How do you handle hope in the face of climate change and all our other planetary challenges?
Success and Destruction
During my 50 years in the environmental movement, I’ve gone through many phases. I started with the hopeful assumption that we could change everything. We stopped acid rain, and recycling is now the norm. No new nuclear power plants have been built in Sweden since the 1980 referendum, and there are bike lanes and solar panels throughout the country. Then, I fell into a much darker and pessimistic view when I realised the full impact of the multifaceted destruction of the biosphere that is going on.
Jumping between being Hopeful and Hopeless
It’s easy to get stuck between optimism and pessimism, between hopeful and hopeless. On one hand, I tell myself that I should be hopeful because not being hopeful is to give up. On the other hand, being hopeful is naive, and I will just be disappointed and bitter. A third path is not to bother, but that has never been an option for me. But I’ve found a fourth path: I’m hopefree.
Hopefree – Acting without Clinging to the Outcome
I don’t know what will happen in the future. No one knows. My task is to act the best I can right now. I don’t try to pep myself up with hopes or drain my energy with fears. I’m hopefree and will just keep going, setting the stage for the next billion years on planet Earth, whatever that will turn out to be.
The Everpresent Now – A Doorway to Planetary Awareness
And maybe even more importantly, through the Wider Embraces method, I can move into the ever-present Now. This is a perspective outside of time and inside all time. It’s where all moments start and fade. It’s the only time that anything has ever happened. At the same time, it’s so short that nothing really happens. It’s stillness and all movements at once. To surrender to the ever-present Now is a powerful starting point for any action and a doorway to planetary awareness.
I’m still working on living more fully Now. And Now. And Now