The message of the prophets of old: "Change your ways of seeing and living in the world because the path you are currently on will lead to disaster." At the core of our consciousness is a wellspring of caring and compassion. What David Korten has called "the Great Turning" emerges from shifts occurring in our hearts, minds, and views of reality.

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"That - in a society which betrays basic human needs - insanity might not be an aberration, but the norm."

Social psychologist Erich Fromm, The Sane Society

Introduction

The actual problem we are facing is a natural and predictable result of our way of viewing the world: the stories we tell ourselves, our disconnection from the natural world, and our insistence on quick external fixes to crises that we ourselves have created.

This is not a secret. Indigenous cultures and "enlightened ones" have been offering us vital, life-giving information for some 7,000 years, but we have plugged our ears to their message. Here it is:

"Return to the honest ways in which humans participated in the web of life on the earth, seeing yourselves and all beings as sacred and interconnected."

In recent articles I highlighted the positive, life-affirming potential for our future as a species. Such a future could occur as - forced by circumstances - we pass through a poignant period of realizing the damage we have caused, grieving for what we have lost, reconciling the many divisions within our species, and uniting to save and rebuild the Earth.

The bottom line:

We cannot avoid the urgency and importance of the collective effort of imagining and building a global "eco-civilization" - one that recognizes that we all inhabit the same Earth and want the ecosystem to be strong and resilient to sustain a global civilization into the distant future.

Context

I want to emphasize that the larger background of these reflections is the maturation of our species. Therefore, we will be taking a decades-long look at a few of the pitfalls that could deflect our development into an evolutionary detour or even a dead end. There are no guarantees of success and it remains an open question whether we will develop the deep wisdom needed to survive in an increasingly compressed world.

It is common for human beings not to make significant changes in our lives until our "backs are against the wall." Likewise, it is unrealistic to imagine that we will shift our habitual behaviors, paradigms, and overall worldview without understanding what may occur if we do not change.

But, to put it simply, we are running out of time to unite and deal with problems that will devastate the planet. The reality appears to be that humanity is about to hit an "ecological wall" and an "evolutionary wall." The first emerges when we run into the physical limits of nature to sustain humanity; the second is when we run into ourselves - the limits of our adolescent behavior - and are pushed to turn toward more mature, adult ways of being re- living on the planet.

Given this assumption, I want to share an overview - one that is admittedly dystopian - of the negative consequences that can befall us if we fail to make the necessary changes leading to a life-enhancing, sustainable culture.

We have reached a time of historic transition, which, in the coming years will be unprecedented in its urgency, scale, and severity. What can be predicted is that we will confront a series of accelerating crises, including increasing climate disruption, spreading regions of water scarcity, declining agricultural productivity, growing inequality of wealth and well-being, rising numbers of climate refugees, spreading extinction of plant and animal species, overbearing impersonal bureaucratic systems, nuclear weapons, radioactive waste, and mendacious government agendas.

In addition, there are inter-retroactions between the different problems, crises, and threats, such that we can accurately name the situation in its totality as "a poly-crisis." Beyond this, is the issue of runaway positive feedback, where, as Edgar Morin states, "The question now becomes whether we have crossed a critical threshold in the process of acceleration/amplification that could lead to an explosion or implosion involving any number of deadly global threats."

In this piece I hope to depict the kinds of scenarios that may occur if, instead of uniting, we allow ourselves to be divided - by politicians and/or by our own passions and antagonisms. Therefore, do not expect a pretty, encouraging picture. Please also remember that the situations I am presenting are possibilities, not projections that are destined to occur.

What follows are images of the Earth in the process of becoming a wasteland, a realistic possibility of what may occur if we do not heed the writing on the wall - in the present - and begin to take action both in terms of our own inner being and action in the external world. In this article I will attempt to articulate some of the possible consequences of denial, delay and subsequent collapse.

Should these scenarios evoke fear (or denial based in fear) let's remember that fear is a built-in biological reaction to warn us of danger. If you notice that your mind is marshalling arguments regarding the implausibility of the scenarios presented, please recall that denial and minimization[B1] spring from anxiety.

In this light, then, here are some of the ways we can sabotage our own evolution.

Civilizational Collapse

The pollution of our environment is unsustainable. Our agricultural techniques are unsustainable. Our fossil fuel consumption is unsustainable. Our consumption of raw materials and production of toxic waste are unsustainable. Our population growth is unsustainable. Our way of life is unsustainable.

Many cultures and human societies that preceded ours were unsustainable and are now gone. The collapse of civilizations is not uncommon.

We have seen the rise and fall of numerous great civilizations. From the Roman Empire to the empires of Mayans, Aztecs, Easter Islanders, Anasazi, Mesopotamia, the Soviet Empire - more than 20 major civilizations have collapsed through history. The difference between us and them is one of scale. When they died out, other humans were largely unaffected. Most humans didn't even notice when the Incans or Mayans cultures collapsed. However, given the interconnectedness and interdependence of today's world - if our culture vanishes - it may well take all of humanity (and much of the Biosphere) with it.

Lack of Vision

We can't consciously create a future that we have not imagined. We require a clear vision of a compassionate future that draws out our enthusiastic participation in re-building the Earth.

To consciously evolve as a global civilization, it is vital that we extend our social imagination into the deep future and anticipate our development as a species. Civilizations with no guiding vision for the future can disintegrate when forced to respond to overwhelming stress that seems to serve no meaningful purpose. Without a broad public consensus around a compelling vision of the future, cynicism can overwhelm and destroy our civilization, making it vulnerable to religious fanaticism or authoritarian domination.

Inflexibility and Delay

Arnold Toynbee asserted that civilizations are particularly vulnerable to disintegration after they have achieved great success. It is difficult for a successful civilization to let go of approaches that have worked well in the past; instead, there is a tendency to deny the need for fundamental change and to redouble efforts along the old lines that have previously proven effective.

By waiting too long to adapt, humanity can lose a precious opportunity and the chance for creative change. Given the combined impact of the depletion of cheap oil resources, climate change, rampant consumerism, our robber-baron transnational corporate economy and world population growth, we may find our options increasingly limited. Rather than an opportunity for creative evolution, life could turn into a dire scramble for survival.

Ecological Disruption

An example: Loss of genetic diversity in agriculture through reliance on a few strains of rice, corn, and grain could make the world's food supply highly vulnerable to disease, resulting in crop failures of catastrophic proportions. Given intense survival pressures, it is conceivable that the global ecosystem could become so devastated that it could result in massive famines and be able to sustain only a fraction of the world's current population.

Likewise, over a third of America's usable topsoil has been lost and we continue to lose another five billion tons a year.

70 percent of honeybees are dead.

Species are becoming extinct 100 times faster than they would without human impacts.

Populations of wild animals have more than halved since 1970, while the human population has doubled.

Only five times before in our planet's history have so many species and so much biodiversity been lost so quickly. The fifth was when the dinosaurs were wiped out. That is why scientists and conservationists call what is happening now the "sixth mass extinction." Some have even described the loss of biodiversity today as "annihilation."

We are facing a planet-wise biological crisis, which has a spiritual and cultural basis.

Resource Wars

Within a generation we will deplete a significant amount of critically important natural resources, including easily accessible, affordable sources of oil, major ground water aquifers (which are being pumped dry to support high intensity agriculture) and widespread erosion of topsoil. As our situation grows more critical, those geographic areas that possess essential resources are likely to become the focus of military conflict.

Many believe the 9/11 event was a false-flag operation designed in part to provide the U.S. access to oil, and control over areas possessing other crucial resources. The frightening possibility is that the world could disintegrate into warfare, rather than coalesce into mutually sustainable development.

A Widening Gap Between Rich and Poor Nations

In the media-rich world of the future, glaring differences between rich and poor nations will become painfully evident. People in the poorest regions will more strongly feel the longing for a decent standard of living and may become increasingly unwilling to tolerate the chronic, extreme, material inequities that result from the conspicuous consumption of the relative few - and starvation and misery of billions of others. If a passion for fairness grows among poorer nations, while wealthy nations attempt to maintain their privileged status, this could easily produce a world that is so morally divided that it cannot achieve reconciliation around a common future.

Authoritarianism

Ecosystem breakdown and resource wars could easily push the world into such chaos that, to restore order, authoritarian forms of government could emerge at the national or even global scale. Citizens themselves may clamor for this.

This is why it would be wise, at this relatively early date, to become familiar with the social psychology of totalitarianism. One dimension of this is a willingness to learn about the cognitive, emotional and behavioral habits of "authoritarian followers," as explored by Robert Altemeyer and illustrated by this week's "invasion" of Congress by such people.

Depleting the trust essential for a democratic process could lead to a cynicism that destroys humanity's willingness to work for a compassionate future and collective well-being.

Such an era of authoritarianism would inevitably involve a strong police force and military to secure borders and maintain law and order, along with a religious foundation to bring moral legitimacy to nondemocratic governments. It is probable that this scenario would include extensive use of computer networks to monitor and control people. In such a post-modern scenario it would not be unlikely for a government to implant chips in the population under a legal rationale, which might include "necessary medical procedures" - and might or might not include the public's knowledge and consent. Related: despite Rep. Dennis Kucinich's bill (H.R. 2977) seeking to ban them - highly sophisticated, currently classified, psychotronic and electromagnetic weapons may be used.

Religious Fanaticism

With the help of the Internet, the world is entering a time of growing compression and proximity among people, religious differences might well present significant challenges. So many of humankind's wars have coalesced around charismatic leaders and fought between people with differing religious views. It is possible that the planet would descend into a new era of crusades, perhaps intended to liberate the world from unbelieving infidels. Religious fanaticism could lead to spiritual tyranny - or on the other hand - the belief that we can remain passive, since "God" will intervene to clean up the mess. Instead of mounting a vigorous, creative response to the challenges we face, some will no doubt be content to await a transformative, apocalyptic end.

Information Wars

In the present and future communications era, both terrorists and nations can shift to an electronic battleground. This is a fertile area for assaults on the electronic integrity of the information systems of a corporation, nation or the entire planet. Cyberspace is a highly exploitable region for the growth of propaganda, disinformation, and the imposition of false narratives on entire populations.

Extreme Genetic Augmentation and Hybrid Species

Evidence has been presented that highly secret programs are already underway in connection with classified special access extraterrestrial endeavors. Even if this is not the case, genetic intervention and augmentation will present extremely difficult questions.

Planetary Psychosis

Another pitfall is the possibility that the world will "go crazy"- splitting apart in a morass of divergent views, voices, and paradigms of perception that makes meaningful dialogue and agreement on the nature of a sustainable future extremely difficult.

In the face of monumental stress, the world could drift into ever more confusing and chaotic rhetoric, and conflicting ideologies. Unable discover a shared consensus beneath the discord and pandemonium, and without a transcendent source of perspective, the world conversation could devolve into a lowest common denominator - and the collective psyche of the human family could disintegrate, hurling the world into chronic conflict for an indefinite future. Unable to constructively respond to a deteriorating world, the conviction could grow that humanity is an ill-fated species that never had a chance to succeed.

The Role of Malignant Narcissists and a Mendacious Elite

America has just dodged a bullet in the electoral defeat of Donald Trump. He, like many other leaders, clearly has worshiped power. His lust for his own power and financial gain blotted out any concern for the well-being of America's population. He has been assessed/diagnosed as a malignant narcissist. Erich Fromm first coined the term "malignant narcissism" in 1964, describing it as a "severe mental sickness" representing "the quintessence of evil." He characterized the condition as the most severe pathology and the root of vicious destructiveness and inhumanity. Such leaders are addicted to dominance and power: power that they abuse.

Another term for this diagnosis is "psychopath." Less "successful" psychopaths can be found in prisons, while successful ones are to be found in positions of power. The truth is that psychopaths have ruled us for millennia. They see ruthlessness, deviousness, and opportunism as assets - and empathy, trust, and compassion as serious liabilities. While some see them as "monsters," many of these leaders are able to fabricate convincing veneers of normality and even virtue.

It has been said that psychopathy is the greatest obstacle to the healthy development of individual personality and social groups. Dabrowski warned,

"The general inability to recognize the psychological type of such individuals [i.e., psychopaths] causes immense suffering, mass terror, violent oppression, genocide and the decay of civilization." He goes on to say: "As long as the"hypnotic, charming, spellbinding" power of the psychopaths is not confronted with both facts and the moral and practical consequences of their doctrine, entire social groups may succumb to his demagogic appeal."

But what happens when such people - given a certain level of sophistication and feral cleverness - band together in the halls of government, as occurred in Nazi Germany? What happens when psychopathology becomes policy?

Lobaczewski described this phenomenon as a "pathocracy" - in which the government turns on its own people. In such cases these individuals infiltrate an institution or state, prevailing moral values are perverted into their opposite, and a coded language similar to Orwell's doublethink infuses the mainstream in place of reality-based perception and rational thinking.

It is important to recognize that the U.S. has been socio/psychopathic for a very long time - from its massacres and genocide of indigenous Native Americas, to its longstanding enslavement of Africans, to the numerous false-flags it has utilized as justifications for war (including an apparently planned future operation involving man-made ET craft). For more information you are invited to see: David Ray Griffin's books: The American Trajectory: Divine or Demonic? and Christian Faith and The Truth behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action.

It would be the height of naivete to think that psychopathic leaders around the world are not - at this very minute - hatching various destructive plans. One of these (and we should by no means rule out transnational collaboration) is likely a de-population strategy, given that the Earth is already beyond its carrying capacity.

The deterioration of the ecological and financial realms would no doubt result in trauma among the earth's people. War (likely initiated by false flag operations and media hysteria) will certainly do the same.

Trauma creates shock, amnesia, and dissociation. When traumatized, the everyday conscious mind moves off to the side - shocked, shattered, incapable of dealing with and integrating what has occurred. It should also be remembered that the mind is highly programmable when in a dissociated state. When a person is disconnected from the conscious self, he or she can easily become an unwitting participant in behavior modification strategies. The technique of producing mass trauma has been used to control people since ancient times.

Deception is an age-old tool only because we choose denial rather than facing the implications of what is obvious. A substantial part of the world appears rapidly racing toward disaster by investing in immense falsehoods. Unfortunately, many people never fully recognize the disinformation that is steering them away from perceiving a larger view of reality.

Truth and reality tends to be avoided when it is painful. Yet, when we are able to bear, transcend, and put our pain into perspective, we have the ability to revise our internal maps of the world. We become increasingly empowered to see things as they are. How far must the lies and deceit go before humanity becomes willing to relinquish it denial?

The creation of chaos can be used to distract people from asking essential questions: "Will the many or the few control the world?" and "Will the many succeed in creating a life-affirming world or will the few succeed in a desperate, despotic game of dividing and conquering?" In the coming years will we allow ourselves to be herded into a reality of egocentric, nonempathic, every-man-for-himself survivalism?

Conclusion

If you have read this far, I commend you. I would guess it hasn't been easy reading.

Assuming that we survive and weather the coming initiation into planetary adulthood, I want to end on a positive note - with a quote from historian and sociologist Philip Mumford in The Transformations of Man describing a positive future:

"Yet if mankind abstains from self-extermination and actually begins to move toward the fabrication of a world culture, the separate contributions to this process, many already in existence, will carry with them an air of quiet inevitability"it is the formal details"that are so difficult to imagine in advance.

"At the moment of ripeness, the unseen will be visible, the unthinkable thought, the unactable enacted; and by the same token, obstacles that seem insurmountable will crumble away"

"This experience has many parallels in human history. Suddenly, at what seems the peak of their efficiency and power, dominant institutions lose their hold on their most devout supporters or their most favored beneficiaries" while at the same time millions of people who seemingly conformed with docility to these institutions throw them off like a dirty garment. In such a situation, ideas that were hardly more than shadows a moment before, become solid landmarks on a well-paved road"

"The next transformation will involve a leap from one plane to another. Because One World civilization will be a true emergent, its most characteristic features will probably escape forecast ...The one thing that can be predicted of any true emergence is that its results cannot be predicted."

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Authors Bio:

I work as a psychotherapist with an emphasis on transformational learning - a blend of psychoanalytic and transpersonal approaches, and am the author of Self Actualization and Unselfish Love and co-author of Families Helping Families: Living with Schizophrenia, as well as Mental Illness as an Opportunity for Transformation. My interests and life have taken parallel courses, which together have woven a complex tapestry: spirituality and meditation on the one hand, and political psychology on the other. I have studied and practiced with Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Mata Amritanandamayi and Gurumayi Chidvilasanda, and continue a daily practice of meditation. My early political education began with the writings of the founding fathers. Over time this led to involvement in the anti-Vietnam war and anti-nuclear movements. I was interested in the powerful molding of prevailing political and economic dynamics by what C. Wright Mills called the military-industrial complex. In time I have come to the conclusion that, despite various interest groups' attempts to minimize or trivialize the concept, the deep state is a reality - decisively and covertly shaping events on both the domestic and international fronts. I am interested in an exceptionally promising alternative source of energy that has yet to see the light of day. I see the current period as a precarious form of initiation rite into the beginning of adulthood for our species, and hope to do whatever I can to help us reach this goal. Meanwhile, I seek daily to recall the reality that the same awareness (the Ever-Present-Origin) looks out through all of our eyes, and actualize this in my relationship with other beings.