Resources for how to understand and navigate our predicament

Three years ago as I drafted initial designs for what is now The Social Purpose Leadership Program, I stumbled on an online article that captured perfectly a perspective I aspired to unpack with Program participants. But before I launched the Program, the article disappeared from online access. Its striking title was “Why we’ve never had it so good and how everything must change.”

If I had been smarter I would have sought out and followed its author. It was with some delight then, that last week I found myself listening to Jonathon Rowson talk about the Metacrisis in a short film by Katie Teague (link below). As I previously encountered with his work, Rowson wisely articulates not only my hunches and intellectual inclinations about these times in which we are living, but reflected my emotions and gut responses as well. (with much more insight and wisdom)

His thoughts are of course not entirely unique. Rather, as these things tend to go, they express a particular perspective within a wave of consciousness and wisdom that is gaining momentum among some thoughtful people. I like Rowson’s demeanour though; there is an intellectual honesty and humility in his perspectives that I find appealing. I hope you do to.

I recognise in myself a spiralling through grief at the state of the world toward a clear resolve for action. Not so much action to change or solve anything, but commitments to help cultivate conditions for people to be at their best, so that when the opportunities come, we will be ready to do what needs to be done to sustain healthy communities.

But this clarity is not based on what Indy Johar calls ‘thin hope’: the expectation that everything will turn out OK, that eventually someone somewhere who has the power will lead us into a better future. It’s an aspiration for a better future that has stared into the abyss, understands the gravity of our current predicament, and has determined what action is most likely to be both good for ourselves and better for the world.

I’ve followed Sarah Wilson’s journey along the same path via her serialisation of I Eat The Stars. And as has happened with her, one of the conclusions of other people who have engaged this rigorously and deeply, is that the things for us to do are good things to do anyway, irrespective of their effectiveness in changing anything. Indeed, despite the use of the term metacrisis, wise voices including those I’ve listed below, point out that it is not a ‘crisis’ to be solved, but a ‘predicament’ to be lived in.

There is an important point to make here about why the actions identified in the resources below sit differently than actions designed to change the systems that are in crisis. As Clive Hamilton’s climate activism journey illustrates, the time for greater action along traditional pathways (net zero, carbon markets etc) has passed. The opportunity cost of continuing to invest our primary effort in these areas is failure to invest in the infrastructure and systems our emerging world will need to survive and thrive. (His 2024 book Living Hot, shifts toward ‘adaption’ as the priority).

The purpose of this post is to share, from my small corner of the conversation, resources to help introduce and stretch people in this conversation. I’ve chosen the following resources to include because they get to action. Personal and local. Infact, there are some (Jodie Wilson’s, Moncole’s and to a lesser extent de Botton’s) that don’t reference the predicament. These three have been inspirational texts for me independently of the metacrisis rabbithole.

What difference does engaging this material make? Why bother when there is so much else competing for our attention?

The chaos and disruption are on an upward trajectory. I’m learning that zooming out to try to understand the broader trends and contexts, mitigates the shock when the next weather, economic, social or political side swipe buffets our lives. I have experienced shifts in my worldview related to consumption, social status and worldview that not long ago I would have put in the ‘hardwired’ category. In other words, I have hope that genuine shifts in consciousness are possible, even if they are hard-won and at times feel fleeting.