A Year of Breaking Together

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Wow, it has been a whole year since my book Breaking Together came out. 

To mark the occasion, I want to share with you an in-depth discussion I had about the book’s themes, with the filmmaker Michael Shaw. 

If you haven’t seen his film yet, I really recommend it. ‘Living in the Time of Dying’ sensitively covers a very difficult topic through discussions with folks far more interesting than myself.  Alternatively, you could watch the Q&A which he hosted with me in Byron Bay, last March (video below). It was a full house, with a lot of resonance amongst people who have already been adversely affected by a destabilised climate. Their experience and expertise is why I expect important international leadership of the collapse-readiness and response agendas to be emerging from Byron Shire. 

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Was this the most expensive degree in the history of Universities?

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Ten years ago today, the first payment of public university fees in Bitcoin was processed – and live on stage at a festival in Paris. Bitcoin is currently around 60,000 dollars each. Back then, on May 7th 2014, it was around 430 dollars each. Would that make it the highest fee ever paid for a degree? Is the Bitcoin worth 400 or 60000? That’s a philosophical argument one could debate forever – or at least in a PhD thesis.

The payment of 1 BTC (as an instalment for the full course fee) was made live during a panel on the future of currency. The PhD student was Leander Bindewald (on the right in the picture above) and he went on to complete his thesis on the discourse of money (see below for a close up of the payment screen).

I was Leander’s supervisor, and had arranged for the University of Cumbria to be the first public University in the world to accept cryptocurrency for payment. One can only wonder what might have been if the University had decided to retain the Bitcoin rather than convert it immediately into pounds. At least I’d have met my income target (finally). At 6 BTC for a graduate certificate (see below), that would be 360,000 dollars at current market rates. Wow… although studying with me might have been priceless 😉 Today I am happy to keep teaching a similar course after leaving academia (quick plug: ‘Leading Through Collapse’ happens online in September and in person in California in October).

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Sacred Pessimism – a talk to mark 5 years of a new movement

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In March 2019, we launched the Deep Adaptation Forum (DAF) as a mechanism for people to collaborate with each other as their best selves in the face of societal collapse. It was my main response to the explosion of interest in the ‘deep adaptation’ paper. The aim of the new Forum was not only to connect people, but also to catalyse and promote initiatives around the world. We served that goal with a small grant and a team of part time freelancers, with the understanding that ‘deep adaptation’ would be shaped by its participants and take myriad forms around the world. Consistent with that bottom-up ethos, I left the Forum in October 2020 and observed from afar as it evolved – and continues to evolve. Last year I was contacted by one of the many national groups that make this movement real-in-place and we discussed the idea of marking the 5th anniversary of the start of this movement. The group is in Hungary, which had emerged as the largest and most active group in the world.

That is why in April this year I visited Budapest to celebrate the dynamism of ‘Deep Adaptation Hungary’ and launch the Hungarian translation of Breaking Together. The draft text of my talk to open the World Adaptation Forum, which they organised, follows below. I focused on the fact that people are making hugely significant and positive changes in their lives due to their acceptance of societal collapse. That doesn’t mean things won’t be tough, or there aren’t many more things that could be done… rather, it’s time to recognise that many people are becoming their best selves because they are not lying to themselves anymore. It is thanks to Balazs Stumpf-Biro and Krisztina Csapó, since 2019, that Hungarians have been finding each other to explore that.  

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How do I sustain myself in these times?

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In recent Q&As, I have been asked how I sustain myself in these times. To understand my reply, you would need to understand my outlook on the future. I think a process of the collapse of modern societies has begun, and that catastrophic loss of life will occur on all populated continents in the years to come. If I live another twenty years, I would be witnessing that disaster unfolding. That is the context for my choices over the past five years.

I think I can’t plan to realistically avoid societal collapse myself but can try to avoid some of the early pain. That involves choices about where and how to live (moving to Indonesia). I also want to help soften the crash in the area I intend to live (through an organic farm school and other projects). I no longer believe I can contribute much to systemic changes that would reduce harm at scale (which was the motivation of my previous career). But I don’t want to give up on that entirely, due both to my sense of responsibility, as well as my relevant skills, experience, professional status, and network (so I wrote a book, and still blog and teach). Aside from these matters of personal security and contribution to society, I have felt a strong desire to live more lovingly and creatively than I did in the past, which has led to me becoming a musician and meditation retreat leader.

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Healing Hearts – new single

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My new single is out now on all major platforms. “Healing Hearts” was written after months of experiencing grief, and the lovingness that can arise when anticipating, experiencing and recovering from a great loss.

The single is the first release from the British folk group I formed while living in South East Asia. At one point, I noticed that every step of the creative process was barefoot: I had written the song at the beach, first performed a version at a cacao ceremony, and then once in the studio everyone was barefoot. That’s normal in Bali, but, nevertheless, means we are Barefoot Stars!

The recording features Vasudev playing guitar and mandolin, with myself, Mia and Hara singing, and Adam on bass. He and I produced and mixed the track.

If you like the song, then please share in social media, play it at gatherings, and consider a donation to the Bekandze Farm crowdfund (which ends next week)!

The lyrics and chords follow below.

Healing Hearts by the Barefoot Stars

Let’s (C)hold each other (Am)gently
Each other (Em)gently
In our (C)hearts
Let’s (C)hold each other (Am)gently
Each other (Em)gently
As we (Am)part
As this (Dm)song… is not the (G)last
And new (Dm)love… grows in what’s (G)past
Becoming (Dm)whole… is made of (G)parts
So what (Dm)ends… is the (G)start
Of Healing (C)hearts
Of Healing (G)hearts
Of Healing (Am)hearts
Of Healing (F)hearts
Of Healing (C)hearts
Of Healing (G)hearts
Of Healing (Am)hearts
Of Healing (F)hearts

Make Earth Day Useful – support Bekandze Farm School

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Earth Day is coming soon and is an important day for us at Bekandze Farm, as it marks the end of our crowdfund to support Balienze small holders to switch to organic methodz. Already, we are helping them to do that as a basis for re-localising and regenerating the rural economy. But to establish ourselves as a viable training centre, with a lasting impact locally, and to communicate that globally, we would greatly benefit from your help. 

You can learn more about the daily activities at Bekandze Farm by visiting our Instagram account. That is where we are posting pictures of trees planted as thanks to our supporters. We also produced a couple of short videos to tell you more about the project. The first one below is a summary of why and what we are doing.

Learn about Bekandze Farm School
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Keeping your job at the end of the world (as we know it)

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In an era of constant disruption and even collapse, are there any ways back to feeling at peace, or even happy, about one’s current employment? Many people I meet express unease, because their job feels like a distraction from an environment and society that is beginning to break around us. For some, their employer is even making matters worse. Although it is painful to pay attention to a world in crisis and collapse, the pain is clearly made worse by living out-of-step with that awareness. For many people, conforming to the preoccupations and performances of their profession now means living a lie. But feeling out of integrity with who we are and what we know to be unfolding would not be our fault – it’s the result of being trapped in a system and culture that is dying. Stuck in such a way, people are losing crucial time to discover how they might live in greater integrity with their values in this new era. Meanwhile, others are quitting their old work to ‘go wild’ with entirely new ways of using their time on this glorious Earth (as I’ve described before). But many people, perhaps like you, will have responsibilities they want to maintain, at least for now, which requires keeping their current income.

Do you think it reasonable to find a way of earning a living without lying to yourself and others? I do. Because it should not be too much to ask that we can meet each other with greater honesty in our professional lives. In this essay I want to tell you about the variety of ways I have learned that people are integrating their collapse-awareness into their lives while continuing with their existing employment. I hope it might help you to make, or affirm, your own decisions.

I’ve met enough people discussing ‘deep adaptation’ over the last five years to know that the truth can set us free from the pain of pretending. There are options if we need to keep working in the same job or sector for now. In a previous post, I described the new openness in some organisations to begin discussing how to better prepare staff, stakeholders, and the organisation for a new era of polycrisis due to a process of collapse. To support such discussions, I offered an eight-step approach to deep adaptation in organisations. But most people don’t have roles in organisational development, and won’t be working in an organisation that has an enlightened leadership or possibilities for significant change. With that in mind, I reflected on the other ways I know collapse-aware people have been responding when not quitting their job or career altogether. What follows is a summary of what I’ve learned.

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Keep serving (reveal and recommit in post)

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What’s to blame for collapse?

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Although I’ve been immersed for years in the news and scholarship on the unsustainability of modern societies, it is difficult to keep all of that information at the forefront of my mind. Not only is it a ‘heavy’ topic, it uses a specific part of my mind, and perhaps my body and soul, to critique, synthesise and communicate on such issues. So after doing a dozen podcasts and talks since my book came out, I paused to make more time to develop my organic farm school and play music. I’ve also been enjoying teaching again, both online (join me?!) and in person (including the Bay Area in October). Looking back at the various interviews, I think the first one I did to mark the launch of Breaking Together is the one to watch. Dave Derby of Lowimpact invited a focus on what is most at fault for driving the collapse, as a starting point for discussing what we can do to soften the crash – for ourselves and others. That meant we explored the role of an expansionist monetary system, and alternatives to ‘green’ authoritarian panic as the science darkens and societies are disrupted. You can watch us discuss that here. But as many people prefer to read, I’ve checked the transcripts and compiled them into one document in this blog post.

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The Doom Vindication Blues

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Although there are many potential benefits from accepting societal collapse, there is nothing inherently beneficial about being right about one’s expectations of catastrophic change. Having held more accurate assessments than the majority doesn’t reduce the pain about what’s happening or what’s to come. It doesn’t compensate for the alienation experienced with those who would not see, or even condemned our clarity. It doesn’t compensate for the pain of witnessing the lost opportunities for people to process this reality for themselves. If there is any benefit in being right, it comes from how we acted with our awareness until now. Has it influenced us to do more of what we consider wholesome, and less of what we consider unwholesome? Has it meant we have tried to develop our capabilities for coping better as life becomes more difficult? Perhaps, also, to help others develop their own capabilities? You know the basics – mindfulness, letting go of old habits and expectations, and having a way to make sense of life in an era of collapse. For some of us, we can experience a liberation from past compromises and the permission to ‘go wild’. Without evolving ourselves in such ways, then feeling we were right could generate a further alienation, through a pointless sense of superiority. And what we definitely don’t want is to be isolated in our pain as things unfold, in the same way many of us have been isolated in our anticipation. So, when our outlook is confirmed by current observation, it is a time to assess whether we have made good use of our knowledge. Then, if not sure, to commit to try again.

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In case you missed some key news and opinion on #deepadaptation

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Every 4 months the Deep Adaptation Review provides a free round up of significant news and opinion on the topic of collapse risk, readiness and response. If you aren’t subscribed then I recommend you have a look at that ’round up’ section from last month’s review, below. If you would like an email with that kind of info a few times a year, then sign up. You can read the rest of the DA review, including my editorial, where I discuss how more professionals are inching towards discussing collapse, here.

[Winner, 2023 Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award. Ice Bed/Credit: Nima Sarikhani, Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Source.]

Excerpt from DA Review #15, February 2024.

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