The Wild Fires Raging in our Souls
All Photos are from Reimagining Humanity. If you don’t feel like reading this now, just press pause and go watch the video…
The problems in our world can no longer be seen as far off and out there.
They’re showing up in many forms.
Are some of those illusory walls that divide and insulate people beginning to crumble?
We don’t own the air that we breathe. It ebbs and flows and comingles within a vast living planet — part of a coliving life support system for all life forms.
We might think, “Duh, of course.” Yet, it’s as if this basic fact, tossed aside, became as invisible as air. It’s as if we need to see the air, as thick smoke or torrential winds to appreciate and respect its power and place in our moment-by-moment lives and our future horizons.
We’ve taken nature for granted…
…our own nature, as living beings.
…the nature that we artificially separate ourselves from…as if it’s out there…
We are nature…whether or not we live in harmony with nature…
When I say we…this may not be literally true of all of us, all the time…but for the purposes of this article…grappling with pervasive patterns — we are all human — and so the royal we acknowledges that we are all in this existential soup.
It seems that nature — in its many forms — is rising up so that we can see what we’ve forgotten beneath layers of modern industrialized progress.
Obsession, consumption, extraction and addiction insidiously and silently became hostile takeovers that subordinated the natural forces of life and the deeper-rooted purpose that connects us all…
…and fires up our souls.
Nature — our living planet — is delivering messages that are impossible to ignore, sweep aside or treat lightly. These messages are not subtle…
Like splinters in the brain, only these aren’t dramatic scenes in a Star Wars movie…they’re playing out on our day-to-day living stage right here on earth.
The up-close experience in South Eastern Ontario arrived as thick acrid smoke blanketing a vast expanse impacting North America and beyond. Forest fires are raging in many provinces across Canada. Already old news, this has become routine life for people in many regions around the world.
Some numbly just shrug this off as more of the same…
WTF…
Many of us are amplifying those messages that nature is delivering. Many are interpreting those messages in a variety of ways with a range of explanations.
Debates about causation rage on. Climate change has become a label that people use to add or subtract…to toss one more factor or event onto its heap or deny its validity. Those who deny the (full) impact of human influence on climate, find more reasons to deflect.
Climate change (and other) scientists understand that the causative factors are multiple, layered and complex. For example the accelerating and accelerant conditions that produce uncontrollable forest fires are generally a nonlinear confluence of several things.
Any one of these can play major or minor roles that set off cascading ripples and ramifications among and beyond these factors:
🔸 Warming patterns
🔸 Drought conditions
🔸 Greenhouse gas emissions
🔸 Polluted air, waterways and land mass
🔸 Depleted soils that don’t hold moisture
🔸 Indiscriminate clear-cutting of forests (that affect local and global evapotransporation)
🔸 CAFO — concentrated animal feeding operations of factory farming
🔸 Land and forestry mismanagement (including monoculture, chemical fertiliser use etc.)
🔸 Increased warming triggering lightening over land
🔸 Land conditions increasing vulnerability to lightening events and many more…
These are all clear signs that it is humanity — and not nature — that has been out-of-control for a very long time.
Unsafe fire practices of campers, also tossed into the heap, are clearly a bad thing under any of these conditions — but seriously cannot be seen as primary causes!
There are countless opinion pieces and scientific papers that dig into these and many more factors and explanations.
Binary ping pong debates seem to perpetuate all kinds of tunnel vision. Can we lift this blanket of myopia and widen our lens to appreciate a much bigger picture, even when we cannot directly see all the elements?
While it can be difficult or impossible to draw straight lines that connect these kinds of events and conditions that the scientists continue to study and quantify…at some point we gotta ask, if not scream…
“So what?”
If some of these phenomena aren’t definitively provable by our same old left brain mechanistic standards and ways of knowing that the reductionist Industrial Age conditioned us to expect…
“So the f*ck what?”
An analogy that might loosely illustrate…bear with me…
Though we continue to learn and uncover mysteries about the functioning of the human brain, there is much that we still don’t fully understand. The interconnectedness and interrelationships between our various organs, how they function as a system and how they perform at a cellular level — is very complex and somewhat miraculous. When an autopsy is performed it reveals more, but it cannot replicate the living organism in action.
And we cannot bring what is dead back to life on a physical plane.*.
(*Quantum physics and other planes of existence are well beyond the point and scope of this article. These fields of knowledge are also steadily gaining ground.)
So…how does this relate to climate change, forest fires and all the other events and conditions we are observing?
Once life is lost…it is gone. We cannot perform planetary autopsies and definitively pronounce all of the factors that rendered a place un-livable for living beings — human or other biodiverse sentient life forms.
Even if and when we can make definitive pronouncements — as parts of our planet die, unable to support life — so what? Kinda like saying the operation was a success but the patient is dead.
Melting ice fields and glaciers, ocean acidification and exponential biodiversity loss might seem random to those who don’t have a front row seat, can’t access the deeper science or lack the inclination to investigate.
When a tree falls in the woods and no one is present to hear it, does it make a sound?
Duh?
The simple truth points to overlapping patterns of serious damaging ecological, sociological and economical imbalance. Can we finally see that the binary debates create yet another smokescreen? Whatever the specific factors that tipped the specific conditions and bring us closer to more tipping points, whenever they’re measurably reached — this doesn’t bode well for anyone in the long run…and the long run is getting shorter…Tipping point indicators continue to gain momentum, pointing compellingly to runaway destabilization.
Back to the forest fires…
The assault on the air we breathe, the rapid destruction of forests, vegetation and all living beings encountered and smothered by the raging infernos — some casually refer to this as the fire season.
Fire can be a friend that we respect and love. Warming friendly fire — not the weaponized kind— is one of the elements from our earliest civilization that meets our basic needs. Indigenous people understand this best, honouring wisdom traditions and safe burning practices that support ecological biodiversity and health.
Those of us living in cities increasingly lose touch with the natural environment.
Those of us who reside in rural and deeply wooded settings feel the fraying edges of danger more intensely, when the smoke-filled air could just as readily emanate from nearby burning surrounding woods.
Those forced to evacuate their homes and worse, facing the aftermath of destruction, experience terror and the waking nightmare that continues…
The tears in our eyes are the blurring of lines between the physical-emotional-spiritual. Boundary lines that kept us artificially compartmentalized…cut off from ourselves, from one another and all living beings blur and fade as the interconnectedness between everything becomes apparent.
Increasingly and for more of us, the very real forest fires — or the dying oceans, or the melting glaciers, or the ravaged rain forests or the polluted cities or the scarcity of food and water — (re)awaken and accelerate something deeply spiritual and primal.
The increasing frequency and severity of droughts, extreme heat, floods, tornados and more are symptoms of much bigger systemic patterns and imbalance.
We can’t unsee and unsense what we increasingly see and sense…though the myopia and non-sense that persists stirs an ever-deepening awakening…
Increasingly people are awakening and this awakening is accessing something more profound. It is activating our interconnected human spirit.
Wild fires are raging in our souls…
For some this began over 50 years ago — like burning embers in the pit of our souls — warning us that our ways of living were veering off course. As the years advanced, those embers have ignited sending off signals of alarm, bringing more and more people together in spirit from far flung places around the world.
People everywhere, from business, government, nonprofits, families, communities — all of us ordinary citizens — are being introduced to the many faces of Meta, Poly and Perma.
On a first name basis now, many more are plunged headlong into crises. Some are still observing from a (not-so-safe) distance…
With every passing day, week, month and year, Meta, Poly and Perma are confronting more of us where we live.
Chameleon-like, shapeshifting and manifesting in many different ways. All the elements in all their forms — air, water, earth and fire — are involved… and this is more than climate…
While the labels we give them are becoming familiar, depending on the impacts we experience and observe and the ways we make sense of them — they’re all interconnected. Increasingly, we’re discerning those deeply interdependent connections…
Food insecurity, poverty, social injustice, forest fires, floods, pollution, extreme heat, biodiversity loss, pandemics, loneliness and social isolation, geopolitical conflicts and war, economic shocks and more — none of these can be dismissed as entirely random isolated events.
What began as gradual veering off course has accelerated to careening.
Many scientists and systems thinkers no longer consider the climate change label adequate to define and encompass the full range of phenomena observed and the tipping point dominoes that are poised to fall.
Climate change is a symptom, a serious one. Biodiversity loss is increasingly recognized as a more dangerous tipping point. Overshoot — pointing to cascading imbalances with its varied manifestations — calls for grounded systemic and imaginative alternatives…
Planetary destabilization is more descriptive. Perhaps those who are still debating climate change and causation will pay more attention to the chaotic pattern of destabilizing imbalance and the wide swath of devastation in its path.
And maybe the labels don’t matter. Those labels often widen the divides, diverting attention away from the most important stuff…
Did humanity directly or indirectly cause all or most of the destabilizing events and phenomena being observed? Can we scientifically and quantitatively prove everything, definitively connecting all the dots in ways that will satisfy everyone? Do we need to know exactly who and what to blame in order to pick up all those juggled and dodged balls of accountability?
Seriously…in light of what we do know, observe and sense…is undeniable quantitative proof of utmost importance? And what about the past 50 years of science? Isn’t that enough by now? How much more hard scientific data and proof do we really need?
Science plays an important role but it can only carry us so far. It is always incomplete and subject to new information and learning…
The Industrial Age got us into this living existential soup that transcends boxes, models and numbers…
At some point it’s up to all of us to put what we do know and are learning into practice and productive use, to assume and assign accountability.
Human civilization is one heck of a social experiment. There are ample f*ck-ups to obsess over and postmortems from which to gain wisdom. Clearly we have much to learn about how to citizen and live in life-affirming harmony — locally-in-community, (bio)regionally and globally.
We need each other on this journey as we navigate forward discerning patterns, working with nature and seeking the roughly right trajectory that can wisely guide us.
Whatever we may be feeling — denial, anger, fear and/or sadness — it is the full range of feelings that makes us human and can connect us. When we face those feelings and rise above them, we find sources of energy that can fuel us.
The most compelling driver that can help us weather these turbulent times — is love. Love of life…all life and all that matters most.
Love…not fear is our best navigational guiding light.
Paradoxically in a climate of polarization and distrust, it seems our best-case scenario calls for growing trust among and between more of us.
We need to build bridges of trust that open navigational pathways for integrative and collective ways of knowing that don’t depend on any one of us, or any group being all-knowing all the time…because that is unattainable.
The scientists, practitioners, policy-makers, entrepreneurs, technology innovators, parents, students, elders, cultural creatives, artists, activists and more who recognise the blurring-of-lines that demand grounded transdisciplinary systemic ways — are (gradually…increasingly…and sometimes gingerly) collaborating.
Perhaps the most compelling unifying commoning denominator is that we are each and all citizens on planet earth. Whoever and wherever we are, whatever our roles in work and life — to be human is tied to our social beingness.
🔸 In everyday ways that add up.
🔸 In major ways that might get us beyond too-little-too-late incrementalism.
🔸 In in-between ways with building blocks toward a viable future.
🔸 All of it!
There are no books, initiatives, sectors, disciplines, cultures, generations, organisations, groups or leaders who can heroically issue magic bullet directives or encapsulate it all, using universally understood words.
Are we still waiting for a f*cking sign? From where??
This is a time for major wide-scale adjustment. Looking through a transcontextual lens. Bottom-up, top-down, side-to-side and everywhere in-between.
It’s underway. And we need a whole lot more…
It’s messy. We gotta get used to messy, working with our inherent messy humanness, working with [human] nature. We can become better humans in the process. These overlapping crises, exposing deep cracks, are giving us opportunities to shape better ways to live and work.
There are many things we gotta stop doing. There are companies and institutions that are not [or are no longer] fit for meaningful purpose in society. There are numerous products and services that we don’t need, many that are harmful and habitual routines that don’t [or no longer] add real value. Much work that continues to crank out mechanically is not fulfilling for those doing the work. In many cases people feel stuck doing work that is downright health and soul-destroying.
There’s a sh*tload of context-based and place-sourced regenerative work required to figure out what does make (meaningful) sense in different places under various conditions. Some of this work is underway…Some pathways pointing towards viable solutions exist, but they cannot be rolled out and scaled in the same old industrial cookie-cutter ways.
Sources of inspiration abound. We’ve barely scratched the surface discovering and channelling our untapped collaborative creativity…
Some of the frontiers that beckon, invite us to get past our fears and I don’t know-ness and dip into the what ifs.
Navigating wisely calls upon us to not become overly fixated on any single myopic tunnelled-vision approach or methodology.
Even when we think we are right about the pathways and methodologies we are choosing, we cannot force or control our way into this life-affirming future. Paradoxically when we find ourselves holding onto control, we may be reinforcing the very paradigm we are so determined to leave behind.
This is a very serious — playfully serious — journey.
We. Are. Truly. All. In. This. Together.
Let’s open our eyes and seek multiple sources of wisdom, knowledge, ways of knowing, and ways of navigating.
Collectively — connecting heads, hearts and hands — let’s find the common[s] ground and heed the growing groundswell…
Paradoxically this kind of integrative abundance-inspired work makes room for many more and-and stories, igniting collective agency, whereby people — all of us citizens — take more active roles in their own communities and lives.
Paradoxically regenerative living and working can come to life in natural simple ways that embrace the deeper complexities and mysteries. Lots of things can shift and get reframed along the way…e.g. leadership, entrepreneurship and more…
Beyond talking about paradigm shifts…we’ll live into life-affirming ways of being.
Imagine and realize a world where citizens anywhere and everywhere are empowered in ways that ignite a virtuous spiral of impact in society.
Let’s get on with the unimpossible and rekindle a different kinda flame…reimagining humanity on a journey towards life worth living and work worth doing…
Time to fall [back] in love, facing forward…
In 13 minutes, Reimagining Humanity kinda manages to capture what cannot be captured…and what cannot be replaced.
An afterword… I haven’t published here for quite some time. This felt right given my own personal experience of the forest fires, as I get closer to the flame…continuing to wrestle with overlapping themes and making sense of these turbulent times…in the context of my own life.
Those who know me have heard me say, on many occasions, “I’ve spent most of my life feeling like I don’t belong in this world.” This struck me most poignantly in my 30s — when I kinda accepted that life is always liminal — in-between what was and what is yet to be…
What used to sort-of work…is really not-working. It hasn’t worked well for a long time. Those artificial unnatural lines of separation have progressively become more blurred with each passing year.
I am not alone. The world and many more people are [more] ready for change, as the usual normal boxed-in ways of being and operating are increasingly un-workable and unacceptable for all kinds of reasons that no longer warrant reductionist counting and measuring as primary proof points.
That compelling pull from the pit of our collective souls is proof enough…
There are many of us seeking …shaping…recalibrating a sense of belonging that is permeable, inclusive and guided by meaningful common[s] purpose. This sense of belonging transcends tribal homogeneity. It’s more of an adventure inspired by curiosity and learning…not a comfort zone of likemindedness and finite knowingness.
It’s a journey…not a destination. It nurtures diversity. It naturally grows connective life-affirming roots. Individually and collectively, zooming-in and zooming out, we adaptively sense-make along the way and choose our pathways with intentionality.
My life purpose, fuelled by that soulful wild fire, is inextricably connected to Unstitution and the many people all over the world with whom we are working in permeable ways…from the space between…
This isn’t about any one of us. It is about all of us.
I am…We are…you are…all…unstitutional.
*This article was lightly updated February 2024, with links to other articles that touch on overlapping resonant themes.
Unstitution was birthed as a collective creative commons and nested ecosystem. We (co-)catalyze and support collaborative communities, initiatives and coalitions where people from across sectors, disciplines, cultures, generations and walks-of-life work together on mission critical issues.
From readiness through to regenerative progress – moving beyond polarization – is how we roll. The links embedded throughout this article are a warm invitation to go a bit deeper, at any time. For more insights reflecting our ongoing journey, our suite of Unstitution articles are published on Medium. They portray a small sample of the ways we are adapting and contributing among ever-expanding commons-based communities and initiatives inspired and fuelled by citizens – perhaps better described as denizens – anywhere in the world – living into the principles and spirit that govern our collaborative work.
You can follow Unstitution and engage with us on LinkedIn.
Many of our posts also pop up under hashtags #messyhumanness and #wisdomwithteeth.
What? You haven’t watched the video yet…give yourself a gift, slow down for another 13 minutes and go watch…Reimagining Humanity. And maybe on those days when you feel discouraged, watch it again and reconnect with the wild fire in your soul…
