Americans Are Living In A ‘Hellscape’
NBC's word, not mine. How did we get here and where’s the exit?
“Today, in this hellscape, the grim search for bodies is underway.”
Miguel Almaguer, NBC Nightly News broadcast — September 14, 2020
Did you ever think you’d live through a time when the nightly news would use a term such as “hellscape” to describe the days’ events? Or that a “search for bodies” would be the next part of that description?
I didn’t. Until I heard it last week. To say that it was alarming is an understatement. This sentence felt like it should be reserved for describing a zombie apocalypse video game. Instead, it’s being used in 2020 on a major news station to describe the burning of the West Coast.
The use of this term ‘hellscape’ shouldn’t be taken lightly. This should be a blaring siren ringing in our ears and shaking our entire being from head to toe. The news used a term with the word “hell” in it to describe a situation currently happening in the United States. I’m not trying to be an alarmist but… this is rather alarming!
I’m going to go ahead and get really unpopular here (which doesn’t particularly matter since I’m not that popular anyway). I’m going to tell you what I believe. Are you ready?
Humans are creating our own version of “hell” on Earth.
I don’t believe this is some mystical thing brought upon us by a godly being in the sky, or below ground. These are direct manifestations of human thoughts, values, and actions.
Humans are responsible. And thus, we need to start acting like it if we have any hope of changing the “hellscape” into a health-scape.
Of course, these fires are magnified by climate change, which is caused by carbon emissions producing too much greenhouse gas. But who’s responsible for that? Humans. So, it’s really fueled by us.
Are you ready for me to get even more unpopular?
Humans don’t want to believe we have the power to alter this ‘hellscape’ trajectory because we’re avoiding the hard and painful work.
There I said it. I can feel myself growing more unpopular with every sentence. But guess what? I’m not here to be popular. And you shouldn’t be either. We should be here to change this world for the better.
How do we do that? Well, firstly, we have to change ourselves. Nothing permanent can happen externally until we take a look at what’s happening on the inside.
What’s the internal hellscape that some people are currently living in? What might that feel like? Well, I can’t know for sure. I’ll postulate that it’s complex with many layers but my guess is they probably don’t have a lot of self-love.
And I’m not talking superficial “I-love-myself-Instagram-staged-photos” love. I’m talking about deep value and respect for oneself.
I’m not trying to shame anyone with this — in fact, I’m trying to let you, or anyone who needs to hear this, know that this is not a fixed or permanent state for humans. Also that it’s probably not your fault. It’s actually an unnatural state typically caused by early experiences of neglect or trauma — whether individual, familial, or systemic.
I believe what causes internal (and then external) “hellscapes” is when humans do not feel loved and accepted. It’s as simple, and as complicated, as that.
All humans want (and deserve!) to be loved and accepted.
If only it were that easy. If only we could just heal from our unexpressed and unacknowledged pain, fear, sadness, guilt, and anger. From our feelings of worthlessness. Feelings of being unloved, or not good enough. From feeling like we are the only one in the world who isn’t understood. And if only someone would understand the pain we are going through inside. If only someone would deeply listen and care. Maybe then things could be different.
These are the ways in which we ultimately find ourselves in a hellscape. Sure, it’s hard to see that connection. It’s not what directly caused the fires, so it’s easy to brush off the potential truth in my words.
But think of it this way.
Imagine a world where everyone was loved. Everyone, regardless of what they looked like or where they came from, was appreciated as they were and given what they needed to live a comfortable life. Imagine those people also operated from a mindset of respect, cooperation, and collaboration.
How would those people have reacted to news of climate change? Or of their nation burning in a ‘hellscape’?
Keep imagining — let’s say they were told by trusted scientists that their human actions were causing a direct adverse impact on their planet that would eventually harm them. Do you think these imaginary people would react defensively? Do you think they would deny the science, put up dividers and say, “That’s not our problem!” or “It will go away!”?
I don’t. I think these imaginary people would feel deeply hurt. They would feel the pain of their ignorance. They would grieve the harm they’ve done. And then they would do everything in their power to change. They’d get to work collaboratively and creatively figuring out how to live without furthering the problem.
Most of all: they would stop their actions that caused the harm in the first place.
That’s where we need to be. But, I understand why we aren’t there. It’s not that we can’t do it. It’s that it is so unbelievably painful to do it and often there’s not enough support. Because to change, some parts of us must consciously acknowledge that what we were doing was harmful. Or even scarier, that some part of us has been harmed. And that’s a hard pill to swallow.
Yet this is why inner healing work is important in any activism — whether it’s climate change, anti-racism, feminism, or anything else we’re fighting for these days.
It’s difficult to hold signs at protests, sign petitions, call government officials, donate to organizations, and risk our livelihoods for causes. But it’s almost more difficult to look inside ourselves and unpack how our values, thoughts, beliefs, and unresolved traumas contribute to the continuation of the very matter we wish to expunge from the world.
You don’t have to believe me or agree with me, but I ask that — just for a moment — you be open to this idea. And check inside yourself to see where you may be hiding from your own internal pain. What part of your inner world may need comfort, love, and healing?
If you find a painful place please do me a favor. Try as hard as you can not to berate yourself. That won’t heal it. There are wonderful therapists and support groups, however, that can help. Along with tons of self-help books and resources on the internet. Just know, your internal landscape and the world’s external landscape will be infinitely healthier if you can find support to face and heal the painful parts within yourself. That’s the only true exit.
I’ll leave you with this beautiful quote, so you understand that all I’ve said isn’t a new concept and it surely isn’t my idea. But it is powerful as hell.
“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”
