John Halstead

You are not a capitalist. I am. And I am not your friend.

You can be friends with a capitalist. But when it comes to work, we are taking advantage of you. Your interests and ours are not aligned.

“It is Right to Take Time to Grieve” by Anthony Rella

Grief and disappointment are not separate from care, joy, and enthusiasm. All of these feelings are emotions of engagement with this life. Letting things matter to us. Taking risks. Opening our hearts.

What Does “The End of the World” Mean?, by Roy Scranton

Apophatic Futurism: a commitment to a future existence which by definition cannot be described.

“Life After Economic Growth” by Shaun Chamberlin

“The key to sustaining a post-growth economy is culture and community. Those extensive holidays of former times were far from a product of laziness. Rather they were, in an important sense, what men and women lived for. ‘Spare time’ spent in feasting, performing, collaborating and merrymaking together formed the basis of communal bonding, membership and trust.”

Start by reconciling the individual and the whole.

Your freedom begins where mine begins, and ends where mine ends.

“Damn Dirty Humans!”: ‘Planet of the Humans’ and Progressive Denial

“The film is asking us to come to terms with some difficult realities which we have yet to face: namely, that sustaining our infinite growth, industrial civilization on renewables is neither desirable nor possible, yet that is exactly what green capitalists are intent on pursuing.”

“Planet of the Humans” and a Call for Emotional Intelligence by Laura Schmidt

The larger environmental movement is terrified that if we allow ourselves to plummet into the depths of hopelessness and despair there will not be enough optimism to propel us forward. This notion is not just wrong, it’s harmful. Any solutions, if they are to be meaningful, will come from those of us who have been courageous enough to take the time and energy to feel these scary and discomforting feelings. Through processing our griefs and facing reality, we open to new solutions that were previously unavailable to us.

“Mary Oliver for Corona Times (Thoughts after the poem Wild Geese) by Adrie Suzanne Kusserow

You do not have to become totally zen, you do not have to use this isolation to make your marriage better, your body slimmer, your children more creative. You only have to let the soft animal of your body unlearn everything capitalism has taught you.

Finding Meaning in the Dark: A Post-Doom Big Picture

Please invite your friends and join me next Sunday (May 3, 2020) at 10am (CDT) for a virtual presentation by eco-theologian, Michael Dowd, about living beyond hope and despair in a time of civilizational collapse. Michael’s message is especially salient during this time of social distancing and global pandemic.