManFestival. It shows two #wireframe adults with their inner children reaching for each other, symbolizing purity and sincerity. /// photo by @teamwoodnote and used here with a creative commons license.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/designmilk/22871072820

After feedback that one sentence was confusing, this blog was updated on November 28th 2019 to replace one sentence with a new paragraph, which starts with “The ‘othering’…”

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54 thoughts on “The Love in Deep Adaptation – A Philosophy for the Forum”

  2. Dear Jem and Katie, Sincere thanks for this blog and for the suggested ‘framework’ for navigation and positive containment of the emotional challenges. I’ve joined the Forum, and am very grateful for it as I was finding the outpourings on the FB page overwhelming. Kindly, Martine

  4. This is beautiful: Therefore, in our work with others on deep adaptation, we wish to pursue and enable loving responses to our predicament. Every interaction offers an opportunity for compassion. It can seem difficult when it feels as if someone is trying to criticise your view, perhaps because they prefer to see collapse as unlikely or human extinction as certain. But to return to compassion, even if we fall away from it in the moment, feels an important way of living our truth. And it is something we can do at any time. As leadership coach Diana Reynolds recently explained, “the incredible compassionate revolution starts here, starts now.”

    Thank you for the inspiration.

  5. Dear Jem and Katie. Thank you for continuing to share your incredible insights into a situation which clearly will be difficult for most people to ever find any positives in. Despite how challenging it may seem as we go forward and our situation becomes more dire, it will become more important that your philosophy and teachings are manifested as widely as possible. Please continue to spread your positive deep adaptation message as effectively as you can. I believe it truly is a way that we can slow down the destruction if it is adopted and embraced by many others.

    Here in Australia there is still very much a general malaise and in many cases a strong denial to the very real and likely outcomes of our climate change. It’s hard to resist the urge to just turn our backs on society and find a place to hide away from the rest of the world to just prepare for our last days (however long that is). But we will try hard to spread your positive deep adaptation message as best we can and hopefully that may help even a small number of people to understand that we can approach our situation with compassion, curiosity and respect.

    1. Not so sure it is malaise and denial in Australia. A laidback culture perhaps but not indifferent to what is happening to our planet. Perhaps it is a deep down recognition of a different future that is dawning on us individually and collectively. There are no words initially ………..need to keep engaging with others. Take every opportunity for dialogue

      1. The whole world, most the people in every country have not accepted how bad it is but that we can do something. At least, for me, this is denial! Don’t take it personally!

  6. […] I was thrilled to watch Jem Bendell’s latest video, “Grieve, Pray, Love” and savor how well it was produced as well as share it with friends. Yet the word “love” continued to unsettle me, not because I dislike the word, but because so much that was not said about the word niggled around the edges of my experience with collapse preparation in these past 15 years, as well as with the beautiful article Jem wrote on love for his Deep Adaptation Forum. […]

  9. […] Since my paper on Deep Adaptation to climate chaos came out in July 2018 and “went viral,” there have been some criticisms of the concept and what people think it implies. Some people argue that I have overblown the case for inevitable near-term societal collapse due to climate chaos. Others argue that I have “underblown” it and that we face human extinction in the near term. Some people suggest that I have not emphasised a specific approach enough (e.g. permaculture) or that I include mention of approaches they dislike in principle (Marine Cloud Brightening over the Arctic). Others who accept a near term societal collapse is likely, argue that the people coalescing around the Deep Adaptation framing are emphasizing compassion and collaboration in a naïve way, as we need to prepare for civil and international conflict. Some people argue that it is defeatist and counterproductive to conclude it is too late to stop a societal collapse. That last one is a way of thinking that has existed for a while within the environmental movement, and which I unpacked in the paper itself as a mechanism of denial. And it is one that has been published yesterday by the respected author Jeremy Lent (who wrote the Patterning Instinct). A by-product of a concept becoming a bit famous is that many people read people’s views about the concept, rather than reading the original concept themselves. When those summaries come from critics, they can misrepresent the concept. So if you want to learn what I meant by Deep Adaptation, please read a summary here. […]

    1. It’s not about what you privately believe, but the forum is a place to engage on the basis that societal collapse is inevitable. This is to avoid watering the down the discussion with debate about the likelihood of it. Jem doesn’t really distinguish between economic and social collapse

  12. Dear Jem and Katie, since meeting you at Schumacher I have been in a turbulent sea. Thank you for this post. I feel very strongly that love and compassion is the way forward towards reimagining the future.

    1. Human beings are conclusively in undiscovered country climate-wise. If we’re not experiencing some turbulence of grief, then we’re probably not very self-aware.
      I think that self-awareness is a prerequisite for empathy and compassion.
      These two articles have helped me immensely.
      http://www.artofwellbeing.com/2017/11/08/acceptance/
      https://bigthink.com/ideafeed/compassion-is-an-action-not-an-emotion

      I share them with you in the positive energy that they will aid you in your journey as much as they have aided me. Peace be with you.

  15. […] We can understand and forgive such reactions. Because it is not easy to read the opinions of these scientists or the latest data on climate change. If you feel upset, then that is normal. I also do. Fortunately, there is wisdom to draw from. Joanna Macy has said “the depth of your grief is the measure of your love.” Stephen Jenkinson has written that if you pay full attention to our ecological state then it “mitigates against your happiness, contentment, and your sense of well-being. Having a conscience now is a grief-soaked proposition. … If you awaken in our time, you awaken with a sob.” If you feel now is the time for you to explore what this situation means for you and humanity, then I invite you to engage with the emerging international community pursuing “deep adaptation” to our predicament. An introduction to the network is here. […]

  28. […] We can understand and forgive such reactions. Because it is not easy to read the opinions of these scientists or the latest data on climate change. If you feel upset, then that is normal. I also do. Fortunately, there is wisdom to draw from. Joanna Macy has said “the depth of your grief is the measure of your love.” Stephen Jenkinson has written that if you pay full attention to our ecological state then it “mitigates against your happiness, contentment, and your sense of well-being. Having a conscience now is a grief-soaked proposition. … If you awaken in our time, you awaken with a sob.” If you feel now is the time for you to explore what this situation means for you and humanity, then I invite you to engage with the emerging international community pursuing “deep adaptation” to our predicament. An introduction to the network is here. […]

  32. Deep adaptation is something I have been thinking about in the isolation for some time now.
    I knew I would one day come across others flowing in this same stream of thought.
    And even though it is very important to stay on top and discuss the problem we are facing
    I have some ideas towards solutions, who can I speak to in regards to the solutions
    In other words, can you direct me to the solutions department? lol
    I am a Concrete contractor working on the California highspeed rail project
    I feel I may have some solutions or at least the fundamentals of the solutions.
    And I would like to one day give sell my business and give my life to this.
    “Deep adaptation”
    or what I was calling it “Million man mission to intelligent earth 2050”

  33. My “Deep Adaptation” experience is living with and financially supporting a primary emotional partner who doesn’t want an emotional relationship. She wants to be a hermit, but it’s too difficult to be self-supporting and live off the land. She prefers me to be invisible and inaudible, unless there’s something she wants or needs. She criticizes me for being a needy attention-seeker because I’m not as asocial and antisocial as she is. She wants the vast majority of her day to herself to be in her own headspace as she reads fiction and watches TV and streams movies. She’s in a bedroom of her own usually twelve hours a day, while wanting the main area of the medium-sized cabin, which has the loveseat and the couch and the entertainment center, to herself the other twelve hours. I’m supposed to keep to the office or my bedroom or somewhere away from the cabin.

    How do I “deeply adapt” to what I experience as an unloving primary emotional relationship — or rather non-emotional living arrangement?

  37. Somehow the deep adaptation feels onesided and materialistic to me and not the final truth of things or in fact the beings we and life itself is… I am missing a perspective that recognises the inherent transient nature of things, the transformation of consciousness happening because of it and the deep essence of stilness that might be more real.
    This is not to minimalise or bypass pain, but to enlarge the perspective on why we’re here and who we really are.
    At the same time, I’d like to point out how covid is another sign of a mad world and hoping that eyes will open for the ‘othering’ happening there, as to find eachother beyond whatever our minds want to belief or hold on to…

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