The most surreal experience I have had (am having) in my life is living through the collapse of an empire. In case you haven’t noticed:  ROME IS BURNING.  In this case, “Rome” is every single thing in our world that has been built on a foundation of fear, power, and control.  It is all collapsing with the United States seemingly leading the charge.

Times of collapse are both a death and a birth. Old systems and the world as we have known it is falling away while new systems are trying to be born. Collapse is a time of great unrest, and when we remember to look, a time of great hope. Those who have benefitted from the old system cling, and fight, and grieve. Those who have suffered from the system are hoping for something new.

Currently we are living on the shifting sands of the collapse. Nothing makes sense. The truly bizarre and insane seem to hold reign while reason and sanity seem to have left the room. Every moment of every day is an exercise in shock and surprise.  “What the hell is happening,” we wonder.

Living through a collapse is like John Mulaney’s analogy of a “horse loose in the hospital.”  We never know what the horse might do, and we are surprised at the things it is able to do, and dumbfounded by the basic essential human skills that seem to be lacking. While John Mulaney wrote this bit about Donald Trump, it isn’t just about him. It is truly about the entire system – that which serves the needs of the very wealthy while leaving everyone else behind.

Normal people are anxious, angry, and afraid. We have a right to be. What about our rights? What about our needs? What about the economy and the cost of housing? What about education and healthcare? What are we to do and how are we to prepare for the possible worst?

The answer is:  WE CAN’T!  A system in collapse, by definition, is unpredictable, volatile, and potentially violent (think earthquake or hurricane). A collapsing system touches on every single thing to which we have become accustomed. On the other side of the collapse, likely nothing will look the same. We don’t even know what our currency for exchange will be, our sources of energy, our models of education and healthcare, banking, commerce, entertainment, religion, etc. etc. etc.  EVERY SINGLE SYSTEM will fall and be rebuilt – but into what we do not yet know. In truth – the new world will not be mine (Gen X) to build. Neither will it likely be built by Millennials. Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and those yet to come will be awarded this task – but not until the current has painfully and finally come to an end.

In the meantime – we wait. We watch. We bear witness. We keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. We do what we need to care for ourselves. We get out of the way of the collapsing system and we let it fall.

And we live radically IN THE PRESENT MOMENT, for there is nothing for which we can plan. We meet each moment as it comes to us. We respond accordingly. And for the love of all things, we refrain from the normal human reactions to fear: clinging to the need to control. We cannot control the collapse. Neither can we control what will follow. Instead, we live for this present moment and nothing more. Only by doing so will we survive the ebb and flow of the collapse  – not by the skin of our teeth – but in the peaceful state of acceptance by surrendering to what is.

While always and in every moment being and choosing Love.

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