Collapsing Consciously: Transformative Truths for Turbulent Times

by Carolyn Baker Ph.D., John Michael Greer (Foreword by)

Overview

A collection of probing essays and weekly meditations, this book addresses how to prepare emotionally and spiritually for the impending collapse of industrial civilization. Author Carolyn Baker offers wisdom, inspiration, and a sense of spiritual purpose for anyone who is concerned about the daunting future humankind has created.

The author's introduction to Collapsing Consciously articulates our current predicament of economic collapse, environmental degradation, and global conflict and expresses the confusion, anxiety, grief, anger, and despair we all experience when we take a hard look at the present-day global crisis and the likely future of the planet. But rather than showing us ways to prevent the collapse, Baker argues that the demise of our consumerist, corporate culture is inevitable, and that it is crucial to prepare emotionally and spiritually for the certain changes to come.

Part 1 is a collection of seventeen essays which argue that while the collapse of industrial society cannot be prevented, its meaning extends far beyond tragedy and loss. These essays ask the reader to delve inward and discover the limitless treasures of the soul, as well as the gratification and exhilaration to be discovered in joining with community in preparing for the future.

In part 2, Baker offers fifty-two weekly meditations comprised of spiritual wisdom, inspiration, paradox, comfort, humor, irony, and a persistent challenge to create and savor beauty in the world, regardless of how bleak the future may appear.

Collapsing Consciously is a refreshing take on the perilous present and the grim prospects for our future. Instead of quoting discouraging statistics about our predicament, Baker offers a deeper perspective that makes sense of a world that most of the time appears psychotic or even surreal. Through inspiration and perennial wisdom she has created a manual for making meaning and generating joy, especially in situations that feel hopelessly devoid of both.

An ebook containing additional meditations is also available: Collapsing Consciously Meditations: Further Reflections for Turbulent Times, ISBN 978-1-58394-758-6.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781583947128
Publisher:	North Atlantic Books
Publication date:	11/19/2013
Series:	Sacred Activism , #3
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	720,506
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

CAROLYN BAKER, PhD, was a professor of history and psychology for 11 years and a psychotherapist in private practice for 17 years; she currently offers life coaching. She manages the Speaking Truth to Power website at www.carolynbaker.net and is the author of six previous books, including Sacred Demise: Walking the Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse and Navigating the Coming Chaos: A Handbook for Inner Transition.

Table of Contents

Foreword: A Guide for the Journey John Michael Greer xi

Introduction xv

Part 1 Collapse, Transition, the Great Turning 1

The Joy of Mindful Preparation 3

A Light in Dark Times: Winter Solstice 7

Contagion: One of Many Collapse Scenarios 11

My Body, My Life 17

Emotional Resilience in Turbulent Times: Fukushima, March 2011 25

Hoping for Happiness or Metabolizing Meaning? 31

It's All about "Down" 37

Masculine, Feminine, Collapse, and the Next Culture 43

The Elephant in Every Collapsing Room 55

Collapse and the Wild Self 59

Collapsing Interdependently 65

What Myth Will Replace the American Dream? 71

The Deeper Meaning of Debt 79

Hospice Workers for the World 87

Getting Real about Our Predicament: A Climate Researcher on Collapsing Consciously 93

A Culture of Two-Year-Olds and the Gifts of Collapse: Part 1 99

A Culture of Two-Year-Olds and the Gifts of Collapse: Part 2 105

Part 2 Transformative Truths for Turbulent Times 111

Fifty-Two Weekly Meditations on the Collapse of Industrial Civilization 111

About the Author 175

Editorial Reviews

"Baker offers a deeper perspective that makes sense of a world that most of the time appears psychotic or even surreal. Through inspiration and perennial wisdom she has created a manual for making meaning and generating joy, especially in situations that feel hopelessly devoid of both."—The Edge Magazine

"In a world where the politicians and salesmen are practically indistinguishable, where profit is the prime directive, never mind morality or costs to the innocent and underprivileged, I’m grateful and glad for books like this one, which are excellent guides to changing one’s personal stake from attainment and accomplishment to belonging and sharing."—Zack Kopp, Denver Books Examiner

"I also believe this one book to be the single most powerful book I have read in the past decade, in relation to focusing my soul so as to better focus my mind and body." —Robert David Steele, author of The Open Source Everything Manifesto: Transparency, Truth, & Trust

"I recommend Collapsing Consciously, especially for the very large number of people who have avoided the topic of collapse or the process of personal introspection." —Guy McPherson, author of Going Dark

"Carolyn Baker’s new book Collapsing Consciously: Transformative Truths for Turbulent Times is a breath of sanity in a world gone mad. Her contemplations are like a much needed multi-vitamin for the psyche that the deeper field of consciousness has secreted so as to compensate our madness. The fact that a book like Collapsing Consciously has arrived in our midst at this time of multiple world crises is evidence that our species is beginning to awaken from our self-created nightmare." —Paul Levy, author of Dispelling Wetiko: Breaking the Curse of Evil 

"Carolyn Baker’s Collapsing Consciously: Transformative Truths for Turbulent Times is perhaps the most approachable book on collapse you are likely to find.”—Dmitry Orlov, author of Reinventing Collapse:The Soviet Example and American Prospects

“Carolyn Baker presents a no-denial appraisal of the global dark night that our species has created. Even in a time of collapse she finds room to talk wisely about joy, and to ask what despair has to teach us. Baker is a truth teller who dares us to go deeper into the night rather than to flee from it with superficial happy talk. I praise her for this very useful and very real book of rich meditations and practices.” —Matthew Fox, co-author, with Adam Bucko, of Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation

"Carolyn Baker is an outstanding guide to sustaining and even enhancing our emotional and spiritual vitality as we navigate the disintegration of the world as we've known it." —Bill Plotkin, author of Soulcraft

“This is a book that most definitely needs to be read. It is crucial for us to ponder Carolyn Baker's profound and indispensable exposé of industrial civilization’s future. Her words are powerful and her wisdom rich and supportive. We need to seriously reflect on her message if we are to midwife a spiritual vision of life based on compassion, justice and solidarity.”
— Chris Saade, author of the upcoming Second Wave Spirituality: Passion for Peace, Passion for Justice

“Collapsing Consciously: Transformative Truths for Turbulent Times is one of those books that is not meant to gather dust. It is a book you will want to keep close—in your glove box or in your pocket. Within a year you will see it get dog-eared, and it will become one of your best friends and companions as we all share and experience the shift into a new era of existence.” —Michael Ruppert, author of Confronting Collapse

“With this collection of essays and words of true wisdom, Carolyn Baker shows that she is truly one of the very best ports in the impending storm.” —Keith Farnish, author of Time’s Up

“Carolyn Baker is one of the few visionaries willing to take an unflinching look at the horrendous environmental, social, and economic situation we collectively find ourselves in—and also offer constructive day-by-day psychological and spiritual guidance for living a joyful life in the face of the escalating collapse of industrial society.” —Linda Buzzell, co-editor of Ecotherapy

“Kudos, Carolyn Baker! De-riddling paradoxes, lighting up convergences, you walk with the Shadows through the Valley of Jung, to show how kindred spirits working together may evolve a better, saner, more healthful world out of the madness and detritus that envelops us now.” —Gary Corseri, author of Holy Grail, Holy Grail

“No one writes like Carolyn Baker about the crisis of our time. Her fierce wisdom is an essential guide to our survival, and the courage with which she writes will excite and inflame your heart.”—Andrew Harvey

“Carolyn Baker knows that people tend to define a comfort zone in which they feel competent, and then to get bored even as they feel secure. She encourages not warding stuff off but experiencing it fully, and venturing out to encounter more of the mystery. Her main vision is that, in the course of growing up, humans will construct, sooner or later, a better society, and in any case will live intensely in the present.”
—Craig K. Comstock, book creation coach, former foundation director, and author

From the Publisher