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THE JOY OF MINDFUL PREPARATION -- Part 1...

There is a copyright issue... I will remove tis after a week.. by C. Baker written. I just must share this.

Aug. 5th, 2010 – 18:00 hrs PDT -- Let’s face it, preparing logistically or emotionally for the collapse of life as we have known it since arriving on this planet is not supposed to be fun. Certainly there are moments when we joke about it with trusted others as we stock our larder with food, water, medical supplies, and a host of other items we might wish to have stored for the Long Emergency. If we decide to relocate to a more sustainable part of the world, we may experience moments of excitement with family or friends who are accompanying us. And if we are given to dark humor, there is no lack of fuel for that particular fire.

Yet, as we contemplate living in a chaotic world, joy is not the first emotion that leaps to mind. In fact, it is the one emotion that tends to get lost in the shuffle of preparation. We may “agonize as we organize” the logistics of navigating the future in terms of acquiring supplies, finding a sustainable location in which to reside, learning skills that will be necessary in a post-collapse world, building relationships with neighbors and community, planting gardens, raising chickens, or taking permaculture classes.

However, as you dear reader may have discovered by now, while all of this requires effort, none of it has to be drudgery. For myself and for many of us who have been preparing for some years, the entire endeavor can, and I would suggest, must be imbued with joy.

As I dialog with countless conscious individuals engaged in preparing for the Long Emergency, without exception they tell me that if they could not create joy in their lives and balance preparation with play and creating beauty, they would probably give up because they would feel so much despair. Each person seems to have a unique way of experiencing joy, but in order for them to persevere, it has become a necessity in their daily routine, not a luxury. One man told me, “I eat some ice cream every night because it makes me happy.” A woman said, “I get silly and goofy with my dogs every day because doing so brings me invigorating joy that revitalizes me and supports me to engage in another round of preparation.”

Whether we actively practice a specific technique of mindfulness meditation or not, we are forced to become mindful in the process of preparing for the collapse of industrial civilization. One cannot be mindless and prepare consciously and intentionally at the same time. Yet even as we try on a plethora of “what if” scenarios in our minds, none of which are particularly pleasant, we can experience joy in preparing to navigate a chaotic world, and what is more, in the throes of that chaos, there very well may be moments of joy.

In the chaotic world of the future in which thousands of things, experiences, and people that we now take for granted may become inexplicably dear to us in a milieu where our only contact with them may be in our memories. In that world, the tremendous losses we are likely to encounter will result in savoring and appreciating incredibly simple experiences and sensations, and doing so is likely to evoke deep feelings of joy.

Dominique Browning, author of Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put On My Pajamas, And Found Happiness states that “Slow Love is a way of being mindful, in whatever you are doing. It is a way of being open to the wonder and miracle of this world, falling open to it, and making sure you tap into that every day. It can be as simple as helping someone cross the street, enjoying the last bite of a farm fresh egg before heading to the sink, catching the sound of church bells, and really listening to their music.”

What speaks most audibly to me in Browning’s prescription for contentment is that the more we lose in the future, the more crucial it will become to savor what we still have. Consumer society inculcates in us the belief that we are entitled to be happy. After all, it’s written in the Declaration of Independence, right? All people are endowed by their Creator with the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, yes? Actually, the original word Thomas Jefferson used in the Declaration was “property” not “happiness.” Eventually, property was replaced with happiness, but even so, Colonial America did not perceive itself as entitled to happiness, nor did it perceive happiness as synonymous with accumulating worldly possessions.

A chaotic world will unequivocally test our capacity for experiencing a quality of happiness that I refer to as joy—the ability to access a treasure-trove of well being deep within ourselves that transcends our current conditions, whatever those may be. The end of the world as we have known it will shatter the happiness of many people, but at the same time, it may increase their joy. As author and death and dying counselor, Stephen Levine, notes: “The ironic thing is we have almost no contact with joy because of our obsession with happiness.”

No matter how bleak the future may at times become, there will undoubtedly be moments of humor, laughter, and even giddiness. Part of supporting ourselves and our community in the Long Emergency will be creating moments or hours of joy when and where appropriate. These experiences cannot be contingent on sophisticated technology or even electricity. They will probably need to be simple, ingenious, and heartfelt.

In his 2010 article “(F)unemployment: Making The Best of It”, Vermont-based journalist, Frank Smecker notes that “With all this (f)unemployment going around, there is now more time to get out in the local community, relocalize, meet new people, foster new relationships, grow food together, find food together, restore landbases, take a break, hop on a bike, go swimming, watch the land come alive with animated life and then, resume community-based work.”


While there is no “fun” in being without an income as expenses and debts pile up, like me, Smecker believes that employment as we know it will probably not exist a decade from now and that this time of massive unemployment creates space in our lives that allows us to prepare for a future of permanent unemployment.


No Gratitude, No Joy

In Sacred Demise I included a chapter on “Mirth-Making Amid Crumbling and Chaos” in which I focused on creating joy in the community. In my next book, Navigating The Coming Chaos: A Toolkit For Inner Transition, I prefer to focus on creating joy within the individual psyche by practicing mindful living. A number of tools will be offered to assist the reader in this practice, and one of the most important, in my opinion, is the practice of gratitude.

Gratitude is an attitude of thankfulness and a sense of appreciation for what one has in the moment. It implies two things: Relationship and humility. The relationship aspect of gratitude means that when one feels grateful, there is something or someone or some force outside oneself to which one feels in some way indebted, as is obvious when one is grateful to another person for a gift or a kindness. In situations where one feels grateful for fortunate circumstances which don’t directly involve another person, one is not grateful to anyone or anything but simply glad that things worked out as they did.

Even so, the very emotion or thought of gratitude implies that one is not oneself the origin of what one feels grateful for. I may say that it’s “just the way things worked out”, but I’m not responsible for “things” working out the way they did. Thus, I’m grateful for a particular turn of events. Nevertheless, a relationship with circumstances is implied, as is the reality that I am not in control of them but rather an observer. Of course, a sociopath like Joseph Stalin who said, “Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs” cannot experience gratitude because it requires empathy and the ability to appreciate oneself as a participant in the human condition.

Gratitude is a state of mind that inherently recognizes interdependence with the external world whether it be other humans, nature, the sacred, or a combination of these.

In a time of colossal loss, which I anticipate a chaotic world will entail, gratitude for the ability to survive, to have food, water, shelter, companionship, reasonably good health, and the use of one’s limbs and senses will be crucial. I imagine that a “glass half-full” perspective will soon supersede the “glass half-empty” outlook early on among those have understood and prepared in advance for the collapse of industrial civilization--especially those who have endeavored to prepare emotionally and spiritually. This has always been true in nations and societies experiencing collapse. In the most dire scenarios, being able to find one small thing every day for which one is grateful enhances resilience and the potential to survive. From the Nazi holocaust to the collapse of the Soviet Union to genocide in Bosnia or Rwanda, thousands of persecuted and displaced human beings have found solace and inspiration in gratitude.

In Part 2 of this article, we will explore 7 types of joy that are necessary as we prepare for and navigate a world unraveling.

This article is excerpted from Carolyn’s forthcoming book Navigating The Coming Chaos: A Toolkit For Inner Transition.