About six years ago I came back from a very long stay in a hot, fanatical, dangerous, crowded place that ends in “-Stan.” I was in a dark mood for longer than I realized. It wasn’t just the stress from actually being there. I realized over time that it was more about my fear that I saw how the world ends. Hot, angry, fanatical, short of water, crowded, dirty, indifferent, contentious, crumbling, corrupt. I still think that way. I think that my country is becoming more like said “-Stan” than the other way around.
I find a bit of solace in knowing that generations of humans found some degree of happiness and contentment after the collapse of the world they knew, living in the ruins of Rome. Ruins they may not even have recognized. And they created beauty and saved precious things and erected eternal buildings and despite the unfortunate name “Dark Ages,” helped to invent the beautiful, majestic, turbulent, flawed Western civilization that may be running its course. Or maybe just transforming.
Appreciate the beautiful, precious things. Save what you can. Create intentional communities dedicated to what is most important. Look for what you can in the ruins.