Collapsing Consciously: Transformative Truths for Turbulent Times

Collapsing Consciously

A collection of probing essays and weekly meditations, this book addresses how to prepare emotionally and spiritually for the impending collapse of industrial civilization. Author Carolyn Baker offers wisdom, inspiration, and a sense of spiritual purpose for anyone who is concerned about the daunting future humankind has created.The author’s introduction to Collapsing Consciously articulates our current predicament of economic collapse, environmental degradation, and global conflict and expresses the confusion, anxiety, grief, anger, and despair we all experience when we take a hard look at the present-day global crisis and the likely future of the planet. But rather than showing us ways to prevent the collapse, Baker argues that the demise of our consumerist, corporate culture is inevitable, and that it is crucial to prepare emotionally and spiritually for the certain changes to come.Part 1 is a collection of seventeen essays which argue that while the collapse of industrial society cannot be prevented, its meaning extends far beyond tragedy and loss. These essays ask the reader to delve inward and discover the limitless treasures of the soul, as well as the gratification and exhilaration to be discovered in joining with community in preparing for the future.

In part 2, Baker offers fifty-two weekly meditations comprised of spiritual wisdom, inspiration, paradox, comfort, humor, irony, poems, and a persistent challenge to create and savor beauty in the world, regardless of how bleak the future may appear.

Collapsing Consciously is a refreshing take on the perilous present and the grim prospects for our future. Instead of quoting discouraging statistics about our predicament, Baker offers a deeper perspective that makes sense of a world that most of the time appears psychotic or even surreal. Through poetry, inspiration, and perennial wisdom, she has created a manual for making meaning and generating joy, especially in situations that feel hopelessly devoid of both.

Order the hard copy containing 17 essays and 52 reflections. Order the e-book with 313 reflections. An ebook containing additional meditations is also available: Collapsing Consciously Meditations: Further Reflections for Turbulent Times, ISBN 978-1-58394-758-6.

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Reviews

Carolyn Baker’s Collapsing Consciously: Transformative Truths for Turbulent Times is perhaps the most approachable book on collapse you are likely to find.

—Dmitry Orlov, author of Reinventing Collapse:The Soviet Example and American Prospects

Carolyn Baker presents a no-denial appraisal of the global dark night that our species has created. Even in a time of collapse she finds room to talk wisely about joy, and to ask what despair has to teach us. Baker is a truth teller who dares us to go deeper into the night rather than to flee from it with superficial happy talk. I praise her for this very useful and very real book of rich meditations and practices.

—Matthew Fox, co-author, with Adam Bucko, of Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation

Carolyn Baker is an outstanding guide to sustaining and even enhancing our emotional and spiritual vitality as we navigate the disintegration of the world as we’ve known it.

—Bill Plotkin, author of Soulcraft

This is a book that most definitely needs to be read. It is crucial for us to ponder Carolyn Baker’s profound and indispensable exposé of industrial civilization’s future. Her words are powerful and her wisdom rich and supportive. We need to seriously reflect on her message if we are to midwife a spiritual vision of life based on compassion, justice and solidarity.

— Chris Saade, author of the upcoming Second Wave Spirituality: Passion for Peace, Passion for Justice

Collapsing Consciously: Transformative Truths for Turbulent Times is one of those books that is not meant to gather dust. It is a book you will want to keep close—in your glove box or in your pocket. Within a year you will see it get dog-eared, and it will become one of your best friends and companions as we all share and experience the shift into a new era of existence.

—Michael Ruppert, author of Confronting Collapse

With this collection of essays and words of true wisdom, Carolyn Baker shows that she is truly one of the very best ports in the impending storm.

—Keith Farnish, author of Time’s Up

Carolyn Baker is one of the few visionaries willing to take an unflinching look at the horrendous environmental, social, and economic situation we collectively find ourselves in—and also offer constructive day-by-day psychological and spiritual guidance for living a joyful life in the face of the escalating collapse of industrial society.

—Linda Buzzell, coeditor of Ecotherapy

Kudos, Carolyn Baker! De-riddling paradoxes, lighting up convergences, you walk with the Shadows through the Valley of Jung, to show how kindred spirits working together may evolve a better, saner, more healthful world out of the madness and detritus that envelops us now.

—Gary Corseri, author of Holy Grail, Holy Grail

No one writes like Carolyn Baker about the crisis of our time. Her fierce wisdom is an essential guide to our survival, and the courage with which she writes will excite and inflame your heart.

—Andrew Harvey