Practices to Stay Sane in a Collapsing Society

We can’t put a date on Doomsday, but by looking at the 5,000 years of [civilisation], we can understand the trajectories we face today – and self-termination is most likely,” says Dr Luke Kemp at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge.

“I’m pessimistic about the future,” he says. “But I’m optimistic about people.” Kemp’s new book covers the rise and collapse of more than 400 societies over 5,000 years and took seven years to write. The lessons he has drawn are often striking: people are fundamentally egalitarian but are led to collapses by enriched, status-obsessed elites, while past collapses often improved the lives of ordinary citizens.

Today’s global civilization, however, is deeply interconnected and unequal and could lead to the worst societal collapse yet, he says. The threat is from leaders who are “walking versions of the dark triad” – narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism – in a world menaced by the climate crisis, nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence and killer robots.

The problems we face today have one root cause - inequality. We exist in a system that allows, encourages, and incentivizes the worst humans to harm the rest of us for their personal gain. A system which encourages growth regardless of damage to the environment or climate, without thought to conservation, or the future. The quarterly profit statement reigns supreme. Of course such a system will collapse under its own excess.

We see the signs of collapse all around us. 550,000 Americans go bankrupt each year because of medical debt. Deaths of despair have increased 2.5 times in young people from 1999 to 2021, becoming the fifth leading cause of death. The President of Iran says they will be forced to move the entire Capital, with 9 million inhabitants, because they’re out of water.

The housing crisis, inflation, and the rise of far-right authoritarian regimes across the globe. These are all symptoms of our collapsing system. Politicians are not addressing the root issues because the answers would require governments to strip wealth and power from the wealthy and powerful and enact a completely different model of society. And of course that won’t happen when the governments are controlled by those very same wealthy and powerful individuals.

As of November 5th, it estimated that U.S.A.I.D.’s dismantling has already caused the deaths of six hundred thousand people, two-thirds of them children.

We’re on a sinking ship and the captain has declared that it’s every man, woman, and child for themselves. The rich and powerful are, right now, consigning millions to their deaths in order to secure their own future. Imagine being on the Titanic and instead of letting women and children board the life-boats the first class passengers hired armies of masked men to throw the poor passengers into the ocean, or used drones to blow up the lower decks.

We Still Control Our Future

The most powerful truth I’ve learned is that each of us ultimately controls our internal state no matter what is happening externally. It gives me great comfort to know that there exists a concrete set of practices which allows me to alleviate my own suffering that is independent of factors outside of my control.

This practice for me is the meditation technique of Vipassana as taught by the Buddha. For you, it could be something completely different, but I believe we all need a daily practice. This isn’t going to turn into a religious lecture. The technique doesn’t require dogma, only effort and patience. I attended my first 10 day silent retreat in the winter of 2017 and I have been practicing ever since. The practice has been so beneficial for me that I’ve since sat and served a dozen 10 day silent retreats in the US, Thailand, and Germany.

The events of this year kicked my ass and completely knocked my balance off center. I spent many months rolling in anger, anxiety, fear, and grief. Seeing your government become full mask-off fascist is terrifying. Not knowing whether federal police will start shooting protestors in the streets or black-bagging dissidents rightfully induces fear. Through it all I kept practicing and my practice has helped bring me back to center.

The problems we face today aren’t any different than the suffering that humans have endured throughout history. To be born means you will have to face illness, death, and loss. Nothing in reality has changed.

We in the west have lived in comfortable denial. We believed that we could build a bulwark against change, against discomfort, pain, and loss. We deluded ourselves into thinking that through the accumulation of money we could stave off these inevitabilities. Even before mask-off fascism people faced illness, bankruptcy, death, and loss. All of life is change. All of life is impermanent.

The practice of meditation as taught by the Buddha is as relevant today as it was 2,500 years ago. The practice has one goal - to teach you the skills with which to liberate yourself from suffering in this life. It works. I genuinely suffer less than I did when I started the practice, and that’s what keeps me practicing.

Don’t you think that’s needed now in the world more than ever? I am pessimistic about the future of our planet and society. I don’t think governments are going to get their shit together. I don’t think anyone is going to save us or turn things around. I think the world will descend into chaos with climate catastrophe as the driving factor. I think we’re going to see war, famine, pestilence, and death on unimaginable scales.

Why Bother Continuing On?

So why bother?

Because I can practice today and reduce my suffering, today. Because I can practice and be a little more patient, a little more calm, a little more centered. Because I can practice and open my heart in spite of all that’s happening. Even as the world falls apart I can practice and find peace within. And I can help share and spread that peace.

I continue because I’m curious what’s going to happen. My life has never turned out like I expected. I started this year on a beach in Thailand and now I’m spending the winter in Germany. Totally unexpected. I do think things will continue to deteriorate, but it probably won’t turn out like I imagine.

And there’s still going to be beauty, adventure, magic, and love that my small human mind can’t possibly conceive of in its projections of the future, and I don’t want to miss any of it. I know that no matter what happens as long as I continue to practice I can withstand any physical discomfort, any change, any crazy event. I find deep peace in knowing that in the end it’s all going to be okay.

I suspect, personally, that when we die the first thing we’ll exclaim is, “wow, what a ride, let’s do it again!”

Anapana Meditation

Anapana is meditation with your breath as the meditation object. This practice is the foundation upon which Vipassana meditation is built. The purpose is to sharpen your awareness and focus.

Developing your awareness and focus allows you to become aware of what is happening in your mind, aware of your reactivity, your emotions, and only with that awareness can you then change your habitual reactions. Awareness allows you to act consciously and effectively.

This is the practice that I know and that I have found beneficial. Practice whatever works for you. The key is to have a daily practice that helps you to manage your mind, to manage your fears and anxieties. A daily practice that helps you to see reality in a penetrating way, to not live in delusion, to not live in comfortable denial. Daily practice is required, no amount of reading books or listening to teachers can replace daily practice.

It’s the difference between going to the gym and reading books about how to workout. Both knowledge and practice are needed to be successful, but ultimately knowledge without practice won’t get you anywhere.

The Vipassana meditation technique as I’ve learned it is only taught in 10 day retreats. The 10 days are required to truly get grounded in the technique.

The retreats are held at no cost to the participant and the centers operate purely on donations. There are no “suggested” or “required” donations and they will only accept donations after you have successfully completed a 10 day course. Every worker at the retreat from the teachers to the cooks are volunteers with the exception of one center manager who lives on-site full time and is paid a small stipend. This is the purest organization I have found in a society which requires you to monetize everything. You can find a list of retreat centers at https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/index

Anapana is the first technique you practice at the retreat and the foundation of the Vipassana which is taught later. You can practice Anapana at home and it is an effective technique which can, on its own, lead you to liberation. So don’t think of Anapana as being lesser than Vipassana, or not as effective. Anapana is the foundation, the bedrock, and upon it you can layer in Vipassana. But Anapana on its own is an effective technique and will also lead to liberation from suffering in this life.

Instructions:

Listen to the following recording in a quiet space with the lights off or dimmed. Sit with your back straight and maintain silence throughout the entire instruction.

Start with 10 minutes a day. Schedule your sits the same time daily, mornings are recommended.

When you have firmly established a daily practice you should then incorporate two sittings per day, one in the morning and one in the evening. And as your practice becomes stronger increase the amount of time that you sit. The ideal would be one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening.

Continuity is the Secret of Success

Meditation is called practice because the point isn’t to sit on a cushion until you die. The point is to develop the skills of awareness, focus, and equanimity so that you can benefit and interact more skillfully with the chaos of daily life.

“Continuity is the secret of success.” This was written on a sticker on the door of the walk-in freezer at Dhamma Pakasa, a Vipassana center located in a small farming community west of Chicago. I was there in the winter of 2018 serving my first 10 day course. Servers at the courses cook, clean, and do all the other daily chores needed to allow the meditators to sit in uninterrupted silence. Servers still sit three hours a day but we’re allowed to talk and it’s a great way to bridge the gap between “real life” and the meditation cushion.

I have a distinct memory of seeing that sticker as I attempted to open the freezer door while carrying a large pan of marinating tofu. While I was distracted by reading the pan of tofu slipped from my hand and crashed to the ground. Tofu and soy sauce splattered across the floor, on the door, on the walls, and on me.

The irony of dropping my tofu because I was distracted by a sign admonishing me to be continually present and aware has stuck with me and I have endeavored since to practice continually. Continuity truly is the secret of success.

Practice During a Calendar Year Triple Crown

I wanted to use the CYTC to find my physical and mental limits, and I found them in the mountains of New Hampshire. For two hundred miles I hiked for 16 hours a day at a one mile-per-hour pace, post-holing through knee and waist deep snow, inching up and down icy mountain faces while clinging to the trees for dear life. Going to town for resupply at the end of each section I felt a sensation that I can only describe as a drowning man breaking the surface of the water and taking in a deep, desperate gasp of air.

Even now as I remember my time climbing those mountains my chest feels constricted and my breath has become more shallow. Each step was treacherous and carried with it the risk of a nasty fall and the potential of an icy death. Every step my body was tense and my breath short, anticipating disaster. I could not have persevered through this section without my meditation practice.

Without the training afforded my mind by my practice I would have been overwhelmed with the fears of what might happen. Doubts about whether I had the strength to keep climbing. Anxiety about how I could keep going for another two trails. I know this because these same fears, doubts, and anxieties are what caused me to quit Navy ROTC when I was 20. They’re what caused me to quit my big accounting job at 22. They’re what caused me sell my gym for a huge loss at 26.

When I set off to hike the Appalachian Trail in 2016 at the age of 29 my goal was to finally see something to the end and not quit when it got hard. I was able to persevere and finished the trail after six and a half months. Yet after that trail I found my life was even more chaotic. I wasn’t able to carry over any practical lessons from the trail into my day-to-day life. I spent an unproductive year depressed and addicted to World of Warcraft. Frustrated and fed up with myself I signed up for my first Vipassana retreat that winter.

I walked out of that ten day course realizing that I’d found the thing which I’d been searching for my whole life. My whole life I’d felt trapped by my mind. Desperate to do something meaningful yet held back by fears and anxieties. I wanted to break free from my fears. I wanted a life where I wouldn’t fold and quit when things got difficult.

I’d found the answer I was seeking and I put it into practice. I kept meditating and kept attending retreats. I saw real changes in my life. I biked the AZT, hiked the CDT, Colorado Trail, and PCT. I was able to successfully complete a season with the Sawtooth Hotshots fighting wildfires. I completed multiple fifty mile ultras, ran the rim-to-rim-to-rim crossings of the Grand Canyon in 12.5 hours, completed a 24 hour race in Moab and logged 97 miles. The year before my CYTC I ran a 106 mile ultramarathon on the CDT and took first place, beating the second place finisher by two hours.

My Continuous Practice

Throughout all these experiences I continually practiced. Throughout my day I would bring my attention back to my breath and then check in with the sensations throughout my body. I would note whatever my present experience was. If I was cold, I would notice the sensations of the cold, and remind myself of the impermanence of this sensation. If my feet hurt, I would note that my feet hurt and that this sensation was impermanent and would pass. Throughout my hikes and races I would note the impermanent nature of reality, how the days would tick by and how even a walk across the country wouldn’t last forever.

I practiced equanimity. I continually trained myself to not add mental suffering on-top of my physical discomforts. If I was hungry I would simply note the feeling of hunger, understand that that feeling is impermanent, and redirect my mind back to my breath and body sensations if it started to roll in cravings about town food. If it was raining I would guide my mind to being aware of the rain, aware of the sensations of wet, and cold. I would remember that this rain would stop, that I wouldn’t be wet forever. I would use the skills developed in the meditation practice to redirect my mind back to my breath and body sensations if it started to roll with aversion against the wet, redirect it from wishes that it wasn’t raining.

In 2022 I averaged a marathon a day for 290 days and faced objectively the worst conditions I’ve ever faced on trail. Ice, snow, freezing rain, and scorching heat. Without the luxuries that help make normal thru-hikes more manageable like taking time off in towns, relaxing in picturesque locations, or just hanging out and chilling with other hikers. Yet my mental state during that hike was more peaceful, more equanimous, and less reactive than any of my previous hikes.

The totality of the project never bothered me. I never once thought “how am I going to keep doing this day after day for another 8 or 9 months.” By 2022 I’d been practicing meditation for five years and the idea of impermanence was deeply ingrained in my mind. I knew at an experiential level that this hike, as long and grueling as it was, was impermanent. I knew that the discomforts, the fatigue, the stress would all pass.

I was able to keep my mind present enough that I never got overwhelmed. There was never one moment during that whole trip that was insurmountable. Even the moments where I was clinging to an icy mountainside I was still okay. In that moment I was still okay and all I needed to do was focus on that moment, do what I needed to do, then focus on the next moment.

And that’s what I did. For 290 days. Hiking from Georgia to Maine, then Mexico to Canada, and Canada back to Mexico.

Non-Attachment

Yes, the US government is a fascist government. Yes, our economic future is shaky at best. Yes, climate catastrophe is inevitable.

But I am okay right now, in this moment. I can check in with my breath and then the sensations throughout my body. I can notice if I am holding aversion for a future that I don’t want, or craving for a future that won’t come to pass and then redirect my mind back to the present moment and my breath.

My anxiety, fears, and worries come fundamentally from attachment. I am attached to my money which allows me to live in comfort. I am attached to my passport which allows me to freely travel. I am attached to most aspects of this comfortable life of which I’m now living, and I am afraid that I’ll lose it at some point.

Continuity is the secret of success. - Goenka Ji

That’s my work today. It doesn’t mean that I am successful all the time, or even most of the time. But I continue to practice and check in with my breath, body, thoughts, and emotions. If I’m feeling anxious about the future I will remind myself to let go of my attachment and to re-center on my breath. I will remind myself that everything is impermanent and all things must change.

When I worry about being imprisoned or killed by the government I remind myself that death is inevitable, and I let go of my attachment to living forever, if only for a moment. When I worry about the economy crashing I remind myself to let go of my attachment to money, if only for a moment. When I worry about climate catastrophe I remind myself that all of life is change, and I let go of my attachment to how I want the future to look, if only for a moment.

This is the Foundational Work

This is our most important foundational work. We must be aware of our emotions in order to not be controlled by them. Fear is the greatest tool of the fascist. Fear is the only tool which allows a population of hundreds of millions to be cowed into submission by a few thousand psychopaths.

Fear is what keeps us from tearing the billionaires limb from limb and building a system that works for the common man. We know the system is corrupt and broken. We know it needs to change. Yet none of us act because of the fear of what we might lose. We cling to what little comforts that we’ve managed to accumulate and hope that it will stave off what’s coming. This is human nature.

I don’t hold a naive belief that the masses will find class solidarity and rise up before things fall apart. It will only happen when people have nothing left to lose and we have a long way to fall before we reach that point. I know this message won’t reach enough people to change the outcome of our society.

But I hope it can help you. I hope it can help you feel more at peace. I hope it can help you recognize and work on your own attachments. I hope that this message can help you break the shackles of fear and help you to be more effective in your resistance against tyranny.