One of the most popular articles on my site is The Philosophy of Collapse and Decline, whhich about how to live in a civilization where you know bad things are going to happen, and you can’t stop them.
This is a topic I keep thinking about. At one point, I threw myself into the fight to stop evils like climate change, massive increases in inequality, a surveillance society, war, and increasing authoritarianism.
Lost those fights. Pretty much all of them. Not just me, us.
While some things will get better, there’s a lot of bad shit coming down the line. Most of is either unstoppable, or stoppable by having worse things happen. For example, facial recognition may be stopped or very delayed if no Covid-19 vaccine can be created, since people may be wearing masks in public most of the time.
Yeah, didn’t see that coming.
Totalitarian states, likewise, may be stopped by economic collapse caused by bad-case climate change.
Mmmmmm, fun stuff.
I don’t want to tell people not to fight the big fights. The best way to lose big fights is to not fight.
But the fact is, we’ve already lost some of the most important ones, for example, climate change. We ain’t stopping that, it’s happening–anyone who says otherwise is expecting a miracle. Now, I’m willing to give Fate, God, or the Wyrd a chance, but I’m not big on counting on any of them, so yeah, happening.
When people look hard at the crap rolling down civilization’s hill, when they do the work, and have their “Oh SHIT!” moment, they tend to lose said shit. Depression ensues, or all the stages of grief.
Go ahead and do that, because generally you have to go through it.
But what’s at the other end? There’s all of the, “Well, love and sex and cookies still rock,” (Hey, try all three at the same time!), and if that’s your path, go chill in the Philosophy of Collapse and Decline with the Chinese gentlemen (and, today, women) getting drunk on fine wine, composing poems, and admiring beautiful men, women, and mountains (sometimes, yes, all at the same time.)
Another model is the adventure hero(ine) model.
I read a lot of fiction as a kid, heck, I still read a lot of fiction (gestures expansively at the many thousands of books I’ve had to abandon over my life). Now, there are angsty protagonists, having a shit time as they labor through their lives, yes. There are the hopeless schmucks of literary fiction, endlessly examining their navels.
But there are also protags who look at bad shit and think (and feel, more importantly), “This is an interesting challenge! How can I manage this?”
Then they manage it and often have fun doing so.
The world is always going to hell, yup. Just depends where you are, when. Roman empire is collapsing, other places doing great. America is booming in the 50s, Chinese are starving. It’s the 60s, there’s a Rock and Roll invasion, dope, LSD, lots of sex, and, hey, the Vietnam war and lots of Vietnamese dying, some being burned alive.
Someone’s always having a shit life. Someone else is always having a good life.
Now, I’m not suggesting you become an asshole: You don’t have to make someone else’s life miserable for yours to be good. You don’t have become the sort of prick who doesn’t understand that other people are suffering.
But perhaps, just perhaps, because the world is going to hell, it doesn’t mean you have to go to hell. Perhaps you can say, “Well, people lived through World War II and some of them even had a good time, and goddamn, I’m going to be one of those.” Perhaps you can look at the challenges and think, “How do I get around this? Is there a good life for me and mine to be had anyway?”
The first art of winning your fights it to choose your fights, “Jet Li or Woody Allen, hrrrrm?”
You’re one person, there are over seven billion people in the world, and a lot of them are a lot more powerful than you. Events like climate change have momentum that an individual can’t stop (you can still contribute), but there are fights you can win, and there are good lives that will be possible even as the world goes to shit.
This is how adventure heroes act, think, and feel. “Well, that’s terrible, but hey, I have a plan.”
And I’d like to encourage some of you reading this to do that. You can’t save everyone, but you may be able to save yourself and some others, and have fun doing it. Heck, maybe you can even look stylish doing it.
And the mountain, wine, and beautiful men or women will all still exist. (So will the cookies, unless we go full Mad Max, in which case, well, remember, apocalypse in style!)
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Stormcrow
Sorry, but I can’t buy the premise.
“Adventure” is horrible things happening to other people. Other people far away.
Because if they were closer, you could get a good enough view of them to tell it didn’t look like “adventure” to them. It looked like Hell.
I’m don’t think examples are hard to find these days. I read one less than 24 hours ago, written by somebody who works 13 hour days in an ICU overflowing with COVID victims.
I’ve been out of work for the last 3 years, but you couldn’t hire me to fill her shoes, even if I were qualified (which thank all the gods I’m not) for a million dollars a year.
She was quite specific about how she saw her daily life. She very specifically called it a hell.
Lots of other examples. If you haven’t yet read Eugene Sledge’s memoir, “With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa”, you might want to. With a title like that, you could easily be forgiven for assuming it was some sort of patriotic bombast. That was my first thought, and it didn’t survive the first 30 pages. I have never in my entire life read a more effective anti-war piece than that, and he wasn’t even trying to write polemic.
I don’t think staring at the Last War is going to be any sort of adventure.
I don’t think watching technical civilization, which is so far the finest thing, warts and all, we’ve ever produced, get irrevocably smashed to bits in front of us is going to be even marginally tolerable. And that’s what the run-up will consist of.
Ian, I had enough “adventure” for about 5 lifetimes by the time I was 16 years old. I’ve spent most of the next 50 years trying to recover. So I think I have a bit of personal insight into this. Certainly more insight than I’d prefer.
Bottom line is, I don’t think you can sugar-coat hell. Nor do I think you should try.
someofparts
There is a weekly open-air farmers market a couple of blocks from my house that should start materializing any weekend now. Open-air shopping seems like an even better idea than usual with the pandemic afoot. Being able to join me when I shop for food will make the dog crazy happy.
That’s my version of finding small ways to have a good, if not heroic, life in the middle of a fading world. Blessings on the ones who do have the heart and capacity for heroism. I hope they save many others.
js
I think any ” Is there a good life for me and mine to be had anyway?” involves trying to get rich. And I would not be the first to conclude so, but I think non-selfish, non-cynics take quite awhile in life to come to that conclusion, that ultimately all that matters IS actually money. Those who come to the conclusion in youth are maybe not the type of people one would prefer.
Mel
There are the cliched versions of good that we all recognize, then there are the others. In the city once, looking out from my balcony on the second floor (third, counting the garages at ground level) I saw a mouse climbing the vertical wall of the 5-floor apartment building. Mice do these things, because they never know what might be up there.
elkern
Thank you, Ian, I needed this, right now.
Stirling S Newberry
I’ve lived.
madlad
Not sure about the adventure story angle, but the challenges of this age seem uniquely bad especially with worst case scenario climate change facing us. At the same time, day to day life doesn\’t seem as bad as say life during the Spanish Flu or WW2 or the Black Death. Idk, it\’s a strange situation to live through.
ven
Reminded me of a quote from Chuang Tsu:
THE TRUE MEN OF OLD were not afraid when they stood alone in their views. No great exploits. No plans. If they failed, no sorrow. No self-congratulation in success.
The true men of old knew no lust for life, no dread of death. Their entrance was without gladness, their exit, yonder, without resistance. Easy come, easy go. They did not forget where from, nor ask where to, nor drive grimly forward fighting their way through life. They took life as it came, gladly; took death as it came, without care; and went away, yonder. Yonder!
They had no mind to fight the Tao. They did not try by their own contriving to help the Tao along. These are the ones we call true men. Minds free, thoughts gone. Brows clear, faces serene.
Goods and possessions are no gain in his eyes. He stays far from wealth and honor. Long life is no ground for joy, nor early death for sorrow. Success is not for him to be proud of, failure is no shame. Had he all the world’s power he would not hold it as his own. If he conquered everything he would not take it to himself. His glory is in knowing that all things come together in One, and life and death are equal.
The man in whom the Tao acts without impediment harms no other being by his actions, yet he does not know himself to be kind or gentle. He does not bother with his own interests and does not despise others who do. He does not struggle to make money and does not make a virtue of poverty. He goes his way without relying on others and does not pride himself on walking alone. While he does not follow the crowd he won’t complain of those who do. Rank and reward make no appeal to him; disgrace and shame do not deter him. He is not always looking for right and wrong, always deciding “Yes” or “No.”
The ancients said, therefore:
The man of Tao remains unknown. Perfect virtue produces nothing; No-Self is True-Self. And the greatest man is Nobody,
Joan
The line that stuck with me years ago and eventually made me a consistent reader is “There is still beauty in the twilight” or something like that.
So the world is going to be tumultuous and our lives will likely suck, but grab little snippets of comfort and happiness when you can. I had a seriously crappy post-college time trying to pay rent and having to sleep in my car off and on, but then I met my husband and a good marriage is a form of heaven on earth. Maybe these are the good times, if there is crud upstream coming for us.
I just typed that, and then remembered the pandemic. So yes, maybe a small, personal bubble of happiness can be carved out even during hell. It might end tomorrow, and then we’ll be slotted for the suffering game. There is something to be said for treasuring personal happiness while still having compassion for those suffering, but not letting their suffering poison you. You wouldn’t want someone else to do that for your sake, to spoil their own tiny happiness if you were suffering, etc.
Stirling S Newberry
In 2005 was one of the miracles years of my life – string quartets #5-#10, Katrina writing, bopnews, and a death. Goodnight Oldman.
Arthur
Yes. Find peace in the small things. Time with your loved ones, a nice glass of wine while reading a good book, a walk with the dog. And always remember dogs are man’s best friend. Not that we deserve them. Well, some of this is a bit easier for me because I’m 65. Thing is I do know a number of young people. Nice, decent kids doing the best they can and we haven’t left them much to work with. And bottom line is that sucks.
Hugh
This reminds me of “You Get What You Give.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL7-CKirWZE
“But when the night is falling
You cannot find the light
You feel your dreams are dying
Hold tight
You’ve got the music in you
Don’t let go
You’ve got the music in you
One dance left
This world is gonna pull through
Don’t give up
You’ve got a reason to live
Can’t forget
We only get what we give”
Ché Pasa
Yep. Things will get progressively (!) worse for most people in the US and many other places. And most people know it, too. That’s probably one of the reasons for the explosion of screaming “Karens”. They know that three or six months from now, some of them will be in the bread lines, if our rulers deign to provide such succor. They or their children might be sick. Their livelihoods gone. Who can say what other inconveniences and horrors they might — we might, everyone might — be facing soon, too soon. Acting out now is part of their bliss. Their “adventure” if you want. At least for the moment, they can feel in control.
Those who have been in a precarious position most of or all of their lives, though, have learned many ways to… elide the worst of it and some can still foster joy no matter what comes. More of us will learn. We must.
Stirling S Newberry
For most people, take what you can.
But for things to keep going, some of us want, no need, more. It is why Mathematics and History and Economics need to have a few to do the work.
Finally found Zhang Yun Xian And Hou Li Jun-Shuang Ma Hui, it was essential for String Quartet #6. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3ckHMbq9W0 )
capelin
Feeling joy and continuing to give a shit and give it a go are rebellious, life affirming acts.
Laughing is good to. My aunt told me a story of being in Berlin during one of many air raids, sheltering in the staircase of the apartment building. It was night, and they would often have to spend hours there.
During a lull, people became aware of a putred smell. What the hell is that smell? someone asked. A guy sheepishly reached into his pocket, and produced a chunk of blue cheese he had brought along for a snack. They had tears streaming down their cheeks, laughing from the obsurdity of the whole damn thing, the power of a normal goofy life interaction in the face of death.
Willy
As an ignorant but hopeful child, I built Apollo models for amusement and dreamt of becoming an astronaut. As an educated nihilistic adult, I’m considering traveling to a faraway place like Tbilisi, and with dark glasses, cane, and pooter device, amusing myself in a different way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwL8KMvFk_k
krake
Sci-fi child. Found my father’s box of Barsoom books in the basement, never looked back.
But.
I loathe adventurism, heroism, heroics, the hero’s journey, all of it. Ego-vanity is a plague.
Do the work, leave it done behind you, move on, shut up about it.
Ché Pasa
Been re-reading “Inside Europe” (1940 War Edition), John Gunther’s journalistic documentary series of essays about collapsing and increasingly Fascist Europe during the ’30s leading to the catastrophe of WWII — which had just begun as this edition went to press.
Hitler of course was the central personality of the story, the Big Man driving history at the time. Gunther scrutinizes him from every angle, interviewing numerous people who knew him, worked with him, loved him, hated him, including his sister in Vienna, to try to understand what made him tick, and as importantly, what made him — at the time — so dominant and successful.
Whether Gunther intended to say it or not, it seems to me that he is discovering that Hitler’s (and Mussolini’s and Franco’s and other Fascist leaders’) success at the time was not entirely due to their own forceful if chaotic personalities. No, their success was in some measure, indeed often a large measure, due to the weakness and willingness to work with and compromise/capitulate to the Fascists and Nazis and others like them who dominated in Europe in those days. Hitler was a dynamo of falsehoods, crackpot notions, and bewilderment while the anti-Nazis (such as they were) by nature and nurture administrators, bureaucrats, defenders of a shattered status quo ante, preservationists. “Realists.”
The parallels to now are by no means exact, but a similar dynamic is in operation throughout the Western and much of the rest of the world. And it is something most of us can’t do a thing about. We see quite clearly that literally a handful of shouting yay-hoos under the leadership of some crazed “populist” demagogue can drive events despite having at best a minority of popular support, and that few are immune to the consequences. Once the boulder starts down the hill, not many can get out of the way.
Of course the War caused immense suffering in Europe, the Soviet Union, Asia, and parts of Africa, but not so much in North and South America protected by their oceans. What came out of the War was and to an extent still is considered better than what went before, but now it has largely collapsed into confusion and widespread despair. The multiplicity of crises and chaos assure us that nothing will be the same again. Personal responses include finding some kind of bliss in the midst of existential peril. Adventure and escapism are part of it.
What strikes me about Gunther’s view of Europe at the outbreak of WWII is that he found or documented no Future Vision of what could have been and what still might be after the War. At the time, it wasn’t at all clear what the War would actually entail. We too live in a time that appears to lack a Future Vision, and we too have no clear idea of what the continuation of present conditions will entail.
It’s almost as if the idea of building a better future has vanished.
bruce wilder
The “realists” between the wars, as a class, were remarkable for their inability to understand the consequences of policy. They “intended” good outcomes for what they did, but were often fantastically stupid in choosing what to do in pursuit of those outcomes. The “mechanics” of politics and economics were overlooked, “necessity” in social affairs overlooked. Think about Churchill returning Sterling to the gold standard at pre-war rates and ratios. Or the French building the Maginot Line.
The First World War had had a profound effect on the relationship of the mass of ordinary people to their ruling class. Even in France and Britain where institutions survived, what little trust there was from below, was lost. And confidence above became brittle. Ideologies that before the war seemed so coherent for being argued thoroughly were lost to doubt and fragmentation.
People try sometimes to make something whole out of fascism as a set of ideas, but its essence was as a hodgepodge of notions and slogans and emotions, mindless really. Mussolini could conjure ancient Roman glories one day and promote a sleek Futurism the next.
If there is parallel to be drawn, it might be to America’s manifest elite incompetence, but I see it too in the resistance to the idea the well-intentioned are doing it wrong. The reaction to Michael Moore’s (not really his, though he has taken a hand in production and distribution) movie on environmental self-deception is telling.
Z
-Good advice by Ian. I’ve been thinking in that direction as well after the soul-crushing disappointment of the 2020 democratic primaries. I haven’t been the same myself since Super Tuesday.
In some ways it hurts now in particular because if Sanders were the nominee we’d be in a perfect position to make big changes for the better of society. But that’s all a shallow thought exercise because we all know that the DNC would have used the coronavirus as a reason to shut down the voting anyway and put the power back into their hands in the form of a super delegate brokered deal to deny Sanders the nomination.
Now we got Summers and Emanuel advising Sloppy Joe on economic and staff matters. I suppose they’re qualified to represent the best interests of the country since they’ve done such a bang-up job of it in the past. Of course, the Democratic Party Godfather and the impeccably well-mannered sociopathic scumbag Robber Rubin is also probably directing much of it from behind the scenes as usual, that’s the way Sly Bob operates. I’d imagine that group was also a large part of the political putsch to deny Sanders the nomination and push Stumbling Joe to the lectern. It all gets laid on Obama, but all he is and ever was is a slick PR man who works first and foremost for Robber Rubin.
But the way I’m trying to approach it is this:
1. Know what I’m dealing with
2. Accept what I can’t change
3. Find a way that I can either co-exist with it to some extent without tossing my principles into the grease fire, and, if possible, even tap into its energy to work it per my benefit in order to accomplish my larger, more realistic goals
You do what you can, and as Ian points out, you can’t do much on a large scale by yourself. Especially when the opposing forces have so much more power and weapons than you do. You only drive yourself nuts trying to win a battle that’s already been lost on that front.
But I will never vote for Sloppy Joe and whomever they use to replace his dementia ridden ass (hello, Lyin’ Liz!) from that God-forsaken party. That’s for certain.
-As much as I would like to believe that “you get what you give”, it seems to me that only applies to small groups, when it applies at all. In the larger U.S. society, you get what you take. I think that’s almost irrefutable and I’d imagine Hugh agrees. Look at the behavior that gets financially rewarded. Is much of it for the better of society?
-The screaming “Karens” IMO are just white women on prescription amphetamines acting out. The U.S. has an awful prescription amphetamine epidemic that’s raging behind the scenes across all age groups, races, and sexes, but particularly whites IMO. I believe that many would be surprised at how many elderly women are on it. I’d have to say though, the demographic that I most empathize with in regards to amphetamine use is elderly single women. If your family doesn’t completely have your back, you better be on your toes as best as you can because you ain’t got much going for you and a lot to be on the alert for.
It’s so rooted in U.S. culture and in the workplace right now that I’d say that if your guiding light in life is financial success and you plan on achieving that through working in the corporate world, you almost have to be on it to reach your goals. Beyond work output, which I don’t necessarily believe it increases because folks on it are also particularly prone to cellphone addiction in my observations, it’s also important to be on it to be in tune with the work culture. Otherwise it’s like being at a party where almost everyone else is drunk but you.
Everything I’ve read though indicates it is absolute hell to get off of and if I was ever going to venture in that direction, and I won’t, it would be Modafinil because though it hollows you out inside at least you have better impulse control to help you navigate your way through the jungle.
Z
GlassHammer
It has been my experience that suffering neither improves character nor makes one stronger. It has also been my experience that the prosperous are neither immoral nor weak.
I am saying this because there isn’t a story about suffering that will save us, there is only action and adaptation.
Plowhard
The below article made me think of both the author and the majority of commenters here. You fools who trumpet “science” when nothing of the sort is being practiced – not for climate change (models? Models? How are those COVID models working out?), not for your disaster forecasting. Not for anything.
https://conexaopolitica.com.br/ultimas/brazilian-scientists-and-academics-write-an-open-letter-on-the-science-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic/
nihil obstet
“Immoral” may be strong, but several studies indicate that the rich are less empathetic than the not rich.
krake
Agreed, Glasshammer.
Suffering does not ennoble. It does not improve. It does not forge, fashion or create character (a dubious concept…) or purpose, or value.
At best, suffering – defines; and the people so defined rarely discover a munificent world before or behind them.
GlassHammer
“Immoral” may be strong, but several studies indicate that the rich are less empathetic than the not rich – nihilism obstet
The necessity for good neighborly relations in order to survive looks alot like empathic behavior from an observers point of view.
You are nice to others when your broke because you need them or at least you don’t need them to undermine you.
The rich can afford both a small number of friends and a large number of enemies, the poor cannot.
Seattle Resident
@GlassHammer
I also agree that suffering, by itself, doesn’t improve character nor provides inner strength. However, I have found that psychotherapy, at least my experience, in examining the painful baggage of your life, enables one to come out the other end a stronger person, and by extension, improves character.
someofparts
As I left the grocery today, I passed a dad putting a mask on his toddler daughter before putting on his own mask and entering the store.
That little girl’s sense of life will begin with this pandemic, with putting on a mask before shopping. She will have no memory at all of how things were before this virus arrived. Whatever our world will be like after this pandemic will be her baseline reality. The consciousness of her entire generation will begin with the post-pandemic version of our world as their norm.
Ian Welsh
There’s more to the mechanics of reduced empathy than “don’t need people” but for sure it’s a big part of it. To the extent it is true, it’s a huge argument for not letting people get so powerful or so rich that they don’t need to care what other people think.
Hugh
Billionaires and the mania for guns are both signs of a desperately sick society. So is the fact that about 40% of the electorate believe pretty much everything a ravening, raving loon like Trump says.
GlassHammer
There’s more to the mechanics of reduced empathy than “don’t need people” but for sure it’s a big part of it. To the extent it is true, it’s a huge argument for not letting people get so powerful or so rich that they don’t need to care what other people think. – Ian Welsh
Yes, though I mainly wanted to emphasize the poor and working class cooperate with members of their community not because they are fond of each other (they often are not) but because in-fighting is just too taxing, too much of a strain on time and energy.
It’s an important thing to recognize this because it explains why a communitys view on politics, religion, etc… becomes so homogenous. People just do not want to trigger a fight in their town over politics or any other sensitive topic because it strains relationships and leaves them more isolated.
nihil obstet
Oh, good. I get to recommend a relevant movie — Nae Pasaran. For when you think you’re not making any difference, sometimes you’re wrong about that.
(Oh, and GlassHammer — I like the nihilism obstet. It works. Not going to change, but I like it.)
GlassHammer
(Oh, and GlassHammer — I like the nihilism obstet. It works. Not going to change, but I like it) – nihil obstet
I hate autocorrect so much but I guess it worked this time.