What is this reality that we’re living in? I’ve been making my way through the stages of grief since I first watched masked men abduct a young student in March. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The last weeks were spent moving through depression and now I’m working to accept this new reality.
A reality where progress is eroded, where human beings lose fundamental human rights, where neighbor turns upon neighbor, where genocide is par for the course. A reality where truth is subjective and feelings triumph over science. A reality where the holy sacrament is hate, passed down from the slimy lips of the god emperor almighty directly into the mouths of his adoring adherents.
My illusion of what this country is, what it stands for, what its citizens believe in is shattered. The truth is dark and it is ugly. Democracy is on life support and I suspect we’ll find out by 2026 if the wounds are fatal.
The only peace I’ve found is through acceptance. These are extreme times but the fears we face today are the same fundamental fears that humans have always faced. The fear of pain, suffering, and ultimately annihilation.
The United States built an empire of global resource extraction that allowed its wealthy citizens to ignore the harsh realities of life. War. Devastation. Destruction. Those are reserved for far-off foreign lands populated with people we’ve been propagandized to see as less than human. Police brutality and violence is reserved for the undesirable under-class.
Consume, consume, consume so that you might ignore the existential dread of your looming death. Take opiates and drink alcohol and binge entertainment in order to temporarily escape the inescapable fact that you will get old, you will get sick, you will die.
Fill the emptiness of your soul with more, more, more. Ignore. Deny. Deflect. Anything to escape reality.
Greed has consumed this country, and now that we’re running out of resources to maintain our empire abroad, the country has started to consume itself. Greed is the true American religion. Eat until you’re stuffed and then eat some more. Buy now, pay later. A billion isn’t enough. A hundred billion isn’t enough. We’re going to see the first trillionaire this decade.
I grew up with this idea that once I accumulated enough money, accumulated enough success, and achieved enough THEN I would be happy. I am so fortunate to have found meditation and eastern teachings that cut through this illusion.
You can never consume yourself to happiness. A billion, a trillion, a quadrillion, it doesn’t matter how much money or power you amass, these things will never leave you satisfied. It will not bring you peace. It will not bring you joy. It will not bring you happiness.
I think the chaotic state of the world that we see today is a direct reflection of the entire society coming to face this fundamental truth - that getting more things will not change the sad state of their lives. We have thrown away community, compassion, empathy, and decency and labeled them as woke, and weak, because they don’t increase profits or cash flow.
But instead of recognizing the fundamental brokenness of our society, we have decided to double down.
Trump, Musk, Thiel all have amassed more wealth in this life than any of us can imagine. Yet it wasn’t enough.
It wasn’t enough to become the richest men in the world. To become the most powerful men in the world. They’re still reaching for more, in that desperate bid to be okay. They’re going to destroy this world and enslave whoever survives because they can’t stop. Their entire life, entire identity has been built on this false premise that if they must have more, more, more, and only then will they be okay.
Have you noticed how hard the rich and powerful are fighting to stay young? Their faces stretched and bronzed in a grotesque approximation of youth. Xi and Putin were caught on camera talking about living to 150 through advances in organ transplant technology.
I’m 38 and for my entire life it’s been the same generation in power with the exception of President Obama. Clinton was born in 1946. Bush Jr. was born in 1946. Trump was born in 1946. Biden was born in 1942. Putin was born in 1952, and Xi in 1953. They just won’t let go. They won’t fade gracefully into old age and face their mortality. They’re all holding on trying to squeeze every last drop out of this world.
I don’t know how to change the world or how to change the minds of these evil men. I’ve finally come to the place of acceptance that this is reality. The future is not bright. We are living in a regressive time. Wars. Famines. Plagues. And the big one, climate catastrophe. That is our future.
Denying it won’t help. You can’t amass enough money to stave off what is coming. Even the billionaires with their doomsday bunkers won’t be safe.
We have consumed to the point of breaking the world. Western economies are kaput. This is the end of the capitalist system and from here on it will be increasing levels of authoritarianism and fascism as the rich and powerful attempt in vain to cling to their wealth and power in the face of a rising tide of angry workers who have nothing to lose.
I can’t change the world and I can’t change anyone else’s actions, but I can face my own attachments. I can let go and not cling to this material world, where change and impermanence is the fundamental law underpinning all reality.
That doesn’t mean you stop fighting for what is right or good. But you can fight without attachment to the outcome. Without clinging to the need for things to turn out a certain way.
That’s how we can be effective. Attachments weigh your mind down with fear. Understand that no matter how things turn out, you will be okay. And then you can act, with clarity, with conviction, without the burden of clinging and attachment.
Whatever the future brings us, we can withstand it, if that’s our path. And if it’s the end of our path well then that’s not such a big deal either. Don’t let your clinging and attachment keep you paralyzed. This moment of crisis calls for strength, strong character, and fearlessness. That level of consciousness can only be arrived at by letting go of clinging to futures which no longer exist.
Letting go of fear and anger is really tough in this environment. But I think you are right it is the key to surviving what's coming.
This is a powerful insight and written so well. If only every American would open their mind and read your wisdom. Thank you.