Sacred Demise

This is a brand new book by author and professor Carolyn Baker. I've been following her blog for more than a year now, and have found that her assessment of the crisis of civilization is virtually identical to my own. We have been informed by the same sources, have connected the same dots into identical patterns, and have come to the same conclusion: the multi-faceted crisis of civilization is a predicament without a solution, and the only reasonable response to it is personal spiritual transformation.

Along the way she has drawn on many sources that have also influenced me strongly over the last couple of years: Charles Eisenstein's remarkable book "The Ascent of Humanity", the writings of John Michael Greer, Derrick Jensen and James Howard Kunstler, the movie "What a Way to Go" by Tim Bennett and Sally Erickson, Daniel Quinn's quirky but seminal book "Ishmael". The overlap in our thinking is virtually complete.

When all the snowballing evidence of the failure of industrial civilization has been digested and accepted, Carolyn comes to the conclusion that in this collapse we have been gifted with a singular opportunity to realize our purpose in the universe and the universe's purpose in us. If we have the courage to gaze unflinchingly both outward and inward at the same time, we have a chance to transcend many of the limits we previously believed were insurmountable. If we remain mindful and do the work, we may be able to achieve a union with ourselves, our families, our communities, the universe and perhaps with powers greater than we can imagine. In the introduction, Carolyn lays out her position:

This book has been written specifically for the purpose of providing a structure for choosing deliberation and introspection—not narcissistic navel-gazing, but deep, conscious contemplation of collapse and its emotional and spiritual implications for you, the reader.

Walking the spiritual path of collapse is a journey that beckons us far beyond mere survival and renders absurd any attempts to “fix” or prevent the end of the world as we have known it. This odyssey is about the transformation of human consciousness and the emergence of a new paradigm as a result discovering our purpose in the collapse process and thereby coming home to our ultimate place in the universe. Our willingness to embark on the journey with openness and uncertainty offers an opportunity for experiencing the quantum evolutionary leap with which collapse may be presenting us. In other words, the opportunity collapse offers is an extraordinary death/rebirth phenomenon which could be tragically aborted if we persist in denial, rationalization, or resistance to civilization’s demise.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you are walking the path of awareness regarding the unfolding human crisis, it needs to be part of your journey.

March 27, 2009

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