Conscious Aging with John Robinson, Ph.D.

 

I'm a retired clinical psychologist, with a second doctorate in ministry, an ordained interfaith minister, a writer, but mostly I'm a husband, father, grandfather friend, and lifelong mystic. I've been writing and lecturing on conscious aging as a spiritual and mystical experience for over twenty-five years. Then, more recently, I came to see that a spiritual and mystical awareness of life is also critical to our survival in the rapidly escalating climate crisis, so I wrote, Mystical Activism: Transforming a World in Crisis in support of climate activism. But now there's even more. As the coronavirus burst upon the scene, I realized that climate change was only one of the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," joining the coronavirus pandemic, population explosion, and the related worldwide economic meltdown. We are heading into a sustained global crisis. Increasingly, I fear for the future of my family and friends, as I'm sure you fear for the future of your loved ones, and I worry for the future of the human family and life itself. This is not academic to me, it's in my awareness every day, triggered by each news report, email, telephone conversation, and article I write. I live and breathe it constantly. So do you.

 

We are facing a multifaceted global crisis of unprecedented proportions: the exploding coronavirus pandemic, accelerating climate disruption, unrestrained population growth, and the potential collapse of financial market and civilization as we know it. It's going to require thousands of changes and a radical transformation of consciousness to survive. This worldwide apocalypse now pushes humanity into a new and unfamiliar world and there may be no going back. But it is also an invitation. We are being called to reinvent our lives, our work, and our civilization in a new consciousness of Creation. The virus is but a wake-up call and trial run for sweeping social, political and spiritual changes, and conscious elders, like you and me, have much to offer. The old world was rife with manmade problems – political corruption, wealth inequities, global warming, overpopulation, homelessness, racism, sexism, and ageism – it's time for a new one.
 
Introduction
I have been gathering articles on the global apocalypse for the past several years but my deep dive into this fast-moving literature has recently become extremely disturbing. As a result, this is the most difficult but important piece I have ever written (indeed, this is my fifth or sixth revision because it's that important to me).

Another eloquent voice of Mystical Activism is Kristal Parks, a long-time peace activist and mystic, who writes, "Mystical activism is intoxicated with life, in humble harmony with nature and empowered by the creative energy of the galaxies. It's motivated by adoration and love to act on behalf of all beings." And she adds, "…a new kind of human being is required, one that consents to being a partner in an evolutionary leap beyond our wildest imagination, a leap beyond war and violence. This challenging task beckoning to us requires a profound healing and transformation at the deepest core of ourselves and our social structures and institutions." To me, it is absolutely clear now that we must take this leap.

  

 

 

I know this material is hard to face but I cannot apologize for being an alarmist – the global alarms have been going off for years and now they are screaming. We've long known about dangerous infectious diseases, climate change, population pressure, and our economic vulnerability but did little prepare for them. The fate of our species now hangs in the balance.  If we are going to confront this combined crisis as a human family, we have to face it. The Earth is crying out for our help in the loudest way it knows how – by threatening our very existence. Here is a brief review of the existential threats we now face. Digest the facts but delay your feelings for now – we will have a chance to express them later.
 
The Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19): The novel coronavirus began in China, probably jumping from Pangolins butchered in "wet markets" to humans in a process called zoonotic transmission. It is one of many similar infectious viral diseases, including MERS and SARS. Bacterial zoonotic infectious diseases also exist around the world, such as anthrax, bird flu, lyme disease, ebola, and the Bubonic plague. The first case of coronavirus was detected at the end of 2019. Epidemiologists expect that 70% of the world will eventually be exposed with older people disproportionally endangered (mortality rates currently estimated at 8% between 70 and 79 and 15% over 80). The virus may also cycle back through the population, possibly in seasonal waves, eventually settling permanently into the population unless scientists develop a successful vaccine. While the majority of the infected will survive with absent or minor cold-like symptoms, more serious consequences include pneumonia, kidney failure, and catastrophic buildup of pulmonary fluid with dire respiratory complications (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) leading to death. To mitigate against this highly contagious and expanding public health threat, numerous countries moved to close borders and shutter schools, restaurants, entertainment venues, and businesses, in addition to prescribing temporary self-quarantines or even total population lockdowns. The World Health Organization has now declared the coronavirus a global pandemic.
 
The Climate Crisis. The Earth is getting hotter every year. Heat-trapping CO2 is higher than it's been in 3 million years and the last five years have been the hottest on record. It's called the "Greenhouse Effect." Why is this important? Rising heat radically supercharges the weather all over the Earth, creating dangerous heat spells; ferocious hurricanes, tornados and forest fires; monsoon rains; expanding deserts; dying oceans; coastal flooding; inland draughts; an escalating tide of climate refugees; and massive species extinction. Climate scientists say we are facing a possible collapse of biological and social systems threatening civilization as we know it. In fact, a consortium of 11,000 scientists from 153 nations made this announcement last November, "We declare clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency…The climate crisis has arrived and is accelerating faster than most scientists expected. It is more severe than anticipated, threatening natural ecosystems and the fate of humanity." And the lead negotiator for the Paris climate agreement added in February, "What's at stake over the next decade is nothing less than the future of the planet and of humanity on the planet. That's no exaggeration, that is no hyperbole. That is actually scientific fact."  
 
Population Explosion. Adding to this expanding nightmare is the mounting pressure of population growth. When America was founded, there were less than one billion people on Earth. When I was a child in the fifties, the world had 2.6 billion people. Now it's 7.7 billion. By 2050, we will exceed 9 billion people on Earth. Because we lack the sustainable resources to feed this growing population, we borrow dangerously from the future - draining aquifers, cutting down forests for farming, over-fishing the oceans, and poisoning ourselves and nature with pesticides and plastics. Earth's growing overpopulation will result in polluted water and air; superbugs and new parasites, microplastics in our oceans, soil, air, snow, and bodies; overwhelmed hospitals; rising crime; more deforestation and wildlife deaths; widespread food shortages; regional conflicts over food and clean water; desperate migrations, and even war.  
 
The Economy. In the wake of the desperate social-distancing measures to contain the coronavirus, unemployment skyrocket, consumers reduced spending, stock markets roiled, and the economy headed into recession, creating financial hardship and insecurities throughout the world. Global warming also affects the economy. Excessively high temperatures disrupt agriculture, harm health, and shut down energy webs; extreme weather threatens water and transportation delivery; loss of property in storm disasters can bankrupt insurance companies; and coastal flooding will overwhelm vulnerable oil refineries like those on the Gulf Coast and Northern California. Because of our global interdependence, these economic risks represent collective vulnerabilities. No one and no place is immune to systemic breakdowns nor can they be reliably predicted. Social and political instability, climate-caused infrastructure damage, and the challenge of retooling the military to non-fossil fuels also pose severe national and global security threats in a rapidly warming world. Traditional capitalism itself is now literally unsustainable because it relies so heavily on continuing economic and population growth in a system of finite resources. Last but not least, the greed and corruption of many lobbyists and elected officials represents a horrifying obstacle to constructive action. For example, after Brazil's president gave the green light to illegal land invasion, logging and burning, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon surged past three football fields a minute; and the U.S. president deregulates environmental protections everywhere and threatens to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.
As implied above, these four disasters all interact, extending and potentiating each other's harmful effects. For example, global warming can enable the further spread of infectious diseases (including the coronavirus) by increasing areas of optimum temperatures and humidity, cause flood-induced water-borne illnesses, release ancient viruses and bacteria from melting glaciers, and spread diseases via insects and rodents migrating to warmer climes, bringing Dengue Fever, West Nile Virus, Flesh-eating Bacteria, Brain-eating Amoeba, Tick-borne diseases, Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus.