The center cannot hold
There is so much trauma in the world now that it is impossible to keep up with all that is unfolding. I couldn’t come up with a specific title for this post because there are so many possible topics.
Domestically, there is underlying, rapidly expanding authoritarianism. We are no longer the “land of the free.” Fundamental to authoritarianism is the creation of an atmosphere of fear, including the fear of “others”.
This fear has to be reinforced constantly, requiring more oppression. Now “others” include anyone who doesn’t share your views. These extremes are fueling violence in the streets. Killing legislators.
Authoritarianism requires controlling the narrative. Controlling the mainstream media, and attempting to control social media.
Critical thinking, and acting on that thinking is the greatest threat to authoritarianism.
In any country on the cusp of authoritarianism, the role of the press as an engine of scrutiny, truth and accountability becomes increasingly critical.
It feels like we have reached that point in the US.
When elected officials of the opposing party are arrested or handcuffed, when the military is deployed to quell overwhelmingly peaceful protest, when student activists are jailed and deported, and when a wide range of civic institutions – non-profits, law firms, universities, news outlets, the arts, the civil service, scientists – are targeted and penalized by the federal government, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that our core freedoms are disappearing before our eyes – and democracy itself is slipping away.
The Guardian June 18, 2028
The attacks against and defunding of universities is required by authoritarian regimes to inhibit their education of critical thinkers. To control and silence student activism, like the Gaza solidarity tent encampments. To censure students wanting their schools to divest from war economies. To cancel Palestinian courses and speakers. And more recently, aggressively shutting down any campus protests for fear of losing money. To not only allow, but sometimes invite the police to attack and arrest the students there. To not stand up for their students who are swept off the streets by masked men without identification. People are burdened by huge student debt, and this is what they get?
Gaza
Authoritarianism also requires a scapegoat, and for this country, and others, that’s what Palestinians became long ago.
I’m having a very difficult time knowing how little people in this country care about the atrocities that continue in Palestine daily. That are worsening as those who are left alive in Gaza die from starvation and dehydration because of the blockade of humanitarian aid. Or because they are killed at the aid distribution areas.
Iran
Iran is another scapegoat for politicians in this country. And now there is discussion about the possibility of direct US involvement in Israel’s attack on Iran. I recently wrote the following post about then President Trump ending the Iran Nuclear Deal. Many of us believe we would not be in the position we are in with Iran if the deal had remained in place.
Economy
The chaos from Trump’s tariffs, artificial intelligence and removing undocumented workers from agriculture and other industries is adding to the strains on the capitalist economic system. And deep cuts in social safety net programs will continue to cause significant economic pain to people who are struggling to survive.
Mother Earth
The issues that cannot be controlled or ignored are the growing consequences of our devastation of Mother Earth.
What can we do?
I realize how fortunate I am to have grown up in a spiritual, in this case Quaker, community, for many reasons. I learned so much from how Quakers live their lives. We know we express our spirituality by the way we live. This has provided a grounding in history, spirituality, activism and living in community.
Spirituality can help keep things in perspective, focused on what matters. It is only because of my spiritual beliefs and actions that I have been able to maintain a sense of integrity, knowing I have done my best to discern and act on spiritual guidance.
Spiritual guidance doesn’t stop at helping us understand what is going on around us. We have the choice to just ignore the guidance. Or to act on it. Actions that may involve taking some risks. My experience has been that taking risks is how I grow. And that can lead to wonderful new ways of looking at and being in the world. Hope that we all desperately need now.
I wish everyone had a spiritual community. I think a really important thing you can do now is to engage, or re-engage with a spiritual community.
Finally, there remains the most existential risk of them all: our diminishing capacity for collective sensemaking. Sensemaking is the ability to generate an understanding of world around us so that we may decide how to respond effectively to it. When this breaks down within the individual, it creates an ineffective human at best and a dangerous one at worst. At the collective level, a loss of sensemaking erodes shared cultural and value structures and renders us incapable of generating the collective wisdom necessary to solve complex societal problems like those described above. When that happens the centre cannot hold.
Pontoon Archipelago or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Collapse By James Allen, originally published by Medium, Resilience, June 18, 2019
