Oct 24, 2020
Psychotherapist, professor, and
author Carolyn Baker joins Terry for a sober, deep, and instructive
conversation to consider our planetary predicament as a sacred rite
of passage that necessitates a “collective descent into the
darkness,” the possibility of our collective “sacred demise”, and
the possibility of a collective rebirth or “radical regeneration.”
They explore which types of leadership and leaders we will need to
midwife our human journey through a great transition, perhaps the
collapse of our current culture, and Carolyn points to specific
actions we can take now — and over the coming years — to become
reliable forces of sanity, strength, and generosity to those around
us.
Carolyn Baker’s
mission is to create islands of
sanity amidst global chaos and prepare others for the potential
consequences of civilizational collapse and abrupt climate change
through the development of emotional tools and spiritual
transformation. Carolyn was a psychotherapist for 17 years and a
professor of psychology and history for 10 years. She is the author
of 13 books including Navigating The Coming
Chaos,
Sacred Demise,
and 4 books co-authored with the
luminous mystic Andrew Harvey, including Savage Grace, and the forthcoming book
Radical Regeneration: Birthing
the New Human in the Age of Extinction. For nearly a decade, Carolyn has published a
subscription-based Daily News Digest. Additionally, she leads
webinars and live workshops, writes articles, and offers life
coaching — in the process helping thousands of people navigate the
unprecedented challenges of our time.
Here are some additional
questions we explore:
- What
does it mean to be of service during a “sacred demise” of our
current culture, and what would a “radical regeneration” look like
and require from us?
- Like
in individual rites of passage, how can cultures and nations also
“descend into darkness” and emerge with a transformed identity and
way of being?
- What
are the “10 things you can do now” that Carolyn and Andrew Harvey
outline in their new book Radical Regeneration?
- Who
will be needed during a period of collapse? What kinds of
leadership will we need to serve a “soft landing” on the other side
of societal breakdown?
- Even
while much of our world is stuck in old patterns, how can profound
spiritual practice be the key “innovation” on behalf of humanity’s
ongoing evolution?
Here are the “Ten Things We Can
Do,” which Carolyn refers to in the episode:
- Stay Safe: Wear masks when you
are outside, continue social distancing as much as possible, and
listen carefully to the scientists who are telling us we are in the
middle of a second wave of the pandemic. Shun all large gatherings
and rallies and find other ways to protest which can be just as
effective.
- Take special care of your
health and keep your body vibrant with exercise and good nutrition.
The psychological and emotional demands of the unfolding crises
will be far more effectively sustained with a healthy
body.
- Whatever your spiritual
practice, plunge more deeply than ever into it. It is essential to
pursue realization of your true Self with more faith and intensity
in these exploding times than ever before.
- Fill your life with inspiration
and beauty. Inspiration will keep your heart buoyant and alive, and
beauty will remind you of the magnificence of life and fill you
with the energy to want to safeguard it.
- If you can, spend 20 minutes or
more in nature per day, experiencing your oneness with it and
drinking in through every pore its steadiness and radiance. Allow
yourself to become intimate with the Earth.
- Stay aware of how the pandemic
and economic and environmental crises are evolving. There is no
security in denial or ignorance. Learn, however, to pace yourself
because the ferocious information you will be taking in can become
overwhelming.
- Take time to grieve. No one
will escape heartbreak in a time such as this, and not attending to
the suffering of the heart that inevitably rises in the face of so
much destruction will lead to severe depression or a kind of inner
deadness that makes it impossible to respond creatively. Get
support from others who are also grieving. No one should grieve
alone, and there is no need to be alone in a crisis that is now
global.
- Renew old friendships and
relish and deepen the ones you have because everything now depends
on the sanity and joy that only deep friendship and relationship
can provide. Take special care and lavish special love on your
animal companions, and they will reward you with their tender and
miraculous love.
- Despite being mostly in
lockdown, make an effort to practice Sacred Activism by giving
wisely to those in need. Food banks need support as do healthcare
workers and the homeless who are afraid of going to shelters
because they are Petri dishes for the virus. If you are able to
assist those in prison by standing up for their rights, or by
encouraging them in any way, do so. Take seriously your right to
vote, for everything depends throughout the world on turning back
the tide of dark money-financed authoritarianism.
- Use this book as a way of
training your inner eyes to see and celebrate the signs of the
Birth of a new humanity that are rising everywhere amidst the
obviously apocalyptic death. Note the heroism of
extraordinary/ordinary people globally who are turning up to serve
the sick and dying. Note the heroism of protestors of every color
who risk their lives to demand racial justice after the horrific
death of George Floyd. Read great evolutionary philosophers and
mystics like Sri Aurobindo, Teilhard de Chardin, Bede Griffiths,
Satprem, Teresa of Avila, Hildegard of Bingen, and Julian of
Norwich, and those who speak of the global dark night, giving birth
potentially to an embodied divine humanity.
For more information on Carolyn
Baker and Terry Patten, check out the following links:
We hope you appreciate this
week’s episode with Carolyn Baker on State of Emergence. If you believe these conversations are
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