Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Democracy is built in our homes, our schools, our workplaces, our neighborhoods. We can join with our neighbors to build communities of care that meet our direct needs and show that another world is not only possible, it is already blooming.
In short — the key to the profound changes that our current polycrisis is calling for lies in the cultivation of the social soil. Every one of us can be (and is) a gardener or farmer of that soil.
Most big-think essays like this end on a note of inspiration and hope. For once, I’ll resist the temptation to go that route. Can we humans make ourselves useful to the rest of life? It’s an open question.
Now that we have another four years of supreme stupidity, it seems all the more important to follow this small path, to turn away from the things that are harming us, to build up our communities, to live our lives — because this is all we get and the idiots do not get to take that from us, not even four years.
In today’s Frankly, Nate describes some of the battles – or polarities – of our time: the tensions and dichotomies we face from the global macro level all the way down to the level of individual metacognition.
We need to act where we can most effectively act now, in our communities and bioregions, cities and states. We’re only going to make it working together, building the future in place.
Concern about a surprise acceleration in the decline of human fertility is missing the most critical factor.
The future of republicanism depends on the U.S. shaping its domestic agenda for the common good and using its influence on the global stage in line with democratic principles.
Is capitalism aging gracelessly, full of hubris and making trouble for everyone who loves it? Name me an empire that has gone out gracefully.
What you feel when you finally close this long book is the pointlessness of quests and knights and kings and, well, points… The point is that there is no point. And Grossman, being a wizard, actually makes that feel comforting. Particularly in these times. Because, he whispers, we are the story… We are collapsing… But we will not end.
Like those abolitionist pamphlets, We Will Rest! offers encouragement in times of uncertainty—a reminder of our fundamental humanity, and affirms the truth that rest is ours for the taking. And we’ve already done all we need to do to “deserve” the freedom it brings.
From a systems lens, Islands of Sanity are parts of the system that hold resilience when the rest of the system comes out of balance.
