Coping with Peak Oil Awareness - the spiritual journey.
BEFORE
There will come a time. Trust me, it will happen. Eventually, you are going to venture out of your fear. And when you do, you know what? You are going to look our human predicament straight in the eye. Suddenly see. Understand.
The universe will nudge you, you can count on that.
As the pink contact lenses fall, you will see that the collapse of our civilisation is imminent. That Hubbert's theory of peak oil is not one that suits the conspiracy moniker. You marvel at the incandescent rainbow arching across the housing bubble - filmy and taught. You cannot help but gasp: "What if, the price on my house drops by 50 percent - like they say it' s going to? Why, in just two years, I could be broke! And then what am I going to do? Especially when the US dollar becomes wothless and no one has real jobs anymore?"
But it probably wont happen like that .
Hopefully, you may get your karmic "kick in the eye" (as the zen masters put it) tomorrow or the next day - or, indeed , the day after that. Next month and you are still probably good; the skytrains will still be running, and you'll be able to get your bar of Lindt chocolate from the corner store. But take my advice: don't take too long to get with the program. After peak we are going to need you. My survival (and that of my loved ones) may depend on us forging alliances and sharing food.
AFTER
So, anyway, congratulations - or is it comiserations - are now in order. You are now fully awake. You've done the research and faced up to the facts. You concur that things are about to get really "interesting." But, then you ask yourself, "What know? Suddenly I feel like crap. Like, really, mucho crapola..."
A year ago, when I woke up to the "perfect economic storm" that lay ahead, I felt that I had been smacked right in the old breadbasket. Winded. I had no idea any of this Peak Oil stuff was going on. Man-oh-man was I the proverbial mushroom, or what? Fed on sh** and kept in the dark. Yes, me! Me, of all people - the cynical art school drop out, with his mind full of Camus and Hermann Hesse!
Up to that point I thought I knew everything. Kinda, cocky in that English working class way. A lukewarm intellectual... Turns out I knew rather little. Or put it this way, my having a vague grasp on phenomenology or Derrida suddenly did not seem very useful. Not very practical. Consequently, my moods and blood pressure went up and down for a why as I strove to adjust to a new, emerging consciousness.
I have evened out over time.
I am glad to report that one can remain sane and live under that damoclean blade. But it is tough: every now and then you have to protect yourself. On the odd occasion, I figure I am going to have to go on "news fasts" as Dr. Andrew Weil calls them. When I am extra vulnerable, I may need to protect my soul from what is going on in Sadr City, Samarra, wherever....
In the last month I have started to feel my consciousness expand. I feel as though I am beginning to digest profound truths on a soul level. Things like: The best way to be anti-war is to be pro-peace. And, ultimately, I have come to realise this: when I go into reveries about how the Bush Administration and FEMA are going to be herding debtors into work camps, I will need to stop the projector. When I start hyperventillating over imagined sortie-raids over Tehran, I will need to place my hands together and feel the life-force in my palms. I will need to bring my consciousness back to the now, to my pre-peak oil existence. As I feel the cat nuzzling my ankle, I will concentrate. I will let in all the love I feel for my family - my wife and my sons, my deceased daughter. Then, hopefully, I will feel the love pulsing through the universe.
Sometimes I feel at peace. But, unfortunately, it still feels a little too transient. But I am learning. A little at a time. Learning and making postive steps.
And so will you.
And just in case if you need extra sanity when adjusting to a post peak oil consciousness, go to:
(essentially, a therapist's take on the emotional reactions to peak oil.) A handy resource - and one that I wish I had in my early "Omigod!" moments.
Let's get this love thing shaking! Time is running out.
Neil
P.S. It's like I said in a previous blog: see the movie "The End Of Suburbia". I found out it is now on YouTube and you can watch it for free. Here is the link. The End of Suburbia - 52 minute documentary on oil
Comments
Neil, I saw End of Suburbia
Neil,
I saw End of Suburbia last year and because of it joined the Vancouver Relocalization Group through Post Carbon Institute (www.relocalize.net/groups/vancouver). When we had meetings, there was definately a lot of consequences highlighted about the results of Peak Oil. Like you, at times this was very overwhelming to think that our whole structure of society would collapse, there would be more wars to gain control over every last drop of energy, etc etc. I had some sleepless nights, but I know spiritually and practically that I cannot exist with this fear. Unfortuneatly, out of survival instincts, sometimes I ignore or forget these future possibilities that I've learned. I've purposefully seeked out good news at times (www.goodnewsnetwork.org, "Some Good News for a Change - by David Suzuki") to build up my hope. Thanks for information about Peak Oil Blues
Two years ago, I never heard of peak oil; now it is mentioned quite often in media - even Vancouver Sun. I MUST have hope, and I'm sure you want to as well. I see the attention (in media and politics) brought to sustainability and Climate Change just in the past two years is extraordinary [despite the fact it's been known but ignored for decades]. This can only bring more light to the issues of peak oil and implementation of SOME action.
Watch for events at relocalize.net for opportunities to meet other people with your same concerns and find steps to actualize a more pleasant transition for your kids. We have to remember to set our realistic expectations of change at years/decades, not months.
Daryl
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Hi Neil, One of the
Hi Neil,
One of the pleasures of having peakoilblues.com are the links I investigate and the chance to read articulate writers that speak so eloquently about their experience with Peak Oil. A lot of my contributors talk about their initial shock reactions, but here you've talked about what the process of "evening out" and going beyond fear looks like. Like you, I too experience peaceful feelings as all to transient, but people need to hear that they DO come after Peak Oil awareness, and sometimes more profoundly than before. For me, I find myself humble and grateful for things I used to not even think about. I appreciate you for this contribution. Thanks for sending out those loving vibes into the universe. I'm feeling them, here on the East Coast. Thanks, also, for mentioning my site, and if you have more, I'd love to share it with my readers.
Best,
Kathy McMahon, Psy.D.
"Peak Shrink"
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Neil, So much of what you
Neil,
So much of what you write resonates somewhere within me. Yet at the same time there is a hint of something in what you have shared that doesn't.
From what I can gather, life isn't linear - the idea that we are coming from 'here' and will therefore end up 'there' is part of the illusion that we are in control, which we are most certainly not. Sure, we can plot things on a chart but we cannot ever assume to be able to truly harness the randomness of the universe in a postulation.
You telling of your bringing yourself back to awareness of your hands, your cat, life force itself, was powerful and made me smile to myself. I know that feeling. I also know the feeling of floating in and out: one moment if peaceful and another terrifying - what is going to happen to us? Right now it seems to me that if I let that fear be, be as big as it wants to be, something shifts. I have allowed life to happen. And that is the real peace. Fighting life itself is a losing battle.
And there is time to be change, we are doing it right now.