Climate crisis re-imagining the human

We live in challenging times – normal service will not be resumed.

"Apocalypse implies destruction of a world, but hiding in that word is the older meaning, that of a necessary revelation, a veil torn away, leaving no choice but to see what is hidden from us in plain sight." Susan Murphy 'A Fire Runs Through All Things'

The Earth systems and the cultural systems are in a parallel process of rupture. Western culture is distracted by our many escapist entertainments that help maintain a sense of ‘normality’ despite increasing symptoms of eco-anxiety, addiction and suicide. Examples of our cultural malaise include:

• Issues of overstimulation and lack of self-regulation

• Culture of uncare and loss of our capacity to relate to others 

• Reality seeming to fray at the edges; unravelling our known world

• Unprocessed grief from the many losses of place and species

• Apocalyptic fantasies and dreams

It will take a radical decentering to re-imagine our place in the planetary ecosystem. My focus is not on climate science, but this radical decentering of being human through a world seemingly gone mad. This crisis will force a species wide challenge to imaginatively adapt. I am exploring how psychological interventions can become cultural interventions – new ways of healing and transformation.

Every Greek plot is based on trying to escape my/our fate, but we have now created this tragedy, it cannot be avoided. Timothy Morton