The Not So End of a Journey

Posted on December 15, 2021 by jasbrwn

These past few weeks have been full of challenges, but also growth has emerged. Growth in knowledge and awareness. This quarter has flown by but this journey we collectively experienced is something that will live on. My group’s action project surrounding Terror Management was an enlightening experience. Being able to conduct a similar study of what the authors in The Worm at the Core but making it our own by using our own community and tying our own mortality to death in the Anthropocene was a great first-hand experience.

Our action project was the highlight of the quarter. It presented many challenges, but at the end of the day presented a piece of work that I believe was engaging and beneficial to the UW community. Even though I and my group were the ones that came up with the questions that were asked I found myself noticing, a different emotional response once hearing everyone’s answers. This video interview not only opened people’s awareness of their mortality intertwined with climate change but also mine in a deeper sense. It was exciting to hear everyone’s responses even on such a heavy topic as death. There were a lot of inspirational statements made that gave me a sense of hope. Hearing from people in my community about some of their actions in terms of achieving sustainability within their own lives was also intriguing. It reinforced my active hope and belief that everyone has their own way of being sustainably, but collectively we can make changes in collectively achieving sustainability on higher levels.

Overall, this class wasn’t as disheartening, or dreary as expected. I see myself consciously thinking in new ways about my mortality and death in the Anthropocene, that I wouldn’t have foreseen. Personal decisions such as, if I want to bare children or be turned into the soil instead of being put in a casket are all thoughts that have emerged from the material in this course. The fear of death is less prevalent as I continue to learn to connect myself, to the universe in a way that gives hope to future generations and our planet.

Terror Management Theory and the Afterlife – BahaiTeachings.org

Final Reflection of This Journey!

Posted on December 15, 2021 by jessa22

What I learned during the quarter is more of the details of the Anthropocene and the aspects of death as a big concept to politics, society, and the future. I have learned more about the idea of death and realized how society utilizes death and immorality as a personal gain and a political gain. For example, the food and the laws on death and immortality projects. The one that I learned the most is how the concept of ecology and the earth is dying due to the innovations of humans. How everything we do has a feedback loop of systems. And the hardest lesson from this class that I learned is to accept our death and the earth is dying. Beforehand, I always thought death and the end of everything shrugged off negative things as “oh, we are changing for the better.” But that whole concept was not the truth, and I faced it. Besides cultural differences or religious differences, we are dying, and the earth is dying. As for the project itself, I learned that having your trauma can overshadow the more considerable collective trauma but adversely affects individuals. Therefore, many conflicts within our personal lives can intertwine with more significant aspects with people like climate change or covid.

What I gave in my action projects was my experience with trauma and relating it to collective trauma and the aspects of factors that can connect to a collective trauma like racial injustice and personal hardships related to trauma. As for the class, I will be honest and say that I wish I gave frank discussions, but the topic of death in this class hits home to me because I lost someone this year, so in a way, it was terrible timing. But I tried my best to participate in the zoom chat discussions on my thoughts and experiences.

How does this whole experience relate to ecology, death, and the Anthropocene? The class helped me connect with my death and others, the realization of the immortality project discussions. Those discussions made my peace with death instead of fearing the concept and the afterlife due to religious constraints.

I can take away from this class because I accepted Anthropocene and death. It was a challenging course for me with the readings and the discussion, but I realize this was a great class to learn from and change perspectives.

The Interconnectedness of Political Ecology: Utopia, Terror Management Theory, and Being Deeper in the Moment

Posted on December 15, 2021 by predeker

In working on the action projects, it was a curious challenge and quite an interesting experience trying to come up with an ideal utopia. We spent so much time brainstorming and discussing various ideas—which often clashed with each other. Eventually, we choose to make our own utopian concepts. That way, we could better establish simpler utopias, that later would become more complex through the synthesis of our utopias. My utopia, in particular, inspired me to delve deeper into the idea that we, as a society, should have a greater emphasis on the arts and culture rather than economic gain. How we could also change our relation to the planet through the Half-Earth Project, making half the Earth protected in the form of national parks and protected regions, including the sea. And through the lens of political ecology, we can see how our interrelation with the Earth’s systems echos with similarity to how we interact in society. Whereby our capitalist desires are destroying the planet, separating what is useful and not, similar to how we treat people who do not partake in the capitalist system, labeling them as poor, crazy, or not worth our care.

In thinking back about this class, I had skimmed over a key aspect of the class, “Death.” I had learned about terror management theory, never imagining that our conscious and unconscious fear of death could affect every facet of our lives. How it fuels capitalism and nationalism, or creates desires for literal and symbolic immortality. Personally, I don’t think terror management theory changes my personal outlook of the world that much, but I do believe that it changes my political perspective, and how I view the interactions and decisions of the people I hope to one day win over.

Looking back to my first blog post, I had desired to have a better understanding of why the issues of the Anthropocene were important and worth my attention. And honestly, I didn’t know if this class would be able to answer that desire. But it was—through a process I was initially quite resistant to: the contemplative practice. After a few of these practices, I began to realize that living in the moment is one thing, but striving to live further and deeper into the moment is another. They showed me how to care for all the Earth’s systems being affected by the Anthropocene, beyond just climate change.

https://media.itsnicethat.com/images/nat_geo_double_cover.width-1440_SKNGANTs5lcnrGZm.jpg

Power-With: Citizenship in the Anthropocene

Posted on December 14, 2021 by barbezat

The most impactful theme for me this quarter has been practicing new ways of thinking. Engaging with both the action project and course material, contemplative practices led me to a more relational point of view, which helped me to manage feelings of frustration or stagnation. When I perceive disfunction, my response is more effective when I can let go of the impulse to “overcome” and instead consider how I want to relate to a challenge. Thinking in systems, I can develop a stronger sense of identity as a citizen to find inspiration rather than depletion in the face of the Anthropocene.

My group’s project was focused on the concept of collective climate trauma. In reviewing the literature on the topic, I noticed a consensus among the authors on the importance of reflective witnessing in one form or another. Rather than overcoming or moving beyond the trauma, authors emphasized practices designed to honor and reflect upon it- thereby opening space for new collective stories in relation to the traumatizing phenomena. This reminded me of an argument presented in The Worm at the Core – human beings cannot overcome the terror of death, so should instead remain mindful of how it impacts our lives (221). In both cases, as with my own experience in the class, there is a chance for renewed energy through a relational reframing.

In Active Hope, Macy and Johnstone parallel this with their distinction between “power-over” and “power-with” (106-108). While the exercise of “power-over” is a zero-sum resource game, “power-with” is a model wherein power is a practice, generated by action in relationships. Instinctively, I can see this “power-with” when I imagine an ecosystem, but it has been harder to conceive of in political systems. As an individual, grief and frustration regarding the Anthropocene deplete me, and “overcoming” the emotions, much less the global phenomenon, feels impossible.

With practice, I can lean into a “power-with” identity, working with the emotions and as a citizen – (a node in a human-system response) to guide my orientation to anthropogenic crisis. In this framing, a citizen mindset provides an opportunity to respond to Death and the Anthropocene from a place of diffuse and renewable strength. I look forward to a “power-with” relationship between the human and natural world, and the reciprocal healing that will facilitate. I am grateful for the tools this course has provided to support that vision.

Image source: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/tippling/2020/01/22/life-as-an-emergent-property-and-rocks/

Inner Work: the Key to Battling Capitalistic Values and Assuming Shared Responsibility

Posted on December 13, 2021 by lwitty

Throughout this course, I have done more unlearning than learning, trying to address my own misconceptions about society and our views on mortality. Most of these misconceptions arose from a misunderstanding of the importance of death as well as an ignorance of capitalism’s true impacts. I came to this realization when we started discussing terror management theory (TMT). I found that my fear of death was buffered by attempts to be “successful,” as deemed by our capitalistic society, and I wanted to see if my peers coped similarly.

To determine what kinds of TMT are most prevalent, we surveyed 25 participants, asking them 7 questions that prompted thought about their mortality as well as their connection to the world system. From these interviews, we gathered that our peers were avoidant of death, saying they did not fear it, but preferred not thinking about death. Some identified self-esteem related forms of TMT, including having offspring or finding value in success and fame. Additionally, almost all participants were unable to draw the connection between their mortality and their impact on the environment. These results show that the denial of death is prevalent in our society, and that not considering death can inhibit potential climate action.

The denial of death and self-esteem forms of TMT are both the product of living in a capitalistic society. We are constantly bombarded with the capitalistic values of individualism and consumerism, which each influence how we value our own lives, and eventual mortality. Capitalism forces us into an individual mindset, convincing us that we are “existing above or beyond biophysical process,” (Oelschlaeger). This allows humans to deny death, and live a life free of accountability to the world system. This is the root of climate change and cause of the creation of the Anthropocene. Humans have exploited the world for decades, searching for individual worth, while also destroying their own system.

In order to acknowledge death and shift how most of society manages their terror, inner work should be encouraged. Participating in contemplative practices gives people the opportunity to understand the connectivity of the world and assume responsibility for their impact. Encouraging inner work among activists could begin a grassroots movement to mitigate climate change, with a focus on shared responsibility. I believe in the power of the people, and think that inner work among a few may instigate systemic change within our federal systems.

We are a part of nature, and nature is a part of us. This symbiotic relationship needs to be preserved through shared responsibility
Source: https://sites.tufts.edu/alexagaluppo/2018/10/06/nature-builds-far-better-than-we-do/

WORKS CITED

Oelschlaeger, Max. “History, Ecology, and the Denial of Death: A Re-Reading of Conservation, Sexual Personae, and the Good Society.” Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 24, no. 3, 1993, pp. 19–39., https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9833.1993.tb00522.x.

CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE

Posted on November 30, 2021 by jessa22

I never really thought of contemplative practices before I signed up for this class. I have never done it before. But here I am, learning new things even if it’s out of my comfort zone. My life before this class was fast-paced. Even with covid hits, my life was fast-paced, and I never really took the time to use contemplative practices to clear my mind or have a different perspective. Being a first-generation kind made me not slow down in my life to think because I am always expected to get a degree, a job, and a family. I could never stop and think about my feelings or my reflection on life, which affects my mental health. I kept moving on and ignored those thoughts until I took this class. This class made me more aware of my inner work and got to know my inner work. The practices every morning during class time, when we close our eyes and the professor would give us the prompts to think about. I appreciate how I can breathe and think about what’s around me.

One practice that resonates with me is the one contemplative practice about the first time I did it in class. I am translucent on the contemplative practice’s subject, but I remember Death and what the matter of Death means to me. The way I experimented with my thoughts on Death as a personal subject was a gateway for me to understand the Anthropocene in this class and how Death should not be a taboo subject. It’s a part of life. The class and the practices made me realize that Death is part of our cycle. It shouldn’t be taboo or to avoid it. My family always talks about immorality projects, or they seem to want a legacy of wealth and prosperity. Our lives are so in tune within the system that we can never stop thinking and realizing our faults as people and our environment on this planet. I believe that’s why many people within my situation and my social status are struggling with it so that they could never stop and think. They keep surviving until Death or the end of the world hits them. To conclude, those contemplative practices do help see what’s ahead of you.

Getting in the Moment of the Anthropocene

Posted on November 29, 2021 by predeker

The contemplative practice: the unified act of a small group of students closing their eyes to reflect on the hard subjects of the Anthropocene. These practices are supposed to be meditative, accessing different wavelengths of the brain. For the most part, all my early experiences with them have been lackluster in terms of how they affected me inwardly. I saw them more as a respite from my long commute and my active, sometimes anxious mind. The subject matters of this class never really hit me emotionally, that is, I don’t think I was ever shaken to the core. Even the hard subjects, like from the film Albatross, were simply emotions for me to experience. I would acknowledge them, my emotions, but I would move past them, so to speak. I wouldn’t let them bring me down. I’m an optimistic person, always have been. I think it’s just in my personality. I live by the moment. I can’t think of the what-ifs like a terrorist getting ahold of nuclear weapons from a destabilized Pakistan or a disruption from Saudi Arabia’s oil supply causing “a social earthquake,” as Thomas Homer-Dixon put it.

My view of life is sort of a flexible one. Often, my days look pretty much the same, but given the chance, I will change with the wind. I, for example, never thought I would see myself maintaining my relative sanity commuting so many hours each day. I managed it by living in the moment, and eventually, about halfway through the quarter, I took that philosophy of living in the moment to the contemplative practice. I finally allowed myself to relax, instead of rest. My posture was usually sluggish, slouching slightly. During one of the practices, I decided to sit up straight, and strangely more important, I kept my feet flat on the ground. I don’t know why, maybe it makes me closer to the Earth, but there is something about keeping my feet flat on the ground that allowed me to be more in a meditative state. Through this contemplative practice and others, I began to realize that living in the moment is one thing, but striving to live further and deeper into the moment is another. I am living in the Anthropocene—and I am learning to die in the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is a moment in time that I am learning to live in, every second of it.

https://movementmonthly.com/2015/05/01/keep-your-feet-on-the-ground-the-key-to-staying-vertical/

Human Extinction and the Misanthropic Temptation

Posted on November 12, 2021 by Karen

The ironic shadow cast by the light of self-awareness is the dark foreknowledge of that same self’s inescapable demise. And yet, putting aside beliefs in an afterlife, we can find solace in knowing that we somehow continue through our children, our creative works, or our meaningful contributions to an enduring culture. What happens to that sense of continuity and meaning in the face the apocalyptic twins: the threats of nuclear war and ecocide?

To my mind, the possibility that humanity could cause its own extinction casts a dark shadow of radical discontinuity and meaninglessness. What are we to make of a species (even if only a small subset of that species) that sacrifices its future to the gods of profit, convenience, or military conquest? No wonder some of us succumb to the misanthropic temptation!

Source: The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement

One reason I teach is to learn from my students—both the new ideas and the coping skills entailed in coming of age in a very messy world. Last week, they taught me a new word: eco-nihilism, the belief that if people cannot live in harmony with the Earth, we deserve to go extinct. As one student put it, “I’m at peace with human extinction; it would be for the greater good.”

I want to probe deeper: really? How can I be fully human while embracing our own collective demise—especially if I’m operating from a place of privilege? And who deserves extinction—the billions of people who will be hit hardest by climate disruption but who did virtually nothing to cause the problem? And how dare I say that I know what the future holds, and therefore exempt myself from responsibility?

I understand the temptation—sometimes our failings feel like too much to bear. Sometimes I need to retreat and as Wendell Berry says, “come into the peace of wild things” to regain my native vitality. I’ve also come to recognize my misanthropy as a form of compensatory thinking, a cognitive sublimation of a far messier mélange of grief, guilt, fear, and anger. When I let my e-motions do what they’re designed to do—to literally move me—a different mode of thinking and therefore different actions emerge.

In those luminous moments of connection, I gladly yoke myself to the collective uprising that our country’s young poet Amanda Gorman calls a new form of Earthrise. Yes, we face an uncertain future but one thing is certain: we are alive now and can help shape that future!

Immortality Projects in the Anthropocene

Posted on November 3, 2021 by wlillian

How do we cope with the knowledge that we will all die some day? In his book “The Worm at the Core,” Sheldon Solomon argues that, due to the sophistication of our neo-cortex, humans are uniquely haunted by the prospect of our own death. Solomon discusses many theories of death “terror management,” or how people cope with the looming terror of our own death.

Many people unconsciously practice terror management in the form of immortality projects, which are ways of extending one’s legacy after death and ensuring a personal sense of meaning in our lives. Many immortality projects, such as having children or producing art, are largely benign. However, many actually work against the longevity and well-being of our species, although they may work to preserve our own personal sense of immortality. Immortality projects are commonly based on wealth or the accumulation of material goods, which is environmentally destructive. Because many of our current environmental problems come from overconsumption, it is deeply ironic and sad that many choose to extend their legacy through material means.

This drive to create immortality projects can also be harnessed for good. Humans will always need a way to cope with the idea of our own deaths. And, as the effects of climate change become more prominent for those in industrialized nations, the drive of the globally wealthy to create immortality projects will increase.

Given this, a cultural shift away from consumerism as an immortality project in industrialized nations, and toward the enactment of positive environmental change as an immortality project may be one of humanity’s best tools in combating the climate crisis. Many in industrialized nations have extensive global influence in comparison to those in other parts of the world. If we choose to cope with our own deaths through environmental action, perhaps we can use immortality projects as a way to sustain the livelihood of our species and others, not just our own personal legacy.

Works Cited:

Solomon, Sheldon, et al. The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life. Penguin Books, 2016.

ANTHROPOCENE EPOCH. Vajiram and Ravi. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://vajiramias.com/current-affairs/anthropocene-epoch/5cee5ced1d5def75e6de0fce/.

Terror Management and Empathy

Posted on November 3, 2021 by barbezat

To the extent that I can accept terror management theory, I am appreciative it as an opportunity to feel more connected to other human beings. It is a comforting concept that we are all, in one or another way, reckoning with the inevitable negation of the self. I can more easily tolerate efforts people make to be “valuable participants in a meaningful universe” (Solomon et al., 39) when I choose to believe we are, at least fundamentally, up against this same reckoning. Terror management theory helped me to understand my disdain, and ultimately feel compassion for, the author of one of our readings by reminding me of our common ground: we are both trying to find meaning in the face of the Anthropocene.

Because the Anthropocene forces me to confront human caused extinction and death, it brings me to question many of my anthropocentric constructs of meaning and value. Thus, engaging the concept of “Anthropocene” represents both biological and ideological die-off. How can I be sure of my way of life when confronted with the destruction it necessitates? To tend to this profound discomfort, I gravitate toward a sense of purpose quite like the “natural transcendence” mentioned in The Worm at the Core (221). As the Anthropocene threatens my sense of belonging as a human, I find greater comfort in a sense of a more permanent “self” as a part of nature.

I was initially surprised by how angry I got while reading excerpts from Lynas’s The God Species. However, the lens of terror management theory provided a possible explanation for this anger – I see Lynas’s perspective as a threat to my “natural transcendence” worldview! Even the title poses a threat, as it suggests the omnipotence and immortality of humanity. His rhetoric about the “flaw” in natural systems (Lynas, 19) or his contention that “nature can no longer tame us” (8) represent, to me, a human-centric threat to the sense of meaning I have constructed. Faced with the same global crises, Lynas appears to have doubled down on human exceptionalism, whereas I’ve tried to refute it. I am grateful for terror management theory as a tool to expand my compassion for Lynas and others as we collectively reckon with death in the Anthropocene.

Image Source: https://www.mindful.org/are-you-really-available-for-connection/

Works Cited

Lynas, Mark. The God Species: Saving the Planet in the Age of Humans. National Geographic, 2011.