How To Be Happy In A Genocidal Dystopia On A Dying World

Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):

I honestly don’t know if we’ll make it.

I can’t say with any degree of certainty that truth and sanity will prevail, that the world will stop burning, that we’ll stop being cruel to each other and start moving toward health and harmony.

Maybe our species is approaching the end of its run here. I cannot tell you for sure that it isn’t.

What I can tell you for sure is that there is a magpie outside my window, and that my eyes are dripping with love for it.

I can tell you I went for a walk about an hour ago, and the ground felt delicious on my feet while the wind caressed my hair.

Maybe we don’t get to be here for much longer. I can’t honestly tell you otherwise. But I can tell you it’s very possible to relish each precious instant we are here.

The universe will sing to you, if you listen. There are kisses hidden in the rustling leaves. There are galaxies hidden in the sounds of trains.

We can live from there. Even amid the raging fires. Even amid the genocide and pain. Even amid all the advertising, the vapid Hollywood dogshit, the fast fashion, the phoniness, the deceit. We can cherish the world like a mother cherishes a newborn baby, even if we wind up doing so while watching it die.

We are living in dystopia, but we don’t need to be living in hell. As fraudulent and destructive as this civilization is, and as all-pervasive as its madness seems to be, it is still built on the surface of an ancient planet which pulsates with primordial wisdom. Just below the superficial layer of the cacophony of human madness, there are uncharted depths in which strange leviathans swim.

I’m not here to tell you we’re going to win this thing. I’m not here to sell a false and unearned certainty in a happy ending. I’m here to tell you that this world is one hell of a glorious ride regardless of what happens, and that it would be a damn shame if you didn’t appreciate it while it lasts.

You don’t need to waste your life as one of those jaded, world-weary politically conscious people who think they know too much to be happy, and that everything is too dark and dismal to enjoy their time here. You don’t need to choose between being happy and being well-informed. We are engulfed in an endless explosion of miracles and beauty in every living instant on this earth no matter what happens and no matter how much we we know. It is only a failure of our own perception if we don’t recognize this.

We’ve got a lot of work to do here, and we’re going to continue seeing some very ugly things happening in our world for the foreseeable future. It does nobody any good for us to let the darkness burn us out and exhaust us instead of learning to enjoy our time on this planet while we fight.

I know I’ve shared this same message before in various ways, but that’s only because I see a great need for it. I’ve heard too many people saying they are feeling torn down and broken by the terrible things happening in this world, and that they don’t know how to go on.

You go on by going in. By diving right in to reality, in all its burning, blood-soaked, agonizing glory. By feeling it all, all the way through, without trying to lean back and compartmentalize any part of yourself away from it. The ocean is unbothered by the waves not because it is separate from them but because it is inseparably one with them.

Feel the pain. Cry the tears. Witness the suffering. Experience the beauty. Notice the endless eruption of love which lies at the heart of all things. Celebrate the magpie. Cherish the wind in your hair and the ground beneath your feet.

No matter what happens, nobody can take these things from you. No matter what else the bastards might take, they can never take away your innate exuberance at living a human life on this terrestrial wonderball.

That’s the secret to finding happiness in the midst of a genocidal dystopia on a dying world. Not by hiding from the reality of it, but by diving right into it without holding anything back.

If you do this, you will find that there is so very, very much more joy, love, beauty and exhilaration in this adventure than there is heartbreak and pain. There is vast delight to be found in the smallest of things.

Our minds tend to focus on what’s wrong and what’s bad, while overlooking how absolutely fucking amazing it is to be living as a human organism on this earth. This habit can be unlearned. The gift of each moment can be appreciated as it comes. Everything that arises can be met for the first time with wide-eyed marvel.

And we can keep fighting in the meantime. And we can do so with deep gratitude in our chests for every magical instant.

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