How To Be Happy Amidst Collapse

Are you supposed to be OK right now?- Part 3

Today’s article is a capstone for this entire open journal. This specific series has outlined the obvious and simple case for why our global society and quality of life will likely collapse in the near term. I then described why “being ok” in today’s society is an extra-ordinary act, that requires an extra-ordinary effort.

Finally I have arrive at the thing I always wanted to write - a description of the things one must turn towards and the things one must turn away from in order to foster contentment within ourselves despite the most obvious and glaring truth.

Not to be born is, beyond all estimation, best; but when a man has seen the light of day, this is next best by far, that with utmost speed he should go back from where he came.

- Sophocles

I must confess that the following three treatises are written to myself, for myself, regarding the struggles I find within myself. I am not a guru, I have not found nirvana, my capabilities are slightly above average at best and simply a byproduct of my privileged upbringing at worst. There is no dogma here - just advice for you to pick and choose. If the main voices that direct our culture weren’t so clearly rotten, so clearly designed to abuse, manipulate and drain young men, then I would not be here. I would be playing music and enjoying the company of my fellow artists. I have little want for power and wealth beyond my needs, it is boring. From my own estimation being around so many powerful men - excessive riches seem to always bring a sort of sickness that consumes the heart and creates a deep deep cavity within us.

But this truth belies why the loudest voices in our culture will always be the ones most likely to lead you astray. Content men are reticent to dirty their hands in the affairs of the state or broader culture. Beyond providing and protecting for our immediate needs, the pursuit of wealth and influence that put us above our friends and into combat with perceived enemies is simply a distraction. The only pursuit worthy of our attention is cultivating a rich soul that, when left to its own devices, generates contentment and serenity.

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On The Lost Art Of Virtue

In my late teens I chose to attend a very unique university where the entire student body studied the same curriculum - a curated reading list of the 100 most influential works shaping Western thought and culture.

This included everything from Plato’s dialogues and the Bible to Newton’s “Principia Mathematica” and Einsteins “Relativity”. My thinking was that surely placing myself in this polity would put me in the proximity of virtuous teachers, with students who would, like me, be chiefly concerned with how to cultivate a serious mind and eudaimonia (a state of human flourishing or living well).

Oh how unbelievably fucking wrong I was.

In terms of the professors - many were simply dull. A lack of experience in the real-world beyond academia, a disinterest in mentoring the students who needed it most and a way of practicing philosophy that was more like a sport of conquest than a serious examination of how to live a good life. The lack of any discipline or moral action at the foundation of their proclaimed expertise in virtue and ethics is manifest by the sex scandals between students and professors that still and always has plagued the institution.

For the students - most were there simply because the school de-emphasized traditional measures of academic success (like the SATs, GPAs, etc) but still provided the pamper or illusion that one was at something akin to an Ivy League College. There were no standardized tests, all classes were discussion based, the only homework was usually reading or writing.

I have to confess, part of why I was there was because its easier to wax-and-wane over Kierkegaard than actually learn a real science or skill to contribute to society.

However, even in such a flawed place I did learn how to cultivate better introspection, better discipline and an appetite for drinking a variety of arguments and measuring them against one another. These habits are the critical pillars for learning the art of virtue.

Without introspection, you cannot course correct your way out of the manipulation of others, the fallacy of your humors or the rot created by rotten habits you control rather than the rotten circumstances you do not.

Without discipline, you will be unable to execute on truths you know to be evident. If you know that a habit harms yourself or others, discipline is the only tool one can cultivate to disarm it. If you know an action spurred by your feelings will cause negative consequences in the long run - discipline is the only tool you have to tame yourself.

Without an ear for argument, you will not cultivate the experience you need to think clearly and cleanly. Reading, writing, learning and debate are exercises of our critical thinking skills. When we ignore these crucial habits for mindless, hypnotizing pursuits (and addictions) our mental muscles slack and buckle when under attack from those who seek to direct us towards their own ends rather than our own.

Unfortunately, as I outlined in part 2, modern western life is in direct opposition to the appetite you need to cultivate in order to to even have a chance at pursuing virtue.

Basic education is defunded and deprioritized, higher education is expensive and materially unrewarding.

Our attention spans are being shortened by digital pacifiers enveloping the quiet moments we used to use for contemplation, self-reflection and meditation.

Information has become so distorted that debate is increasingly impossible. Any real discussion between two people will never be productive if we can’t all agree on a shared reality. Our political debates have entirely devolved into meaninglessness because one side in particular just says shit.

You can’t argue with someone that constantly just says shit, because you’re so busy breaking down their lies you can never construct any sort of coherent truth. We used to treat people who just say shit as either conmen or madmen.

Now we call them President.

I cannot tell you what virtue is, who certainly has it and who doesn’t. In my own estimation, in my own self, it waxes and wanes as a function of my habits and less so the externalities thrust upon my life. Suffering has a particular way of making me more productive, authentic and virtuous, not less. This is why I do not have the aversion to embracing suffering of many kinds that I see in all my countrymen - especially this new generation of young men.

However, I can tell you that the reason why men are the worst they have ever been is decadence and an obsession with seeking maximum dopamine through minimal effort. Our politics have exploded beyond the blinders philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Jesus Christ, Augustine and John Locke imprinted into western traditions and governance to keep even the simplest amongst us on a decent path.

This is why I am at peace with some of the puritanical laws and policies that will soon be imprinted on Americans. While my national politics is entirely summarized by

1. Save the planet

2. Make the material conditions of the working class better

3. Consume the billionaire class, desecrate their graves, and erase their lineage—for these are people whose crimes against the planet are so deep-seated, they seem woven into their very DNA.
   

   I agree with my fascist christian-nationalist countrymen in some respects when giving personal advice to friends and family.
   
   It probably isn’t good for young men to have unfettered access to all sorts of taboo and performative pornography.

   
   It probably would be best for men to be required to serve their community in their late teens, before moving onto being responsible for building families and careers.

   The nuclear family is likely the most natural and healthy family unit for raising children and having a fulfilling life for most not all people.

   The explosion of the access to very potent marijuana likely has not been an overall benefit to society.

   Technology beyond the smartphone may very well be the devil.
   
   I know all these things and yet…I partake in almost all these vices and advocate that every American should be able to do whatever the hell they want in their personal life.

   Ultimately it should be on you, not the state, to orient yourself towards healthy habits and discern how to spend your limited time being a being.

   In that pursuit, however, I would advise you to look backwards at the men whose ideas were carved with much effort and greatly filtered by the tests of time. I do not sincerely believe that Joe Rogan’s concepts of “manliness” will be in anyway as impactful or helpful to you as Aristotle’s concepts of habituation through virtue found in the Nicomachean Ethics, the beauty and razor sharp conversation in Plato’s dialogues or the simple, vital, truths in Marcus Aurelius’ meditations.
   
   The divinity inside Khalil Gibran’s “The Prophet” speaks for itself.
   

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.

- Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

The lost art of virtue is, in part, the lost art of reading. Do not consume the remnants of these great ideas from the rotten orifices of these sophists on Youtube, Reddit, Tiktok and even Substack (like me!!!). Read them for yourself, discuss them with the other serious people in your life and write about them in the quiet hours of the morning before you begin to act throughout the day.

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On Kindness & Animals

Kindness is a delicate balance. It is incredibly difficult to foster a sense of contentment when we’re uncomfortable - and much easier to fan the flames of indulgence with luxury. Further, graciousness can easily turn into resentment when we go beyond the bounds of our own comfort to make space for others. Humans, in particular, have a peculiar way of taking advantage and denigrating the most gracious amongst us.

Nevertheless kindness and grace is surely a by-product of contentment. To do kindness unto others is to do kindness to yourself. To choose to make someones day brighter - rather than darker - certainly helps our skin hang tighter and brings with it vigor no matter our age or health.

I do not consider myself an excessively kind man, at least to other humans. I believe we all carry the sin of what we have done and are doing to the planet and the innocent beings who have the misfortune of being here with us. I resent all of us for not claiming what should have been our destiny - to be a shepherd and care taker for this wonderful place we call home and the wondrous and curious beings on it. We inflict the worst horrors imaginable on non-humans and tell ourselves “its alright” because they aren’t “sentient” - as if intelligence is a justifiable measure of whether or not you deserve an entire existence of suffering. Most animals we imprison, eat, skin, milk and commoditize clearly seek comfort, fear pain, yearn for freedom and love their offspring.

So while I cannot tell you how to measure your grace in your day to day interactions with humans - I am adamant that we would all immediately feel more at peace with ourselves if we just had some more consideration for the beings that certainly deserve and appreciate our kindness. It is hard to be in a bad mood when wrestling with a dog, or cuddling a soft cat, or watching birds eat from a bird feeder you’ve built. It’s hard not to smile when stroking a cow’s gentle face, feeling the eager energy of a horse ready to ride, or sensing the trust of a squirrel eating from your hand.

It is better, and less messy, to simply catch a bug and put it outside rather than squash it in your home and deal with its carnage on your walls or hands.

Further, if you consume less animals your body will thank you. The cost of red meat is a higher chance of colon cancer and clogged arteries. The benefits of an all plant based meal is less inflammation and a lighter gut while still feeling full. It is simply hard to get sick, old and fat on a diet of things that are green.

I am not saying you must become a vegan. While I carried that mantle for a while I am not going to sit here and pretend like I know for certain every product I buy didn’t harm an animal in it’s creation, that my hunger doesn’t sometimes outstrip my morals or that my carbon footprint isn’t in line with the average Americans’. I’m simply saying that practicing kindness is good for fostering contentment and health - but kindness in human-to-human interactions is a nuanced and risky business while practicing kindness in human-to-nonhuman interactions is straightforward and easy.

I am also saying that surrounding yourself with animals and nature brings us joy because we are animals designed by nature to exist in nature. Unfettered capitalism seeks to mold us in it’s image - a cold, heartless, ever growing cancer in opposition to the limits of growth and the consideration that some things are more valuable than generating “profits”.

Don’t fall for it. Go outside. Touch grass. Be nice to an animal. Partake in pursuits that contribute to the common good because, and only because, they contribute to the common good.

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On Creation, Craft and Art

These are the things we naturally endeavor towards - not luxury or power over others. When a human being feels they have enough you always see them turn to pursuits of artistic expression.

Isn’t it manifest then that we work to sustain our creative expression, not the other way around? Isn’t it clear that it’s the creative expression that’s good for the sake of itself - not the accumulation of capital?

Emil Cioran, the Romanian philosopher, once told of Socrates’ last moments: While the hemlock (a poison) was being prepared, Socrates was learning a melody on the flute.

‘What use will that be to you?’ he was asked.
‘At least I will learn this melody before I die.’

Art is the only true armor we have against the existential dread at the heart of existence, a light that endures in the black of midnight. Even in the the cargo bays of Spanish slave ships Peruvian men hid modified shipping crates. In the dead of night they would secretly use these simple drums to play rhythms and soothe their anguish as they were ferried away from freedom to the worst kind of life humanity has to offer.

Today we call that instrument the cajon.

Of course, a beautiful sculpture, average woodworker, flawed musician or sage teacher is not much use to the capitalist unless their talent is monetized for “the markets” benefit. Only “great” creativity, as measured by the market, will provide an artist with material sustenance. And so society supports very little artistry, pushing the majority of citizens into the dullest of pursuits whose only purpose is pacification - not anyones enrichment.

A bunch of us recently laid off white collar workers have learned this the hard way. If our cushy project management, marketing, software development, IT, fuck-around-and-tell-people-what-to-do jobs are so important why is it that so many of us are having a horrible time trying to find re-employment and the stock market is at all time highs?

All this time, humans shoved in cubicles with golden handcuffs when they could have been planting trees, mentoring children, learning to sing and making stuff we want to make just because it’s beautiful, brings joy and should exist.

This is why I love teaching people to become artists. I simply do not know what would make life worth living if I didn’t get to partake in the spontaneous craft of music with my friends. I know very few lonely talented musicians. While most modern men have lost “the third space”, here in Denver my musical network and I have many places to commiserate outside our homes and jobs.

Art, when performed at a high level, is a sort of incredibly addicting and social game. A rivalry, team sport and craft done to bring joy to our audience and communicate with one another through the language of feelings rather than the logic and rationality words force upon us. A way to know and experience one another thats more primal, and honest, than language.

To put it another way, I know how to express a joke, or sadness, or anger or joy through my guitar - but I only know how to lie with my lips.

The labor of the majority didn’t used to be so disconnected from our interests, and the benefits so unapparent after our efforts. There’s a profound difference between operating a machine that churns out thousands of identical pieces of bland furniture and handcrafting a single piece over a month for a customer you know and care about.

We recognize this, it’s why we hate AI art. It may be a similar “quality” as whatever a human can do - but it lacks the communication and connection that can only be crafted by human minds and human hands.

So I suggest you keep this in mind when deciding how to spend your time and what labor is worthwhile or not. While I love video games and tv, too often they create an empty facsimile of accomplishment or adventure that cannot hold a candle to the real thing. While I understand the appeal of high paying white collar work and climbing the corporate ladder (I did it for a decade in a half, I did not leave it willingly and I expect I will have to return to it eventually), life can sometimes be richer as a craftsmen or entrepreneur even thought he pay is worse, there is less security and the work is harder.

All the people I’ve known who have the space for leisure but don’t dedicate themselves to creative labor are unhappy and, frankly, somewhat boring. If you want to look at where to start - try the things you have a natural inclination to do.

Of course, if you want to progress, that will require effort, some suffering and discipline - but we’ve already discussed why those are things you should run through, not away from.

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The Selfish Case For Trying To Be “Good”

In summary, these are the things I orient myself towards because they are good in and of themselves.

The art of virtue, because it breeds contentment.
Kindness and nature, because it is good for ones health.
Creation, craft and art - because that is the natural labor of a human being.

I have kept politics out of this essay so far to keep it accessible to a broad audience- but now lets get to the heart of the matter.

The re-election of Donald Trump truly represents the victory of capitalists over any sort of collective action towards stopping or even mitigating collapse. It is clear that the people who caused this mess find a mass population die-off to be a more acceptable path for degrowth rather than any sort of solutions that would threaten their status or, god forbid, bring about some sort of accountability.

”Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven” I guess, the bastards.

So in the wake of this week’s election, many of us find ourselves feeling as if we’re wandering in a dark forest—much like Dante at the beginning of his journey into hell.

When I had journeyed half of our life's way,
I found myself within a shadowed forest
for I had lost the path that does not stray.

Ah, it is hard to speak of what it was,
that savage forest, dense and difficult!

which even in recall renews my fear: 

- Dante’s Inferno, Canto 1

What is the point of being a “good person” if the end result is defeat? What is the point of hard work, if capital will always triumph over merit? The life experience of a millennial is being promised a moral meritocracy and experiencing the opposite - so why not give into hedonism, nihilism and indifference?

The Bible provides us an answer. Christians seriously misinterpret the teachings of my favorite rabbi - Jesus christ. Probably because barely any of them have read the goddamn book, and if they have it certainly wasn’t in the original greek.

But I did, and I translated the sermons when Jesus first confers the concepts of hell and “the kingdom of heaven”. It’s clear that these two concepts were descriptions of the experience of being a man of god or a sinner.

Someone who is virtuous cultivates an inner life that is heavenly, that is of consistent and divine pleasure.

Likewise, someone who is consumed with sin cultivates an inner life that is hellish and painful.

When Jesus speaks of one’s soul experiencing “hell” if they are a sinner - in my reading he is actually stating that your lived experience would be akin to if you were at a sort of garbage dump outside of Jerusalem.

It is highly unfortunate that sometimes English translations of the New Testament render the Greek word “Gehenna” as “hell.” That conjures up precisely the wrong image for Bible readers today, making them think Jesus is referring to the underworld of fiery torment where people go for eternal punishment for their sins. That is not what Gehenna referred to at all. On the contrary, it was a place well known among Jews in Jesus’ day. It was a desecrated valley outside of Jerusalem, a place literally forsaken by God.

Bart Ehrman, The Horrible Fate of Sinners: Jesus’ Teaching on Gehenna

However, this is a bit too heady for the masses - so when Christianity evolved from a small cult to the governing religion of an extremely large empire in the Mediterranean (Rome) heaven and hell became places, not states of being.

It always comes back to this doesn’t it? That we think what we want is power and wealth because it will provide us with security and contentment. When in reality security does not exist (you will die, I will die, we all will die) and contentment is found in community, the genuine respect of a friend you admire and accomplishing good things because they are good.

So when you measure a man - measure him not by his wealth, or his power or his influence.

Measure him by his capability to solve the central problem of man.

‘All of humanity’s problems stem from our inability to sit quietly in a room alone’
- Pascal Pensées

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Well, I hope today’s article makes you feel better - where I am everyone seems to be having a tough time even if they are not collapse aware.

While I felt a bit pretentious writing today’s treatises, I also think this the most constructive thing I have ever provided my audience - and there certainly are a good lot of you now.

How to live in late stage capitalism and while aware of collapse has always been my central interest in this project I call “Years Of Gap”. An honest discussion and exploration is something I need to stay sane and not give in to the temptation to embrace my end. To be quiet honest with you, my dear and dedicated reader, this is a sort of anti-suicide note.

Because if there truly is no rational argument for being honest and just…then I’ve had enough.

Below is an invitation to “buy me a coffee”. If you have the means and my writing has had an impact I hope you’ll consider it. So far I have kept all my content free, because it was very important to me that anyone in a place of despondency or despair can find this series of articles in particular. That said, I have the incredible misfortune of being a professional musician and freelancer. To make ends meet I have to be mindful of how I spend my time.

A “coffee” is really a vote for me to be able to write for you more frequently. It’s how I can justify setting aside time each week to turn this open journal into something consistent. The coffees readers have already sent me are why I picked up writing again and why I think there’s value into letting complete strangers read what is in essence my personal journal.

Regardless, you have already given me the most valuable thing you have to offer - your trust and attention. I seriously cannot convey to you how much I appreciate these precious gifts. If you’ve gotten this far you’re likely a person I would receive warmly. You’re thoughtful and introspective, you’re likely well-read and most importantly you’re likely trying to be moral. If anything this entire article has been a roadmap for where I am trying to go, not who I am - and I feel a certain special companionship with the readers who have joined me so far. More than “coffees”, I hope to hear from you and interact with you - to learn more about myself through your impression of these thoughts even if your assessment is that they are foolish, or pompous, or pedantic.

Until we talk again, I wish you many peaceful moments. I hope you experience real music and have moments where you are completely engulfed in the present.

I hope you have nights where sleep comes to you easy, and days where you feel a courageous indifference to a distant death.

My utmost affection,
Jordan Sinclair Lovinger
November 13th, 2024