Collapsing with Care: A Field Guide to Meaning-Making as the World Unravels
David R. Weiss – February 15, 2024

This essay marks something of a new stage in my work. Since setting climate as the centering theme of my writing at the very end of 2015, I’ve been writing “occasional” essays around the climate crisis and, more recently, Collapse. “Occasional” here doesn’t mean “now and then”; rather, it means most of these essays have been sparked—occasioned—by a recent news story or an event in my life. They’re written in reaction to something. As a result, there’s been no larger overarching pattern; they’re more or less a kaleidoscopic set of reflections, each new one shaped by the latest turn of the world.

That’s about to change.

I’ll continue occasionally (in both senses of the word) to respond to happenings around me, but it’s time that the heart of my work shift toward a larger picture and a longer arc of my own choosing. Last August, when I introduced my current theme of “Writing into the Whirlwind,” I made clear my conviction that we are now irrevocably headed toward Collapse—the entangled unravelling of the ecological, social, and political foundations of our shared life. I’m now going to center my writing about preparing for and meeting Collapse.

Honestly, I rather intended for this shift to happen in sync with the beginning of my Second Tuesday talks last September. A handful of personal “life complexities” conspired to delay me. But now it’s time for me to reflect openly, directly, consistently, and coherently about how we meet Collapse. This is critical because, while we cannot avert Collapse, we can still choose how we meet it. And being active, thoughtful, and in partnership with others will make all the difference in whether Collapse tests our humanity … or altogether undoes it.

There are many persons better equipped than me to write about the science of Collapse, the technology that may cushion Collapse, or the creation of alternative social structures to help navigate Collapse. But I am well-equipped to write about the inward aspects of Collapse. So, I’m committed to focus on “Collapsing with Care,” offering something of a “Field Guide to Meaning-Making as the World Unravels.”

That is, I hope to help us understand the inward (psychological/spiritual) facets of Collapse that helped make it inevitable; grasp the inward attitudes and appetites that must shift if we are to meet Collapse with a chance at surviving it; and chart the inward dispositions and skills that will be essential as Collapse overtakes us.

There will, of course, be an abundance of external challenges to meet as Collapse unfolds. And we’ll need new knowledge and practical skills to navigate a most unfamiliar planet—but it’s my belief that unless we also do the inner work that sustains our capacity to care for each other and prepares us for meaning-making as the world unravels, we won’t be ready or able to fully make the changes in our outward behaviors or take up the challenging tasks that will be needed to make life livable. The infrastructure of our future life lies inward. And I believe I can help us in crafting that infrastructure.

There is, admittedly, a certain audacity in setting myself to this task. Even while confident in my ability to help craft that infrastructure, it’d be easy for me to name a dozen (or more!) persons who undoubtedly know more about this than I do. There’s also a measure of daring-balanced-by-doubt. Now that I’ve “announced” this project, the possibility of public failure-to-follow-through becomes real. There is a certain “safety” in holding back and keeping quiet. And yet I’m driven to do this. I believe I have something distinctive to say … and a distinctive way of saying it.

I read and listen and reflect with a poet’s perspective. Yes, I occasionally do, in fact, write in rhyme, but that’s not what I mean here. By poet’s perspective I mean that I have a rare gift to perceive unexpected connections and relationships between images and ideas that often produce rich insight for me—and for others. Whether across disparate disciplines or between disparate voices in related disciplines, I can bring notions together such that they “spark.” That gives me reason to believe that my writing around “Collapsing with Care” will do the same in worthwhile ways.

Additionally, I write with empathetic eloquence. I don’t simply craft words that read well together; because I listen well in between writing, I have a knack for crafting the words my readers have been seeking to name their own intuitions. In the two decades I spent focused on writing about welcoming LGBTQ persons in faith communities, I heard—countless times—from readers, that I had gifted them with words to hold the truth of the convictions that had been rumbling in their hearts. So I believe that my writing around Collapse—writing that by its very subject is unsettling—can also carry an anticipatory empathy for my readers.

I should be clear, neither poetic perspective nor empathetic eloquence are postures that I “adopt” for their usefulness. They simply reflect how I “naturally” encounter the world. As such they represent distinctive gifts I can bring to this most important, most existential conversation.

Lastly, I am undertaking this project for the sake of those I love. Of course, I hope my work benefits many, but my motivation has its deepest roots in my own children and grandchildren, in other family and friends, and in the communities to which I belong. As much as I am driven by the gifts I carry, I am equally driven by the names I hold in my heart. Convinced that Collapse is already dawning on planet Earth, with its repercussions set to ripple across the physical and social landscapes of our lives, how can I not invest my best energy, my most creative thinking, my finest words, on behalf of those I love? And so, this is what I will do.

I trust that my understanding will grow and deepen as I work on this. I expect some of the ideas I begin with will be recast along the way. All the more reason … to begin. Let me start by explaining briefly the choice of words in my (tentative) title, Collapsing with Care: A Field Guide to Meaning-Making as the World Unravels.

Collapsing: Simply put, from this very first word, there will be no more sugar-coating of tomorrow. We are collapsing and we will be collapsing for the rest of our lives. I can offer no more quiet assent to “hope.” Collapse is our future. (Obviously, “hope” is a loaded word, and I’ll have more to say about it along the way. But when hope is used to avoid facing the hard truth of Collapse, it becomes shorthand for denial, and we can’t afford that any longer.)

… with Care: Whatever “hope” we want to claim now has to do with our character and compassion as we collapse. Cultivating a capacity to act with care toward ourselves, one another, our fellow creatures, and the planet itself, is the foundation of hope. In the midst of Collapse, hope can no longer be the belief that “things will get better.” It must become the conviction that compassion—the concrete practice of care—is worthwhile no matter what.  

A Field Guide: While I’d like to imagine this as a book that folks will read from start to finish, I also hope it becomes something of a prized reference that they refer back to again and again, like a “field guide.” Further, we often think of a Field Guide as a book that helps orient us to unfamiliar terrain; that’s precisely what I hope to do here: provide an orientation to the inner terrain of our hearts and minds as we move into Collapse … and as Collapse engulfs us, framing our lives.

… to Meaning-Making: For over 40 years, since my introduction to the work of James Fowler on Faith Development and to existentialist literature and philosophy, both of which happened during my last year of college, I’ve been persuaded that our capacity for (our hunger for) meaning-making is the quality that confers humanity on us. Our sense—even when desperate and doubtful—that meaning can be made is what enables hope or faith. And living with hope or faith is what anchors our humanity—our capacity for care. This “Field Guide” aims to point us in the direction of meaning-making when the terrain beneath our feet—and beneath our souls—becomes entirely unfamiliar.

… as the World: Collapse is all-inclusive. It will claim large swaths and multiple dimensions of the natural world. It will strain and eventually shatter the formal institutions and political structures as well as the informal cultural assumptions that govern our social world. And it will shake to the core the roots of our inner worlds: religious beliefs, moral convictions, and basic humanity. Collapse is coming for just about everything.

… Unravels: Collapse is not a singular event; it is a process that will be long, with predicable turns and unpredictable twists. Some aspects will be precipitous; others will unfold more slowly (across generations—if we’re lucky). Right now, we are “caught” in liminal time—unable to prevent Collapse, yet able in some crucial ways to brace and temper our outer and inner worlds for what is to come. Perhaps even to fashion the inward and outward skills that will assist us in preserving and transforming humanity for life in a Collapsing world.

All of that said, there are also a handful of things I should be explicit in saying I’m NOT doing. These include:

I am not planning to make any specific predictions about thresholds or tipping points in the natural world. I’m not a climate scientist or any kind of Earth scientist. Early on in the Field Guide I will review the science I find most compelling regarding Collapse but chronicling and anticipating the details of Collapse in our physical world is work best done by others. I’ll be reading along.

Likewise, I am not planning to make any specific predictions about societal/political breakdowns. I’m not a political or social scientist. While I do foresee real chaos on this horizon—as an unavoidable consequence of the physical upheavals ahead and the way they’ll stoke our fears and threaten our values—I’m not in a position to forecast the specifics.

I am not planning to offer any financial or real estate advice. I see people post questions in Facebook groups: What should I do with my retirement savings? When will the banks go under? Should I look to purchase property where I can grow my own food? These are real questions (or they will become real questions at some point), but I’m not equipped to address them. If I do well what I am able to do, you’ll be in a more grounded place inwardly as you wrestle with such outward questions.

I am not planning to offer any homemaking skills. It goes without saying that Collapse will carry away many of the conveniences we now take for granted. So, yes, reclaiming many lost or lapsed homemaking skills will be extremely beneficial (indeed, maybe lifesaving). But my focus is on the inner work that will allow us to reclaim such skills from a place of gratitude and joy rather than resignation and fear. My gut belief is that while the inner work often seems intangible and almost impractical, shifting our posture to welcome the radical simplicity that is coming our way may be the single most practical thing we can do.

Finally, I am not planning to propose or develop any alternative community models. Many of our current models (shaped/misshaped by capitalism) have proven destructive of our outer and inner worlds, so fashioning new ways of organizing our common life will be essential. It simply isn’t my particular expertise or focus, and I think it’s important for me to do what I can do, to do THAT very well—and to know those limits and not exceed them. There are others already doing this critical work, and I’d rather support their efforts than do an incompetent job of mirroring them.

There is always more that could be said, but that’s enough for an introduction to this project. I’m not sure whether this Field Guide will ultimately become a print book or an online resource; that will become clear with time. I’ll incorporate some of my best writing from the past few years, but I’ll write much of it fresh. This will be a living, organic project, unfolding in real time right now. It could easily become a never-ending project, but I believe it’s more important to bring it to completion in time to be useful to as many people as possible. I won’t offer a timetable; but, as I said, I’m driven, so I won’t be dawdling.

I’ve set up a dedicated page on my website to gather my writings around Collapse. Alongside my blog posts, this page will be my virtual “work bench,” where various pieces get fine-tuned and finally assembled. While I’ll continue blogging on a variety of topics, this project will be the center of my work, and I’ll use many of my Second Tuesday conversations to discuss this work as it unfolds. I’ll welcome your help!—whether in person on Second Tuesdays or in dialogue across my blog. My writing will be enriched by your questions, comments, and honest reactions. So I warmly invite you to join me in a living conversation about the things needed for our hearts and minds so that we might truly “collapse with care.”

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David Weiss is a theologian, writer, poet and hymnist, “writing into the whirlwind” of contemporary challenges, joys, and sorrows around climate crisis, sexuality, justice, peace, and family. Reach him at drw59mn@gmail.com. Read more at www.davidrweiss.com where he blogs under the theme, “Full Frontal Faith: Erring on the Edge of Honest.” Support him in Writing into the Whirlwind at www.patreon.com/fullfrontalfaith.