Alright... going to start things off as far as sharing a previously held belief that now I'm not so sure of.
I used to think that the way we could provoke meaningful change politically was to elect more liberal and progressive politicians who could work to reconstruct the system. Ie, if we want more equality, more socialism, and more leftist policies, we need to elect those sorts of people who could shake things up and refuse to participate in the status quo.
However, I now wonder if that would really just be signing up for more of the same - stagnancy, cowardice and ultimately, the same old nonsense disguised as "change we can believe in". Trump is insane and potentially dangerous, yes, but he also seems to cut straight to the point of things in ways that no one else does - he calls out systemic corruption, refuses to play the game, and challenges the status quo constantly. Yes, I am worried about the climate, but if (as an example) I don't really believe the Paris Agreement is doing anything to meaningfully shift our capitalist and consumerist practices in any way (the same practices and systems that caused the climate problems to begin with), does it matter if we pull out?
On the path toward meaningful change do we need to first make make a pit spot in psycho crazy town? Does it need to get worse before it gets better? If so, how much worse? I've known and worked for some pretty insane narcissistic characters in the past and while they were undoubtedly nuts and abusive, they could also move the needle and do the impossible in ways that no one else could. Nice people follow the rules, and following the rules normally does nothing to provoke any lasting difference.
Curious to hear what you all think about this... plus some other beliefs and assumptions you're currently rethinking in your own lives.
This is just making me think of the common refrain of Trump “exposing the latent racism/xenophobia of the average person who supports him” but at this point I actually think it’s more interesting to try to analyze the psychology of those who do vehemently oppose him, because the reaction to Trumpism has been so dysfunctional as well. While his supporters were more primed for things like Qanon, his opponents became more receptive to authoritarian, state-sanctioned control.
I’m sure there are going to be so many amazing books written about this time, analyzing how similar both extreme factions are. Both sides are paranoid, dogmatic, and extremely susceptible to groupthink and doublethink. Neither side can tolerate consensus, compromise, or nuance.
I’m reading this article right now, written by Jonathon Haidt, and he’s analyzing the introduction of social media and how that has interacted with our political landscape over the past decade or so.
This is all to say, that I think the derangement of the social landscape has benefits in that it gets to a point, for so many people, that they just can’t play along with the theater anymore. It forces people to think for themselves because they can’t continue “living in the lie” as Vaclav Havel would say. It becomes increasingly intolerable to follow the herd when you know they’re headed for a feedlot and there are greener pastures just over the hill.
That article seems fascinating... thanks for sharing, going to read it. And yeah, 100% agree with all of this. I feel increasingly alienated by both sides. The left is freaking me out and while I recognize Trump and his cohort are no better, the scales are starting to feel less out of balance as far as my disdain is concerned. It's like your recent podcast - choosing right or left is like having to choose between someone pissing or shitting in my mouth. It's just a hard no on both.
I think highly of Mr. Haidt, and have read some of his books. And it is true that there is plenty of disfunction to go around. But clearly progress is possible, it just isn't as fast as we want or need. I am very interested to know what your suggestions are for a more effective way to saving our eco systems (all of them, we don't have the luxury of choosing between insects and climate) not to mention democracy. It's fine to lose faith, as long one has new better ideas that lots of people will buy into and so get us more quickly to the outcomes we all want. What I am worried about is that by debunking every aspect of the status quo, we become less effective - hand-wringers instead of change-makers. I do agree that greenwashing and being lulled into the idea that others are working on our problems is a great danger. But I think Greta Thun was right to go to Glasgow, and then protest, rather than boycott that event - for all its shortcomings. Unlike Greta, I think it's more effective for most of us to work from both within (with open eyes) AND without. It is tempting to just opt out, and accuse both the right and the left of being the same. But they aren't, and we can't. If you have a clearly effective alternate path, I am all ears. But it has to engage and example the possible to be credible. I believe a lot more is possible than we normally think, at least on our most hopeless days - Cheers!
Maybe trust is a word that could describe the characteristics of our beliefs and maybe our personal relationships could be analogous. If it’s hard for someone to be convinced of ideas and beliefs then maybe it’s just as hard for them to be convinced of the people and the relationships in their lives. If someone has an ability to be open and fluid with people and relationships, an ability to trust in a way that is vulnerable yet strengthening then maybe they have that same ability with ideas and beliefs. In all the ways someone can experience someone else so to can someone hold a belief. Sometimes you have to let people go, does that mean you have to regret every moment you had with them? Does that mean you can’t look back on the memories you made together? Maybe someday you could invite them over for coffee and laugh and/or cry about how young and naive you were together, talk about the days when you were dreamers. To me this is the beauty of life and something that i would never want to change.
It’s such a tricky situation. At the heart of the problem is the system that we have and politicians, for the most part, just work to take advantage of that on either side. However, I think that without the option of self governance in small communities, there are levels of bad and without complete autonomy on the matter, we don’t have the luxury of choosing neither. I think with the recent leak of the Supreme Court draft of roe, those tangible issues that can make the landscape worse than what it is (even though it is already terrible) are really palpable. I don’t think Trump’s lack of filter makes him less damaging on the broader context, even if he is right in some individual issues. Few of the progressive candidates and representatives we have are truly progressive, because the ones that really are can’t get past the establishment. I don’t really have an answer here, but I think the push needs to go far deeper in order for that to change and I just don’t know if that’s possible to accomplish without the willingness to go into significant conflict and bloodshed. A hope of mine is that the younger generations have woken up to the realities of our system and there will be enough of the masses to enact significant change, but I also just be too naive in my thinking
Dear Anya, It is tempting to throw up your hands, isn't it? If you think we can hold Trump out as some kind of helpful disruptor, you do not understand what is happening. His corruption is radically deeper than even our pitiful status quo, and he means no good to anyone. If you think do, you are letting him play you like the sad cult he leads. If you think we can afford to let the climate "get worse" before or it gets better, don't worry - it will. Would we better off with no Paris accord, even given its pathetic shortcomings? Not even a question. No. The choice is not binary, as you are suggesting. You can disrupt from within the system. The New Deal was such a revolution.
Hi Steve, I would have to disagree with you. I think it is fair to question the Paris Agreement. It is much more about making new markets for energy companies than doing anything to restore and/or steward ecosystems, which is truly the source of climate derangement and our inability adapt to climate variability. I am currently spending time in & researching countries that are the darlings of “sustainability,” and they are able to use the Paris Agreement to expand industry, including encroaching on indigenous lands to do so, within and outside of their countries. It is very, very complex and concerning what is happening globally in the name of “sustainability.” These global initiatives, beloved by Davos Oligarchs, in my view, will be the ones to make the situation worse before it can get better. But I fear their damage will be irreparable so long as we allow it to continue unquestioningly. Trump and his crew are corrupt, of course, but for different reasons. The global elites corruption is far more deceptive and nefarious- they paint colonialism and ecosystem destruction as “green” and “clean” and necessary for a livable world. And we all believe them.
Thanks for your response! So what's your plan for change, then? I fear the perfect becoming the enemy of the good here, and the stakes are too high for that.
Thank you for asking. I am currently working on collaborating with a global network of organizations & individuals to enable more people to get involved in ecoregion regeneration, combining the best available languages and knowledges to restore ecosystems on a local, context-specific basis, starting with the food system as the first of many systems that need not export entropy elsewhere. My partner and I have been making a documentary/podcast/writing project for the past 2 years outlining why the problems associated with climate change are not improving, specifically our inability to believe that climate change is caused by anything other than excess CO2 in the atmosphere. The entire purpose of the project is to encourage people to take responsibility for their role in the ecology and to dispense with allowing billionaires and corporations dictate how climate change is “mitigated” through their very profitable industrial/colonial endeavors. This project is the foundation of the greater network/framework we are fostering.
I’ve heard the refrain of “the perfect being the enemy of the good” a lot recently. I think if you had seen what I have seen, you might say instead “the lesser of two evils is still evil.”
And I agree. The stakes are too high for us to presume that the same people who got us into this mess will be the ones who get us out of it.
Sounds like an interesting project, to be sure. A term or phrase I would like to contribute as integral to the 'what next': participatory ecology.
Many folks are ready for deeper ways to participate in the ecology of the places they inhabit. For me personally, this is ecological restoration.
Our local situations are in need of this participation most. Local is the scale within which most all of us can participate. Here in the middle of the US, there are blocks and blocks of semi-urban residential lands where neighboring people don't know one another let alone have tasks aside from mowing their lawns and bagging their leaves. Meanwhile, migratory songbirds passed through in full color and sound, from as far away as South America, en route to the boreal forests of the North. Very few people took notice. Wildflowers bloom in ravines visited only seldom by children. National Geographic will never do a shoot here, despite the multitude of exceptional stories of biodiversity that are playing out daily.
Paul Kingsnorth wrote a collection of essays called, 'Confessions of a Recovery Environmentalist'. The author describes his fallout from the early environmental movement, a movement that once prioritized protecting wild places and non-human species, and notes it's departure from original intent toward a technology driven focus on C02. If you haven't entertained his works yet, I simply cannot encourage them more.
::Edit to add more context for Kingsnorth's collection of essays and added a few lines regarding participatory ecology::
This phrase really has me thinking: “participatory ecology.” I like it, although I think to me it sort of connotes the notion that there is such a thing as “non-participatory ecology,” because we always are participating in ecology, just more often unconsciously and are therefore outsourcing our entropy to many distant ecologies. But if I read it as a more active phrase, it’s like a question: how do you participate in your ecology? Which hopefully then encourages people to deeply consider what they might change in their lives. I think, if people started viewing themselves as inextricably part of the world, and responsible to it, they would see more clearly the harm that has been done and want to do something about it. It’s hard, now, for me to not see the truth of the land laid bare whenever I see a corn field or a “forest” or a “river”- the earth so desperately wants us to help repair the damage that has been done. And so I like the idea of framing it like, you can’t opt out of participating in ecology, so do it well.
I have actually had the pleasure of interviewing Paul Kingsnorth for my podcast, and was grateful today to receive word that he has time to meet us in Ireland soon. His work is fantastic, and his recent Substack essays about The Machine articulate so eloquently how we have been slowly and systemically peeled away from the ecologies of which we are all part.
I am Eamon from Australia. Currently traveling around Australia with my girlfriend in our van working on farms and hiking. Found your podcast through Chris and TS.
Just wanted to say what I gain from your podcast - I find that you, through the insights gained by your own journey, are great at sharing what are essentially brutal truths. These truths center ourselves as being ultimately responsible for our the outcome of our journeys, how we treat ourselves and others, and the quality of our lives. Sometimes I find it difficult to listen to, but deep inside, know some of these things to resonate.
Something I have changed my mind on:
I used to believe in vegetarianism and saw it as an undefeatable position.
Now, I have come to see that through taking an animals life in a specific context, ideally by hunting a sustainable population, we eliminate the need for factory farming, transportation, plastics, storage etc. Similarly to growing our own things we stop relying on pesticides and all the emissions that come from commercial agriculture.
That's the price you pay. A lot of effort and taking a life - to avoid all the garbage that the system produces to get your food to your supermarket.
I hope to engage with your and Chris through Substack, as well as grow my own readership.
I've finished writing a two part story about when my lung collapsed in rural Myanmar, and had to have life saving surgery in a public hospital if anyone is interested in reading.
Hi Eamon, so happy to be connected! I'm curious to hear more about things you've found to be difficult to listen to. It's such a strange thing to be on one side of the microphone, often unsure how what I'm saying might affect someone. I sometimes don't really know where the inspiration comes from to say certain things either, it's like I am just the channel or the means of communicating something to someone who needs/wants to hear it... even if I don't know who they are or what they're going through. It's a strange experience, but ultimately very rewarding when I hear from people like you.
Also props on that shift of opinion about vegetarianism. I too used to think it was "the way," but ultimately realized I was wrong. I think it's one of the more difficult beliefs to reevaluate.
That experience you had in rural Myanmar sounds wild! I would love to read it... is there a link to it somewhere?
That must be very strange. But it also makes sense from my perspective as the listener.
The difficult things to hear started with a podcast of yours, I think with Chris, in late 2020 or so where you detailed your journey through that really dark time in your life after you totally up ended your trajectory. I guess I could resonate with a lot of it and found your ability, your strength, to confront that and totally change direction to be difficult to hear because I feel like I haven't been able to do that myself. In some ways I have - I am always challenging myself, doing new things, and am not living a traditional or unquestioned life. But I still feel a yearning, a hollowness, a lack of a substrate from which to be truly growing from - instead it feels like my experiences are not rooted deeply in meaning or sense of story.
I have found your bravery challenging because most people aren't that brave.
There are so many unknowns and so many potential directions to take in life that it can he so difficult to know which way to go. Especially, to commit fully to a relationship which feels ultimately incomplete, to spend more time trying to grow it into something that resonates, or to risk leaving in search of a different kind of growth. It seems an unanswerable issue to me.
Thank you for this thoughtful response, Eamon. This part struck me - "it feels like my experiences are not rooted deeply in meaning or sense of story." I totally understand what you mean... and I think about story and narrative a lot, and what parts of our story we have control over. Deciding what to do, that's also such an unanswerable conundrum. I often think something beyond me makes that call. Something guttural. It's like I can sometimes feel into what I am supposed to be doing, or what decision would best serve me, but ultimately, I feel pushed into it in the end. Not sure if that makes any sense. Looking forward to reading your story! Thanks for sharing.
I am currently in and around LA and Malibu, California. I've been listening to a Millennial's Guide for some years now, more intensely at times than others. Many conversations influenced my ability to make changes in my Being over the years, and become more of the person that I came to Earth to be. Thank you, @Anya, for opening doors. I can't remember if your conversation with Francis Weller was one that introduced me to grief "work," and I recall in this moment that conversation being a part of my journey and future work with Francis.
In your prompts, you invite suggestions for a future podcast guest.
I suggest me.
This ties into 5., sharing an assumption or belief I had in the past that I'm rethinking. I assumed I "could not" ask to be on a podcast, or even maybe be on a podcast, so I ask!
Also, I am holding a movement/dance space with a friend on Sunday 5/8 at 6.30 PM in the LA area, somewhere outdoors, location chosen based on where people are coming from. No money involved - "free." There are no expectations about what movement or dance means. The rules are, don't hurt yourself or anyone else, show up and remain sober. Reach out to me if you'd like to come.
Francis Weller is such a saint. So glad to hear that episode and his work resonated with you. Feel free to send me a message privately about a podcast. Also your dance event sounds awesome... sorry I'm not closer!
@Anya, sent you an email. I see I also did not make it clear that the movement space invite is for everyone. Seems there is no way to direct message on Substack, so you can send me an email at site@matthewcolombo.com.
Hey Anya. Good on you for making the transition. I came to Substack recently and am amazed by the wonderful writers and discussions happening here!
I’m Drew. I went by FeedYourHead on Discord. We met briefly at Santa Cruz meet up and I attended Lunar Circle Fall 2021.
I was curious if you speak Spanish or any second language. I recently began putting serious effort into learning Spanish and am curious about others general thoughts on language learning. What languages are you all speaking? Do you find that you have a somewhat different perspective when conversing in a different language? I’ve noticed Spanish Drew seems more outgoing, charismatic, and confident. I can’t tell if the language somehow fosters these characteristics more or my personality was veering in these directions prior to learning Spanish.
If anyone could recommend a book about language acquisition, theories, travel memoirs that involve learning a second language, please shoot them my way!
Lastly, I just picked up the book The Open Veins of Latin America about the quite tragic history of the region. Has anyone read it? If so please share your thoughts. I will share more once I dig in!
I’m grateful we can all convene and share with one another. Thank you all for being here. ♥️
Thanks Drew! Yes, loving Substack as well. Really looking forward to seeing how they grow and evolve. Glad that you're here. :)
I don't speak Spanish, but I do strangely understand maybe 50-70% of it, because when I was younger I was pretty fluent in French, and they're so similar. (I lived in Paris for a year when I was 12 and studied it for 4-5 years until eventually losing most of it in my 20s). It's a strange thing... to understand what people are saying, but have zero clue how to respond. Kind of frustrating. I've been spending a lot of time in Spanish-speaking places (with someone who speaks Spanish) recently so it's started to feel really lame that I don't speak it, and I've also decided to actually focus some real time and energy on learning it. I'm curious how you've been learning? Any and all tips would be welcome!
I don't speak other languages fluently but have 100% heard from people that do or that are in relationships/know people who speak multiple languages that depending on the language, they sort of transform into someone else. Also curious if there are any books about this...
Also haven't heard of The Open Veins of Latin America, but sounds fascinating.
Okay. Yeah it sounds like you're on the cusp. I can imagine having a desire to learn it and connect more with those around you.
I would highly recommend the Language Transfer app. It is free and is basically a recording of someone giving someone else a Spanish lesson. It really gets the ball rolling quickly and maneuvers you past sitting with a grammar book. Of course learning the ins and outs of grammar never hurts but you can skirt around the boring shit without making the journey too difficult.
Also what Isabel said about immersion. Although arguably this is slightly more necessary when you have the basics down. Sounds like you could already be here.
Apps: Language Transfer, Tandem (connects you with Spanish speakers who you can text, audio, and video chat with), iTalki (paid lessons around $10/hr)
Youtube Channels: Qroo Paul, The Language Tutor
Music: Inspector (ska), La Sonora Dinomita (cumbia)
Podcast: Learn Spanish & Go (fun subjects discussed in clearly spoken Spanish)
Reading: Idiom (articles where you can click a word and see translation during the process of reading without totally rerailing the reading process), Short Stories in Spanish by Olly, El Principito
Enjoy. I know this is a lot. I'd recommend just starting Language Transfer and go from there. I hope you're having a wonderful time out there. I'm looking forward to more articles and discussions.
Drew, as a native Spanish speaker, my “advice” is to learn with immersion. Watching tv, listening to music, reading books that you’ve read in English and doing so in Spanish. I learned English this way too.
Yeah it's amazing how many people I've spoken to who have said they learned English by watching American movies. That's it. And they are totally fluent. Pretty wild.
Thank you. No need to put advice in quotes. Sounds like you are quite qualified to give some! :) I am such a perfectionist so I've been really diving into it. For the last 5 months I've pretty much only been listening to Spanish music, podcasts, and shows. It's apparent through simply conversing in Spanish once the basics are down is the best route. I've found sooo much great music and now I want to learn to dance as well.
The music is the best, but I’m obviously biased 😃. Good for you for being in that path already. Talk to as many people as you get a chance to without the fear of messing up. Spanish culture (I am generalizing) doesn’t tend to judge when you don’t say things well, but are usually eager to help.
I'm currently in a little town called Chite (which makes me giggle thinking it's pronounced "shit" but I think it's actually closer to "cheat day" haha). It's beautiful here, just South of Granada, even though it's been raining for the past few days. So many olive, lemon and orange trees, and just beautiful scenery everywhere you look.
Looking forward to the sun coming out tomorrow and exploring a bit more.
Spent a few days in Madrid, where I hadn't been since I was 19. It was overwhelming, to the say the least. Glad to be in a quieter place now. People come to the door to sell you bread and fresh fish and it's quiet AF. Pretty idyllic so far!
Oh wow, I have not been to that part of Spain, but Madrid wasn’t my favorite either, just too much going on. People going to the door selling you fish and bread sound like heaven. Hope you get some sunny days soon!
Los Angeles Area people (or, by all means, people from further away if you want to make the haul). This is the second movement space I am holding in the Santa Monica Mountains. The first one is referenced in another part of this thread.
If you know others looking for a space like this, share with them.
************************************
Saturday 5/14 at 6.30 PM @ Santa Monica Mountains.
Part of what you came to this Earth to do is Move.
Come move yourself to music with humans and the wild ones. What will you create?
Some call it dance, I say movement. There is no expectation of what this looks like.
We go until it's done, probably at dark.
No money exchange, "free."
Don't hurt yourself, don't hurt anyone else, no mind- or body- altering substances.
I’ve been a follower of the podcast for over a year now, I heard about the podcast through tangentially speaking. I’m currently living in Iowa out in the country after a three year van adventure with my friend. I want to be an actor, I feel like that’s where my talents lie if I have any at all. I’ve never really had any strong beliefs in the past. I suppose I lack conviction but I’m honestly just open to everything. When it comes to trump initially I thought he was a joke but when he got elected I started to really try and get inside the mind of trump supporters. I kind of became a fan of his in a sort of anti establishment - anarchist - punk way. A line from Netflix’s Mindhunter that may be relevant is “If you want truffles, you gotta get in the dirt with the pigs.”
Yeah, I think we all need to spend way more time in the dirt. In all literal and symbolic meanings of that word. Acting, eh? That sounds cool... I spent a good portion of my life thinking I wanted to do that. I still miss it sometimes, but grateful my life turned out as it did. I don't think I had the stomach for the constant rejection.
My name is Chris Belsky and I am currently staying between Edgewood and Shelton, WA, having moved back to my home state last year after more than 20 years living in L.A., S.F., Pittsburgh, and Portland.
In what now seems like a few lifetimes ago, I had a California law license, worked in tech, and also had several stints working in progressive politics that mostly proved to be draining and dispiriting. In 2018/19 I began a spiritual awakening that shook the foundations of my worldview regarding everything, including the nature of reality and consciousness, the trustworthiness of mainstream corporate news and societal institutions, the accuracy of consensus history, and the proper role of government in society. I have had to re-examine what my true values and beliefs really were – which of “my” beliefs could stand up to a hard critical examination, and which were a result of societal programming that I agreed to based on trusting sources who were ultimately undeserving of such trust.
Your discussion of progressives, Trump, and climate change resonates with me, but my current view on the issue veers even further from the popular consensus. I see there being many more imminent and irreversible dangers to the future of human and other life on this planet than CO2 levels, including the destruction of topsoil by conventional farming systems, EMFs, and the unimaginable array of toxins that are found in our food, water, air, consumer products, and conventional medicines. Viewing the world through this more skeptical and cynical lens has made my life more difficult in many ways (including losing friends and being ostracized from much of society over the last year due to my personal medical choices), but I ultimately think it is leading to a place of greater individuation, liberation and satisfaction.
I started listening to Chris in 2018 after someone I dated recommended Sex at Dawn, and believe I found your podcast sometime in early 2019. Both of your shows (among many others) resonated strongly and were instrumental in my worldview shift. I actually wrote to you guys about possibly meeting up when I was driving from the Bay Area to Portland in early March of 2020. Chris wrote back saying that it wouldn’t work to meet up then, but instead suggested to try to meet you guys at Polytopia in Portland that May (which obviously didn’t happen, haha). I was a member of your Patreon for quite a while, but I was also in a cocoon stage for much of that time and found myself hesitant to interact.
After my first attempt at a major career reset hit a brick wall (I completed a yoga teacher training program in March of 2020), I started a large garden and absolutely loved it. Your recommendation of Braiding Sweetgrass was a major factor that ultimately led to my current venture, which is starting a Permaculture food forest design and installation business as part of the Food Forest Abundance network. I am currently working towards my Permaculture design certification, and the business is still in the “seedling” stage, but I feel confident that I am on the right path. I’m now eager to connect with likeminded individuals in this and other communities. I am also currently single, and looking for a partner to grow and build with.
Well, that went a lot longer than I intended, but I am grateful for the work you do, and the chance to introduce myself to the community. Enjoy your time in Spain, and I hope to connect soon!
Hey Chris - it's so good to meet you. And of course, your journey sounds eerily familiar and relatable. I'm with you on the climate crisis, I think we're pretty fucked and that reality has been sinking in for me more and more over the past few years. After leaving my former reality as a housewife working in marketing I did have some hope there for a minute, and I felt infused that the optimism of newness I felt in my own life could be projected at the world, but that hope has dwindled wildly, at least on a grand scale.
I think the best we can do at this point is hunker down, plant food, cry, dance and love each other.
At the end of the day I think my thoughts around Trump are really just a reflection of my frustration at how nothing. ever. happens. Sometimes I want another crisis like Covid to continue to shake things up, to really get people to see that we are never going back to "normal" and that "normal" was always shit to begin with.
Anyway, sorry meeting up with you over these past few years hasn't worked, but I'm confident we will make it happen sometime in the future. I think Substack will help with organizing meetups and such in the future.
I'm with you on all of that, Anya. In law school and during my work in politics (most notably Bernie 2016 and an outsider progressive US Congressional campaign I helped to start and run in 2017/18), I was driven by the idealistic notion that good people uniting together through the political and public policy process could create a fertile ground for a functional society to flourish. And despite some occasional glimmers of hope, that notion was emphatically slapped down time after time, especially when working within the Democratic Party.
Your prescription for going forward is beautifully put. I've only very recently been putting myself out there, trying to connect with others who have that same vision of how life should be lived, and am optimistic about the possibilities so far. We need to come together and put our ideals into action in small decentralized but connected nodes, showing ourselves and others what is possible. Your notion of healing ourselves to heal the world is right on.
I too am confident we'll meet in person someday, and I look forward to it. Keep doing what you do. It is beautiful and making a difference!
Hey Chris, nice to be in good company here. I would even take your assertion about climate change one step further- the myopic fixation on reducing CO2 emissions at all costs is dangerous in more ways than I could possibly describe succinctly here. My partner and I are making a documentary project about this topic, and we just started listening a book called The Insect Crisis which details how fucked we are if insects keep dying at the rates they are, and what few people understand is that we could take all of the extra CO2 out of the atmosphere and still exterminate all bug life. Of course, this is only one example of thousands of interconnected problems we face, but it’s a meaningful illustration. We have deranged ecosystem function worldwide, and if we continue to do that, it won’t matter how “clean” our energy source is... anyway- I won’t ramble on about this here! I do believe you’re on the right track with permaculture. Braiding Sweetgrass was one of the most worldview-shifting books I’ve ever read as well, and as I do this project, it becomes even more meaningful.
Are you still located in California? And do you still have that law license?
Hey, Maren, thanks for the reply. Your documentary sounds really interesting, and I am glad you are working to communicate an alternative narrative to the ubiquitous obsession with carbon. Your Substacks look really interesting as well!
I moved out of California at the end of 2016 and am living up in Washington now, but am planning to make a road trip down to the Bay Area in mid June, hopefully stopping at the Alfa Vedic farm in Del Norte county CA along the way. You should check them out of you are unfamiliar. Their podcast is name Alfacast. My law license is currently on "inactive" status, and it is hard for me to see a situation where I will be reactivating it any time soon, especially when I'm not living in the state any longer.
Thank you for saying that! We’re trying our best, but it’s hard to be a human and also learn/spread/process the information we’re grappling with haha. Thanks for the vote of confidence :)
Thank you for the podcast recommendation! Their podcast looks very interesting.
I have been noticing recently that I am tangentially connected with lots and lots of lawyers lately-- I think there is going to be a need for that level of credibility and knowledge in attaining a regenerative collective future!
I’m currently located in Turkey, but based primarily in Utah. That will most likely change this fall though, depending on where my partner and I decide to live.
Hey Chris. What a journey you’re on! Sounds like your desire to become a better person has led you all over. I’m happy to hear you landed on permaculture as a focus. I wish you luck in your future endeavors, as well as attracting a fitting partner.
My name is Abbas, I live in Montreal and, like most of you guys, I discovered Anya thanks to Chris Ryan aka Uncle Chris, Doctopher…
I lived in Morocco during my teenage years, then in France for almost 20 years and now that my hair is getting gray I’m discovering another french culture in North America.
I’m a huge book nerd, I love japanese culture, I listen to podcasts on a daily basis and I’m fascinated by astrology (and mythology, they do belong together).
Here’s my question for you, Anya :
Since you traveled a lot, do you feel that the USA is a very divided country ( from a political perspective and, well… also just human perspective )?
Like even in small places ???
Or do you feel that there’s a basic common sense to change things. Especially outside big cities. Like everybody is suffering ( and Covid just increased the speed ), so let’s put aside our differences and say : enough is enough.
I know that you said “ the world is dying and we’re just yelling at each other” in episode 96, but still wanna ask the question.
Last but not least : a belief I had in the past that I’m seriously rethinking.
I used to believe that our emotions and our mind/intellect were in two different “compartments' '. But the human machine is sooooo complex that we need to, once again, add, at least, some nuance to this binary view.
I can write/talk for days about this “revelation”, but frankly, I’m still digesting it.
To put it in a nutshell, I think that our Mind just uses our emotions to its own agenda. And it’s tricky because we don’t even realize it (or maybe I’m just reading too much zen stuff nowadays…).
Oh, I almost forgot, future guest and/or topic…
I really don’t have a person in mind but If you can interview people that are living off-grid (veterans and total rookies), in autonomous communes , etc, that would be great. Slowly but surely, everyone wants to escape from cities. And it’s like non-monogamy, we don’t have a lot of inspiring models.
I think about polarization, especially as it relates to American culture, quite a lot. I remember taking a class in college with a guy who had written about the fact that the US isn't actually as polarized as we think, and that it's just the media's portrayal of polarization that gives us that impression. He claimed that people are far LESS divided when you actually take the time to figure out who they are. This stance always bothered me, and I never agreed.
At this point I go back and forth about it. I think what's definitely true is that the lines are unclear - it seems the spectrum of polarization has moved. A lot of people on the far left seem quite similar ideologically to those on the far right, for example. I also think the polarization is more extreme when it comes to social issues - abortion, gay marriage, gender, race, etc. Ultimately I think we all want healthcare and good paying jobs, and although we might support candidates who differ greatly in their approach to those things, I do think most humans agree.
I think the problem is two-fold... I agree with my college professor that the media and the overall public realm promotes this idea of division and black and white. This, in turn, causes us to SEE things as black and white, even when they aren't. You are pro vaccine, or against, pro gender equality, or against, etc. It's obviously NOT that simple, but we have been raised in this culture that definitely has an either/or "you're with me or you're against me" attitude. So I don't know, it's sort of a chicken and egg thing. I was actually going to touch on this in an upcoming solo episode... this way we are so primed to see things as one way or another, that we react to things as such, even if our actually beliefs are far more nuanced.
The fear and grief and impending doom we all feel is making it worse, I think.
Also I love your insight about the mind and emotions not being totally separate entities. And I totally agree that our mind makes decisions based on our emotional body and our emotional experiences.
Alright... going to start things off as far as sharing a previously held belief that now I'm not so sure of.
I used to think that the way we could provoke meaningful change politically was to elect more liberal and progressive politicians who could work to reconstruct the system. Ie, if we want more equality, more socialism, and more leftist policies, we need to elect those sorts of people who could shake things up and refuse to participate in the status quo.
However, I now wonder if that would really just be signing up for more of the same - stagnancy, cowardice and ultimately, the same old nonsense disguised as "change we can believe in". Trump is insane and potentially dangerous, yes, but he also seems to cut straight to the point of things in ways that no one else does - he calls out systemic corruption, refuses to play the game, and challenges the status quo constantly. Yes, I am worried about the climate, but if (as an example) I don't really believe the Paris Agreement is doing anything to meaningfully shift our capitalist and consumerist practices in any way (the same practices and systems that caused the climate problems to begin with), does it matter if we pull out?
On the path toward meaningful change do we need to first make make a pit spot in psycho crazy town? Does it need to get worse before it gets better? If so, how much worse? I've known and worked for some pretty insane narcissistic characters in the past and while they were undoubtedly nuts and abusive, they could also move the needle and do the impossible in ways that no one else could. Nice people follow the rules, and following the rules normally does nothing to provoke any lasting difference.
Curious to hear what you all think about this... plus some other beliefs and assumptions you're currently rethinking in your own lives.
This is just making me think of the common refrain of Trump “exposing the latent racism/xenophobia of the average person who supports him” but at this point I actually think it’s more interesting to try to analyze the psychology of those who do vehemently oppose him, because the reaction to Trumpism has been so dysfunctional as well. While his supporters were more primed for things like Qanon, his opponents became more receptive to authoritarian, state-sanctioned control.
I’m sure there are going to be so many amazing books written about this time, analyzing how similar both extreme factions are. Both sides are paranoid, dogmatic, and extremely susceptible to groupthink and doublethink. Neither side can tolerate consensus, compromise, or nuance.
I’m reading this article right now, written by Jonathon Haidt, and he’s analyzing the introduction of social media and how that has interacted with our political landscape over the past decade or so.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/
This is all to say, that I think the derangement of the social landscape has benefits in that it gets to a point, for so many people, that they just can’t play along with the theater anymore. It forces people to think for themselves because they can’t continue “living in the lie” as Vaclav Havel would say. It becomes increasingly intolerable to follow the herd when you know they’re headed for a feedlot and there are greener pastures just over the hill.
That article seems fascinating... thanks for sharing, going to read it. And yeah, 100% agree with all of this. I feel increasingly alienated by both sides. The left is freaking me out and while I recognize Trump and his cohort are no better, the scales are starting to feel less out of balance as far as my disdain is concerned. It's like your recent podcast - choosing right or left is like having to choose between someone pissing or shitting in my mouth. It's just a hard no on both.
I think highly of Mr. Haidt, and have read some of his books. And it is true that there is plenty of disfunction to go around. But clearly progress is possible, it just isn't as fast as we want or need. I am very interested to know what your suggestions are for a more effective way to saving our eco systems (all of them, we don't have the luxury of choosing between insects and climate) not to mention democracy. It's fine to lose faith, as long one has new better ideas that lots of people will buy into and so get us more quickly to the outcomes we all want. What I am worried about is that by debunking every aspect of the status quo, we become less effective - hand-wringers instead of change-makers. I do agree that greenwashing and being lulled into the idea that others are working on our problems is a great danger. But I think Greta Thun was right to go to Glasgow, and then protest, rather than boycott that event - for all its shortcomings. Unlike Greta, I think it's more effective for most of us to work from both within (with open eyes) AND without. It is tempting to just opt out, and accuse both the right and the left of being the same. But they aren't, and we can't. If you have a clearly effective alternate path, I am all ears. But it has to engage and example the possible to be credible. I believe a lot more is possible than we normally think, at least on our most hopeless days - Cheers!
Maybe trust is a word that could describe the characteristics of our beliefs and maybe our personal relationships could be analogous. If it’s hard for someone to be convinced of ideas and beliefs then maybe it’s just as hard for them to be convinced of the people and the relationships in their lives. If someone has an ability to be open and fluid with people and relationships, an ability to trust in a way that is vulnerable yet strengthening then maybe they have that same ability with ideas and beliefs. In all the ways someone can experience someone else so to can someone hold a belief. Sometimes you have to let people go, does that mean you have to regret every moment you had with them? Does that mean you can’t look back on the memories you made together? Maybe someday you could invite them over for coffee and laugh and/or cry about how young and naive you were together, talk about the days when you were dreamers. To me this is the beauty of life and something that i would never want to change.
It’s such a tricky situation. At the heart of the problem is the system that we have and politicians, for the most part, just work to take advantage of that on either side. However, I think that without the option of self governance in small communities, there are levels of bad and without complete autonomy on the matter, we don’t have the luxury of choosing neither. I think with the recent leak of the Supreme Court draft of roe, those tangible issues that can make the landscape worse than what it is (even though it is already terrible) are really palpable. I don’t think Trump’s lack of filter makes him less damaging on the broader context, even if he is right in some individual issues. Few of the progressive candidates and representatives we have are truly progressive, because the ones that really are can’t get past the establishment. I don’t really have an answer here, but I think the push needs to go far deeper in order for that to change and I just don’t know if that’s possible to accomplish without the willingness to go into significant conflict and bloodshed. A hope of mine is that the younger generations have woken up to the realities of our system and there will be enough of the masses to enact significant change, but I also just be too naive in my thinking
Dear Anya, It is tempting to throw up your hands, isn't it? If you think we can hold Trump out as some kind of helpful disruptor, you do not understand what is happening. His corruption is radically deeper than even our pitiful status quo, and he means no good to anyone. If you think do, you are letting him play you like the sad cult he leads. If you think we can afford to let the climate "get worse" before or it gets better, don't worry - it will. Would we better off with no Paris accord, even given its pathetic shortcomings? Not even a question. No. The choice is not binary, as you are suggesting. You can disrupt from within the system. The New Deal was such a revolution.
Hi Steve, I would have to disagree with you. I think it is fair to question the Paris Agreement. It is much more about making new markets for energy companies than doing anything to restore and/or steward ecosystems, which is truly the source of climate derangement and our inability adapt to climate variability. I am currently spending time in & researching countries that are the darlings of “sustainability,” and they are able to use the Paris Agreement to expand industry, including encroaching on indigenous lands to do so, within and outside of their countries. It is very, very complex and concerning what is happening globally in the name of “sustainability.” These global initiatives, beloved by Davos Oligarchs, in my view, will be the ones to make the situation worse before it can get better. But I fear their damage will be irreparable so long as we allow it to continue unquestioningly. Trump and his crew are corrupt, of course, but for different reasons. The global elites corruption is far more deceptive and nefarious- they paint colonialism and ecosystem destruction as “green” and “clean” and necessary for a livable world. And we all believe them.
Hear hear!
Thanks for your response! So what's your plan for change, then? I fear the perfect becoming the enemy of the good here, and the stakes are too high for that.
Thank you for asking. I am currently working on collaborating with a global network of organizations & individuals to enable more people to get involved in ecoregion regeneration, combining the best available languages and knowledges to restore ecosystems on a local, context-specific basis, starting with the food system as the first of many systems that need not export entropy elsewhere. My partner and I have been making a documentary/podcast/writing project for the past 2 years outlining why the problems associated with climate change are not improving, specifically our inability to believe that climate change is caused by anything other than excess CO2 in the atmosphere. The entire purpose of the project is to encourage people to take responsibility for their role in the ecology and to dispense with allowing billionaires and corporations dictate how climate change is “mitigated” through their very profitable industrial/colonial endeavors. This project is the foundation of the greater network/framework we are fostering.
I’ve heard the refrain of “the perfect being the enemy of the good” a lot recently. I think if you had seen what I have seen, you might say instead “the lesser of two evils is still evil.”
And I agree. The stakes are too high for us to presume that the same people who got us into this mess will be the ones who get us out of it.
Sounds like an interesting project, to be sure. A term or phrase I would like to contribute as integral to the 'what next': participatory ecology.
Many folks are ready for deeper ways to participate in the ecology of the places they inhabit. For me personally, this is ecological restoration.
Our local situations are in need of this participation most. Local is the scale within which most all of us can participate. Here in the middle of the US, there are blocks and blocks of semi-urban residential lands where neighboring people don't know one another let alone have tasks aside from mowing their lawns and bagging their leaves. Meanwhile, migratory songbirds passed through in full color and sound, from as far away as South America, en route to the boreal forests of the North. Very few people took notice. Wildflowers bloom in ravines visited only seldom by children. National Geographic will never do a shoot here, despite the multitude of exceptional stories of biodiversity that are playing out daily.
Paul Kingsnorth wrote a collection of essays called, 'Confessions of a Recovery Environmentalist'. The author describes his fallout from the early environmental movement, a movement that once prioritized protecting wild places and non-human species, and notes it's departure from original intent toward a technology driven focus on C02. If you haven't entertained his works yet, I simply cannot encourage them more.
::Edit to add more context for Kingsnorth's collection of essays and added a few lines regarding participatory ecology::
This phrase really has me thinking: “participatory ecology.” I like it, although I think to me it sort of connotes the notion that there is such a thing as “non-participatory ecology,” because we always are participating in ecology, just more often unconsciously and are therefore outsourcing our entropy to many distant ecologies. But if I read it as a more active phrase, it’s like a question: how do you participate in your ecology? Which hopefully then encourages people to deeply consider what they might change in their lives. I think, if people started viewing themselves as inextricably part of the world, and responsible to it, they would see more clearly the harm that has been done and want to do something about it. It’s hard, now, for me to not see the truth of the land laid bare whenever I see a corn field or a “forest” or a “river”- the earth so desperately wants us to help repair the damage that has been done. And so I like the idea of framing it like, you can’t opt out of participating in ecology, so do it well.
I have actually had the pleasure of interviewing Paul Kingsnorth for my podcast, and was grateful today to receive word that he has time to meet us in Ireland soon. His work is fantastic, and his recent Substack essays about The Machine articulate so eloquently how we have been slowly and systemically peeled away from the ecologies of which we are all part.
I am Eamon from Australia. Currently traveling around Australia with my girlfriend in our van working on farms and hiking. Found your podcast through Chris and TS.
Just wanted to say what I gain from your podcast - I find that you, through the insights gained by your own journey, are great at sharing what are essentially brutal truths. These truths center ourselves as being ultimately responsible for our the outcome of our journeys, how we treat ourselves and others, and the quality of our lives. Sometimes I find it difficult to listen to, but deep inside, know some of these things to resonate.
Something I have changed my mind on:
I used to believe in vegetarianism and saw it as an undefeatable position.
Now, I have come to see that through taking an animals life in a specific context, ideally by hunting a sustainable population, we eliminate the need for factory farming, transportation, plastics, storage etc. Similarly to growing our own things we stop relying on pesticides and all the emissions that come from commercial agriculture.
That's the price you pay. A lot of effort and taking a life - to avoid all the garbage that the system produces to get your food to your supermarket.
I hope to engage with your and Chris through Substack, as well as grow my own readership.
I've finished writing a two part story about when my lung collapsed in rural Myanmar, and had to have life saving surgery in a public hospital if anyone is interested in reading.
Sending love to everyone out there.
Hi Eamon, so happy to be connected! I'm curious to hear more about things you've found to be difficult to listen to. It's such a strange thing to be on one side of the microphone, often unsure how what I'm saying might affect someone. I sometimes don't really know where the inspiration comes from to say certain things either, it's like I am just the channel or the means of communicating something to someone who needs/wants to hear it... even if I don't know who they are or what they're going through. It's a strange experience, but ultimately very rewarding when I hear from people like you.
Also props on that shift of opinion about vegetarianism. I too used to think it was "the way," but ultimately realized I was wrong. I think it's one of the more difficult beliefs to reevaluate.
That experience you had in rural Myanmar sounds wild! I would love to read it... is there a link to it somewhere?
Sending you and your girlfriend my love!
That must be very strange. But it also makes sense from my perspective as the listener.
The difficult things to hear started with a podcast of yours, I think with Chris, in late 2020 or so where you detailed your journey through that really dark time in your life after you totally up ended your trajectory. I guess I could resonate with a lot of it and found your ability, your strength, to confront that and totally change direction to be difficult to hear because I feel like I haven't been able to do that myself. In some ways I have - I am always challenging myself, doing new things, and am not living a traditional or unquestioned life. But I still feel a yearning, a hollowness, a lack of a substrate from which to be truly growing from - instead it feels like my experiences are not rooted deeply in meaning or sense of story.
I have found your bravery challenging because most people aren't that brave.
There are so many unknowns and so many potential directions to take in life that it can he so difficult to know which way to go. Especially, to commit fully to a relationship which feels ultimately incomplete, to spend more time trying to grow it into something that resonates, or to risk leaving in search of a different kind of growth. It seems an unanswerable issue to me.
Anyway.
You can read the story on my profile.
Here is the link to part one, "After Bagan":
https://eamoncullen.substack.com/p/after-bagan
The second and final part is called The Collapse. Would love to hear your feedback.
Nice to hear from you.
Thank you for this thoughtful response, Eamon. This part struck me - "it feels like my experiences are not rooted deeply in meaning or sense of story." I totally understand what you mean... and I think about story and narrative a lot, and what parts of our story we have control over. Deciding what to do, that's also such an unanswerable conundrum. I often think something beyond me makes that call. Something guttural. It's like I can sometimes feel into what I am supposed to be doing, or what decision would best serve me, but ultimately, I feel pushed into it in the end. Not sure if that makes any sense. Looking forward to reading your story! Thanks for sharing.
Hello, Everyone.
I am currently in and around LA and Malibu, California. I've been listening to a Millennial's Guide for some years now, more intensely at times than others. Many conversations influenced my ability to make changes in my Being over the years, and become more of the person that I came to Earth to be. Thank you, @Anya, for opening doors. I can't remember if your conversation with Francis Weller was one that introduced me to grief "work," and I recall in this moment that conversation being a part of my journey and future work with Francis.
In your prompts, you invite suggestions for a future podcast guest.
I suggest me.
This ties into 5., sharing an assumption or belief I had in the past that I'm rethinking. I assumed I "could not" ask to be on a podcast, or even maybe be on a podcast, so I ask!
@Anya, I will send you a private message about this possibility. Mostly, I would like to share my unexpected work with Death, which I write about here: https://www.matthewcolombo.com/portfolio/items/holding-space-with-death, as an entryway to whatever conversation comes from that.
Also, I am holding a movement/dance space with a friend on Sunday 5/8 at 6.30 PM in the LA area, somewhere outdoors, location chosen based on where people are coming from. No money involved - "free." There are no expectations about what movement or dance means. The rules are, don't hurt yourself or anyone else, show up and remain sober. Reach out to me if you'd like to come.
Francis Weller is such a saint. So glad to hear that episode and his work resonated with you. Feel free to send me a message privately about a podcast. Also your dance event sounds awesome... sorry I'm not closer!
@Anya, sent you an email. I see I also did not make it clear that the movement space invite is for everyone. Seems there is no way to direct message on Substack, so you can send me an email at site@matthewcolombo.com.
Hey Anya. Good on you for making the transition. I came to Substack recently and am amazed by the wonderful writers and discussions happening here!
I’m Drew. I went by FeedYourHead on Discord. We met briefly at Santa Cruz meet up and I attended Lunar Circle Fall 2021.
I was curious if you speak Spanish or any second language. I recently began putting serious effort into learning Spanish and am curious about others general thoughts on language learning. What languages are you all speaking? Do you find that you have a somewhat different perspective when conversing in a different language? I’ve noticed Spanish Drew seems more outgoing, charismatic, and confident. I can’t tell if the language somehow fosters these characteristics more or my personality was veering in these directions prior to learning Spanish.
If anyone could recommend a book about language acquisition, theories, travel memoirs that involve learning a second language, please shoot them my way!
Lastly, I just picked up the book The Open Veins of Latin America about the quite tragic history of the region. Has anyone read it? If so please share your thoughts. I will share more once I dig in!
I’m grateful we can all convene and share with one another. Thank you all for being here. ♥️
Thanks Drew! Yes, loving Substack as well. Really looking forward to seeing how they grow and evolve. Glad that you're here. :)
I don't speak Spanish, but I do strangely understand maybe 50-70% of it, because when I was younger I was pretty fluent in French, and they're so similar. (I lived in Paris for a year when I was 12 and studied it for 4-5 years until eventually losing most of it in my 20s). It's a strange thing... to understand what people are saying, but have zero clue how to respond. Kind of frustrating. I've been spending a lot of time in Spanish-speaking places (with someone who speaks Spanish) recently so it's started to feel really lame that I don't speak it, and I've also decided to actually focus some real time and energy on learning it. I'm curious how you've been learning? Any and all tips would be welcome!
I don't speak other languages fluently but have 100% heard from people that do or that are in relationships/know people who speak multiple languages that depending on the language, they sort of transform into someone else. Also curious if there are any books about this...
Also haven't heard of The Open Veins of Latin America, but sounds fascinating.
Thank you for being here as well!
Okay. Yeah it sounds like you're on the cusp. I can imagine having a desire to learn it and connect more with those around you.
I would highly recommend the Language Transfer app. It is free and is basically a recording of someone giving someone else a Spanish lesson. It really gets the ball rolling quickly and maneuvers you past sitting with a grammar book. Of course learning the ins and outs of grammar never hurts but you can skirt around the boring shit without making the journey too difficult.
Also what Isabel said about immersion. Although arguably this is slightly more necessary when you have the basics down. Sounds like you could already be here.
Apps: Language Transfer, Tandem (connects you with Spanish speakers who you can text, audio, and video chat with), iTalki (paid lessons around $10/hr)
Youtube Channels: Qroo Paul, The Language Tutor
Music: Inspector (ska), La Sonora Dinomita (cumbia)
Podcast: Learn Spanish & Go (fun subjects discussed in clearly spoken Spanish)
Reading: Idiom (articles where you can click a word and see translation during the process of reading without totally rerailing the reading process), Short Stories in Spanish by Olly, El Principito
Enjoy. I know this is a lot. I'd recommend just starting Language Transfer and go from there. I hope you're having a wonderful time out there. I'm looking forward to more articles and discussions.
Wow so many recommendations, thank you!!
Drew, as a native Spanish speaker, my “advice” is to learn with immersion. Watching tv, listening to music, reading books that you’ve read in English and doing so in Spanish. I learned English this way too.
Yeah it's amazing how many people I've spoken to who have said they learned English by watching American movies. That's it. And they are totally fluent. Pretty wild.
Thank you. No need to put advice in quotes. Sounds like you are quite qualified to give some! :) I am such a perfectionist so I've been really diving into it. For the last 5 months I've pretty much only been listening to Spanish music, podcasts, and shows. It's apparent through simply conversing in Spanish once the basics are down is the best route. I've found sooo much great music and now I want to learn to dance as well.
The music is the best, but I’m obviously biased 😃. Good for you for being in that path already. Talk to as many people as you get a chance to without the fear of messing up. Spanish culture (I am generalizing) doesn’t tend to judge when you don’t say things well, but are usually eager to help.
Heheh dare I say it is objectively good. 🔥🔥🔥 Could you recommend me a few of your favorite Latin artists/bands?
Yes would love this as well!
Let’s get this party started. Where in Spain are you now and what have been some of the highlights of this trip so far?
Hi Isabel! Thanks for starting the party!
I'm currently in a little town called Chite (which makes me giggle thinking it's pronounced "shit" but I think it's actually closer to "cheat day" haha). It's beautiful here, just South of Granada, even though it's been raining for the past few days. So many olive, lemon and orange trees, and just beautiful scenery everywhere you look.
Looking forward to the sun coming out tomorrow and exploring a bit more.
Spent a few days in Madrid, where I hadn't been since I was 19. It was overwhelming, to the say the least. Glad to be in a quieter place now. People come to the door to sell you bread and fresh fish and it's quiet AF. Pretty idyllic so far!
Oh wow, I have not been to that part of Spain, but Madrid wasn’t my favorite either, just too much going on. People going to the door selling you fish and bread sound like heaven. Hope you get some sunny days soon!
Los Angeles Area people (or, by all means, people from further away if you want to make the haul). This is the second movement space I am holding in the Santa Monica Mountains. The first one is referenced in another part of this thread.
If you know others looking for a space like this, share with them.
************************************
Saturday 5/14 at 6.30 PM @ Santa Monica Mountains.
Part of what you came to this Earth to do is Move.
Come move yourself to music with humans and the wild ones. What will you create?
Some call it dance, I say movement. There is no expectation of what this looks like.
We go until it's done, probably at dark.
No money exchange, "free."
Don't hurt yourself, don't hurt anyone else, no mind- or body- altering substances.
RSVP, questions, for location: site@matthewcolombo.com
Link to flyer: https://www.matthewcolombo.com/portfolio/items/move-in-the-mountains
Hey,
I’ve been a follower of the podcast for over a year now, I heard about the podcast through tangentially speaking. I’m currently living in Iowa out in the country after a three year van adventure with my friend. I want to be an actor, I feel like that’s where my talents lie if I have any at all. I’ve never really had any strong beliefs in the past. I suppose I lack conviction but I’m honestly just open to everything. When it comes to trump initially I thought he was a joke but when he got elected I started to really try and get inside the mind of trump supporters. I kind of became a fan of his in a sort of anti establishment - anarchist - punk way. A line from Netflix’s Mindhunter that may be relevant is “If you want truffles, you gotta get in the dirt with the pigs.”
Yeah, I think we all need to spend way more time in the dirt. In all literal and symbolic meanings of that word. Acting, eh? That sounds cool... I spent a good portion of my life thinking I wanted to do that. I still miss it sometimes, but grateful my life turned out as it did. I don't think I had the stomach for the constant rejection.
Hi Anya and MGSW People,
My name is Chris Belsky and I am currently staying between Edgewood and Shelton, WA, having moved back to my home state last year after more than 20 years living in L.A., S.F., Pittsburgh, and Portland.
In what now seems like a few lifetimes ago, I had a California law license, worked in tech, and also had several stints working in progressive politics that mostly proved to be draining and dispiriting. In 2018/19 I began a spiritual awakening that shook the foundations of my worldview regarding everything, including the nature of reality and consciousness, the trustworthiness of mainstream corporate news and societal institutions, the accuracy of consensus history, and the proper role of government in society. I have had to re-examine what my true values and beliefs really were – which of “my” beliefs could stand up to a hard critical examination, and which were a result of societal programming that I agreed to based on trusting sources who were ultimately undeserving of such trust.
Your discussion of progressives, Trump, and climate change resonates with me, but my current view on the issue veers even further from the popular consensus. I see there being many more imminent and irreversible dangers to the future of human and other life on this planet than CO2 levels, including the destruction of topsoil by conventional farming systems, EMFs, and the unimaginable array of toxins that are found in our food, water, air, consumer products, and conventional medicines. Viewing the world through this more skeptical and cynical lens has made my life more difficult in many ways (including losing friends and being ostracized from much of society over the last year due to my personal medical choices), but I ultimately think it is leading to a place of greater individuation, liberation and satisfaction.
I started listening to Chris in 2018 after someone I dated recommended Sex at Dawn, and believe I found your podcast sometime in early 2019. Both of your shows (among many others) resonated strongly and were instrumental in my worldview shift. I actually wrote to you guys about possibly meeting up when I was driving from the Bay Area to Portland in early March of 2020. Chris wrote back saying that it wouldn’t work to meet up then, but instead suggested to try to meet you guys at Polytopia in Portland that May (which obviously didn’t happen, haha). I was a member of your Patreon for quite a while, but I was also in a cocoon stage for much of that time and found myself hesitant to interact.
After my first attempt at a major career reset hit a brick wall (I completed a yoga teacher training program in March of 2020), I started a large garden and absolutely loved it. Your recommendation of Braiding Sweetgrass was a major factor that ultimately led to my current venture, which is starting a Permaculture food forest design and installation business as part of the Food Forest Abundance network. I am currently working towards my Permaculture design certification, and the business is still in the “seedling” stage, but I feel confident that I am on the right path. I’m now eager to connect with likeminded individuals in this and other communities. I am also currently single, and looking for a partner to grow and build with.
Well, that went a lot longer than I intended, but I am grateful for the work you do, and the chance to introduce myself to the community. Enjoy your time in Spain, and I hope to connect soon!
Hey Chris - it's so good to meet you. And of course, your journey sounds eerily familiar and relatable. I'm with you on the climate crisis, I think we're pretty fucked and that reality has been sinking in for me more and more over the past few years. After leaving my former reality as a housewife working in marketing I did have some hope there for a minute, and I felt infused that the optimism of newness I felt in my own life could be projected at the world, but that hope has dwindled wildly, at least on a grand scale.
I think the best we can do at this point is hunker down, plant food, cry, dance and love each other.
At the end of the day I think my thoughts around Trump are really just a reflection of my frustration at how nothing. ever. happens. Sometimes I want another crisis like Covid to continue to shake things up, to really get people to see that we are never going back to "normal" and that "normal" was always shit to begin with.
Anyway, sorry meeting up with you over these past few years hasn't worked, but I'm confident we will make it happen sometime in the future. I think Substack will help with organizing meetups and such in the future.
I'm with you on all of that, Anya. In law school and during my work in politics (most notably Bernie 2016 and an outsider progressive US Congressional campaign I helped to start and run in 2017/18), I was driven by the idealistic notion that good people uniting together through the political and public policy process could create a fertile ground for a functional society to flourish. And despite some occasional glimmers of hope, that notion was emphatically slapped down time after time, especially when working within the Democratic Party.
Your prescription for going forward is beautifully put. I've only very recently been putting myself out there, trying to connect with others who have that same vision of how life should be lived, and am optimistic about the possibilities so far. We need to come together and put our ideals into action in small decentralized but connected nodes, showing ourselves and others what is possible. Your notion of healing ourselves to heal the world is right on.
I too am confident we'll meet in person someday, and I look forward to it. Keep doing what you do. It is beautiful and making a difference!
Hey Chris, nice to be in good company here. I would even take your assertion about climate change one step further- the myopic fixation on reducing CO2 emissions at all costs is dangerous in more ways than I could possibly describe succinctly here. My partner and I are making a documentary project about this topic, and we just started listening a book called The Insect Crisis which details how fucked we are if insects keep dying at the rates they are, and what few people understand is that we could take all of the extra CO2 out of the atmosphere and still exterminate all bug life. Of course, this is only one example of thousands of interconnected problems we face, but it’s a meaningful illustration. We have deranged ecosystem function worldwide, and if we continue to do that, it won’t matter how “clean” our energy source is... anyway- I won’t ramble on about this here! I do believe you’re on the right track with permaculture. Braiding Sweetgrass was one of the most worldview-shifting books I’ve ever read as well, and as I do this project, it becomes even more meaningful.
Are you still located in California? And do you still have that law license?
Hey, Maren, thanks for the reply. Your documentary sounds really interesting, and I am glad you are working to communicate an alternative narrative to the ubiquitous obsession with carbon. Your Substacks look really interesting as well!
I moved out of California at the end of 2016 and am living up in Washington now, but am planning to make a road trip down to the Bay Area in mid June, hopefully stopping at the Alfa Vedic farm in Del Norte county CA along the way. You should check them out of you are unfamiliar. Their podcast is name Alfacast. My law license is currently on "inactive" status, and it is hard for me to see a situation where I will be reactivating it any time soon, especially when I'm not living in the state any longer.
Where are you located?
Thank you for saying that! We’re trying our best, but it’s hard to be a human and also learn/spread/process the information we’re grappling with haha. Thanks for the vote of confidence :)
Thank you for the podcast recommendation! Their podcast looks very interesting.
I have been noticing recently that I am tangentially connected with lots and lots of lawyers lately-- I think there is going to be a need for that level of credibility and knowledge in attaining a regenerative collective future!
I’m currently located in Turkey, but based primarily in Utah. That will most likely change this fall though, depending on where my partner and I decide to live.
Hey Chris. What a journey you’re on! Sounds like your desire to become a better person has led you all over. I’m happy to hear you landed on permaculture as a focus. I wish you luck in your future endeavors, as well as attracting a fitting partner.
Thanks, Drew!
Hello sweet MGSW people !
My name is Abbas, I live in Montreal and, like most of you guys, I discovered Anya thanks to Chris Ryan aka Uncle Chris, Doctopher…
I lived in Morocco during my teenage years, then in France for almost 20 years and now that my hair is getting gray I’m discovering another french culture in North America.
I’m a huge book nerd, I love japanese culture, I listen to podcasts on a daily basis and I’m fascinated by astrology (and mythology, they do belong together).
Here’s my question for you, Anya :
Since you traveled a lot, do you feel that the USA is a very divided country ( from a political perspective and, well… also just human perspective )?
Like even in small places ???
Or do you feel that there’s a basic common sense to change things. Especially outside big cities. Like everybody is suffering ( and Covid just increased the speed ), so let’s put aside our differences and say : enough is enough.
I know that you said “ the world is dying and we’re just yelling at each other” in episode 96, but still wanna ask the question.
Last but not least : a belief I had in the past that I’m seriously rethinking.
I used to believe that our emotions and our mind/intellect were in two different “compartments' '. But the human machine is sooooo complex that we need to, once again, add, at least, some nuance to this binary view.
I can write/talk for days about this “revelation”, but frankly, I’m still digesting it.
To put it in a nutshell, I think that our Mind just uses our emotions to its own agenda. And it’s tricky because we don’t even realize it (or maybe I’m just reading too much zen stuff nowadays…).
Oh, I almost forgot, future guest and/or topic…
I really don’t have a person in mind but If you can interview people that are living off-grid (veterans and total rookies), in autonomous communes , etc, that would be great. Slowly but surely, everyone wants to escape from cities. And it’s like non-monogamy, we don’t have a lot of inspiring models.
Hey Abbas, glad you're here!
I think about polarization, especially as it relates to American culture, quite a lot. I remember taking a class in college with a guy who had written about the fact that the US isn't actually as polarized as we think, and that it's just the media's portrayal of polarization that gives us that impression. He claimed that people are far LESS divided when you actually take the time to figure out who they are. This stance always bothered me, and I never agreed.
At this point I go back and forth about it. I think what's definitely true is that the lines are unclear - it seems the spectrum of polarization has moved. A lot of people on the far left seem quite similar ideologically to those on the far right, for example. I also think the polarization is more extreme when it comes to social issues - abortion, gay marriage, gender, race, etc. Ultimately I think we all want healthcare and good paying jobs, and although we might support candidates who differ greatly in their approach to those things, I do think most humans agree.
I think the problem is two-fold... I agree with my college professor that the media and the overall public realm promotes this idea of division and black and white. This, in turn, causes us to SEE things as black and white, even when they aren't. You are pro vaccine, or against, pro gender equality, or against, etc. It's obviously NOT that simple, but we have been raised in this culture that definitely has an either/or "you're with me or you're against me" attitude. So I don't know, it's sort of a chicken and egg thing. I was actually going to touch on this in an upcoming solo episode... this way we are so primed to see things as one way or another, that we react to things as such, even if our actually beliefs are far more nuanced.
The fear and grief and impending doom we all feel is making it worse, I think.
Also I love your insight about the mind and emotions not being totally separate entities. And I totally agree that our mind makes decisions based on our emotional body and our emotional experiences.