When Life Gets Tough, We Get Tougher

How will we as communities and individuals respond to the deconstruction or collapse of our environment and perhaps our civilization? How will we cope? How will we respond?

McLaren suggests that we need to get “tougher”. By “tougher” he means “capable of meeting deteriorating conditions with increasing capacities.” (pg 202)

The words “increasing capacities” imply not just a survival mode, not just getting by, but growth. Growth in strength, intelligence, virtue. Or, to use another word, growth in wisdom. We must not think that we have arrived as adults – gaining wisdom and the ability to cope with our circumstances requires continued growth and development.

As Bob Dylan put it in 1964:

“Come gather 'round people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters

Around you have grown

And accept it that soon

You'll be drenched to the bone.

If your time to you

Is worth savin'

Then you better start swimmin'

Or you'll sink like a stone

For the times they are a-changin'.”

McLaren identifies seven “deteriorating conditions” in which we will either sink or learn to swim in as the “drama of overshoot continues to play out.” (pg 203)

1.     We are in a “gilded age of misinformation”. “Liars are going to lie, cheaters are going to cheat, propagandists are going to distort, ideologues are going to suppress, bigots are going to inflict cruelty, scammers are going to scam, and click counters are going to sensationalize. In times like these, we need to become tough-minded as never before. If we have lazy, flimsy, foolish minds, we will be sitting ducks for deception.” (pg 203)

2.     Our current situation is a “petri dish for fear and mean-spiritedness.” We will need kindness and compassion to stand with courage against those who are being scapegoated – usually minorities who have less power and little voice.

3.     Demagogues and authoritarians will exploit fear and resentment in order to gain wealth and power. The antidote to fear and resentment is courage and grace.

4.     Our time is one of increasing fragmentation. Lines of division will run through our families, churches, social groups, right up to the national and international stages. Many will always find an enemy against whom to battle. We will need to grow in interdependence, and be creative in discovering what that means and how to actually do it.

5.     Despair will threaten to overcome us. “To face and endure that despair with wisdom, kindness, character, and interdependence, we will need courage, especially the courage to differ graciously.” (pg 205)

6.     We will need to become agile people. Change will become overwhelming: we must learn how to adjust to change at all levels of our lives. “Some changes will feel like losses; others will bring surprising gains.” (pg 206)

7.     “To grow stronger in wisdom, kindness, character, interdependence, courage and agility, we’ll have to discover new depths of the human spirit…Call it religion, call it spirituality, call it contemplation or centeredness…As the unsustainable and flimsy trappings of religion fall away, more and more of us will have the chance to discover the deep core, the strong spine and vigorous heart of our spiritual traditions.” (pg 206)

My note: during these first few months of the Trump administration we are seeing all of these “deteriorating conditions” play out in real life. Misinformation, fear, mean-spiritedness, exploitation of resentment to gain wealth and power, all are happening right before our eyes. Despair is an easy go-to.  What does wisdom look like? How can we increase our capabilities for courage, character, kindness and agility? Those are the questions we must ask ourselves – and put into practice – every day. The future is now.