Thriving in Difficult Times
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Recently a fellow climate change activist exclaimed in despair, “The world has never faced a crisis like this before!” I’m not sure how convincing my response was to her then, or how it will be to you now, but I tried to reassure her that while the world may have never faced human-made climate change before, the world has faced crises like it before. Humanity has suffered and survived global plagues and world wars that killed tens of millions and displaced many millions more, my parents included. I would not be here were it not for such a crisis. We are currently in the middle of the sixth great mass extinction, and it is going to get a lot worse. But the fact that we’re in the middle of the sixth means that there have been five others before, and the world survived. Moreover, had there not been five mass extinctions before, we humans would not be here today.
Changing climate patterns will (as they already have) create new niches, which living beings will fill in ways that we cannot predict, for worse and for better. As Buddhism recognizes, all that exists is the result of causes and conditions. Under changing conditions, creative, new ways of being will come into existence. New behaviors. New species.
To be clear, I am not saying that everything is going to be hunky-dory, so we don’t need to do anything, or that global upheaval is “all for the best” because it will provide new opportunities, or any other Pollyanna-ish nonsense. To talk like that ignores that tens of millions of people died in those plagues and wars. That among humans who suffer and die, it is more often people of color, the poor, and other marginalized groups. That even though living species, including us, will adapt, the conditions may change so fast that we won’t be able to keep up. So many have already succumbed.
I am not saying that everything will be OK. That would be a lie. But if history and biology can be our guide, some things will be OK. Something will survive, and hopefully thrive again. While any one life is incredibly fragile, life as a whole, life as a communal web, is incredibly resilient. Even in the face of great loss and sorrow, joy and beauty We are in the midst of a great deal of turmoil—ecologically, socially, economically, and politically. You know what I’m talking about. And many of us have our private crises not known to all. You also already know that the future of the world depends on what we do right now. I don’t need to remind you of that. What I’d like to add is that the quality of our lives right now also depends on how we react. It is OK to smile at beauty even when you’re grieving, if you want to (Obviously, if you don’t want to, that’s OK too.) It is OK to do things that bring you joy even in the midst of turmoil. In fact, that’s probably the only way we’re going to get through this. Have faith that while the world needs you to act, it also needs you to care for yourself, and to enjoy the gift of your one precious life.
- Thriving in Difficult Times - April 1, 2020
- Wonder Redux - July 1, 2019
- Spiritual Ancestors - November 1, 2018
