As Los Angeles burns….
I call on empathy and imagination as the better angels of our nature, and storytelling as the most powerful force for changing the world
“It wasn’t just that the place was in flames. It was that it seemed to be in flames everywhere at once, as a barrage of separate wildfire events erupted in population centers across the region, each spawning its own constellation of spot fires from wind-driven embers. Psychically if not physically, they merged into a kind of mega-catastrophe for Southern Californians. Ash, smoke, wind and flames carried the heart-stinging realization, which spread like a contagion, that a new and less manageable landscape was on the horizon.”
--Shawn Hubler, The New York Times, January 8, 2025
In the digital information age, we are all affected, “psychically if not physically,” by the on-going beat of disasters happening on our planet. This week, it’s the terrible wind-driven fires in Los Angeles and the earthquake in Tibet. A few months ago it was the raging floods hitting North Carolina.
We are pounded by disaster after disaster, compounded by the relentless slow-motion catastrophe of global climate disruption.
Our political climate mirrors the physical climate, hot and dangerously unstable, fanning anxieties and animosities, creating ideal conditions for strongmen and warlords to rule by fear and force—hence the rise of wars, both physical and cyber, across the globe.
The grief a still-privileged onlooker like me feels is a ghost of the real suffering that living beings, both human and more-than-human, are enduring on this planet.
Still, it must be acknowledged that empathy is one of the best and most important human qualities.
Imagination is our superpower, and always has been. We don’t have to live through a deadly fire to be able to imagine how it must feel. Our hearts break in sympathy even when we have never experienced such a loss.
This is the principle driving storytelling throughout the ages; it is the reason that human stories passed down through generations have so often been tales of tragedies and resilience.
The great epics of the past strengthen our ability to empathize, teaching us how our ancestors got through times of suffering and sorrow. We learn to appreciate the fact that we are here because they survived, at least long enough to cast their DNA—and their stories—into the future.
Trauma may be part of our biological, psychological and societal inheritance, but so is resilience. Now, in the age of digital storytelling, we find ourselves horrified front-row spectators to every new spasm of violence.
Our vivid imaginations leap into action and we are able to feel the suffering of others in our own hearts. Our empathy is kindled; we care, we want to help repair the new tear in the social fabric, restoring the balance and harmony all life on Earth needs for well-being.
In this global era, though the old national, cultural and linguistic borders still exist, it is increasingly evident that not only are all humans part of the same far-flung family, but all life on Earth is our kin, to be protected and cherished.
Those who lack the ability to recognize this kinship are still living by the playbook of the old story that dominated the era of colonization and conquest—the Darwinian story of hierarchichal competition, with its “natural” explanation for ruthless capitalism as somehow being healthy for the evolution of humanity.
We know now that humans are one aspect of the complex system that gives rise to all life on our planet. Indeed, so-called “inanimate matter” is also part of this dance, as every part of the physical world is actually as much energy as matter, both particles and waves.
We know, in a theoretical way, that All is One—that we are all radically interconnected with every other aspect of the Gaian system.
Now we are being called to bring this theory into practice, to embrace this unified understanding of our place in Gaia and indeed in the cosmos.
We are all One. If we lived this principle, it could change everything.
Through the fires, floods, hurricanes and earthquakes—through the great elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth—Gaia is telling us her own version of the story of interconnection. No human can build a wall high enough or a tunnel deep enough to withstand the awesome might of Gaia destabilized and unbalanced.
No piles of currency, cryptocoin or gold bars can hold back the forces of Mother Earth seeking equilibrium again.
Watching Los Angeles burn, I call on the better angels of our nature—our empathy and our imagination—to help us release the old destructive stories that no longer serve us and embrace bold new visions for the better future that could be.
Can we learn from the tragedies of our time, rebuilding on the ashes of the old order to create a new, more harmonious civilization?
It is up to the dreamers and the storytellers—and yes, Hollywood, I’m looking at you—to stop endlessly spinning dystopian tales and instead put our formidable imaginations to work for the common good, creating stories of tragedy and resilience that will nourish future generations and serve as blueprints for a better world.
Can we, by writing to right the world, become the leaders we need now?
Cultivate your creativity with one of my writing workshops!
My writing workshops in purposeful memoir are intended as creative recharges, a chance to learn and grow with kindred spirits in nurturing places.
I have several opportunities coming up, locally in the Berkshires, online or internationally!
Explore the garden of your life in a special writing workshop series at the Berkshire Botanical Garden this winter!
Come meet other writer-gardeners and brighten up the winter season with the creative bloom of memoir writing in good company!
We’ll meet on four Wednesday mornings, January 29 - February 19, on the lovely campus of the Berkshire Botanical Garden, for a series of memoir writing workshops taking off on the theme of gardening.
At two-hour online workshop hosted by Berkshire OLLI, explore “The Many Faces of Love”
In this online memoir class, open to writers at all levels, we’ll focus on generating rich, detailed prose writing, capturing the full range of emotions inspired by Love and spinning them into the gold of a good story, well told.
You’ll learn how shifts in narration, point of view and voice can change the tenor of your story; how to use description to build detailed settings without getting in the way of pacing and plot; and how to get inside your characters (including yourself!), showing them in action in ways that move and inspire your readers.
Come prepared to be moved and to move others as we write and share about Love in good company!
10 am - noon Eastern, hosted by Berkshire OLLI. $15 for OLLI members, $20 for non-members.
Come write and speak your truth with me in this powerful four-session Bioneers Learning online class!
In this hands-on class hosted by Bioneers Learning, we’ll look deeply at some of the major social and environmental issues of our time and consider how outstanding leaders have used creative expression to make a difference.
Inspired by these models, you’ll work on expressing your own ideas with confidence, clarity, and eloquence, in both writing and public speaking, coming away with a portfolio of writing, a recorded talk, and a circle of kindred spirits cheering you on.
Four Fridays, Feb. 28 - March 21, 2025, live online from 12 - 1:30 pm with recordings available.
Come Riding & Writing in Iceland with me next June!
Riding & Writing in Iceland!
June 2 - 8, 2025
The creative tonic of Iceland has to be experienced to be understood.
Come experience the body, mind and spirit glow that comes from Riding & Writing in good company in a beautiful place, warmly hosted by our friends Gudmar and Christina at Hestaland.
Click here to find out more and see beautiful photos from my past Riding & Writing trips to Iceland.
Friends, it’s my pleasure and my passion to support you as we stretch towards living our lives creatively and to the fullest.
The motto of my author consulting business is “Writing to Right the World,” and the motto of my book publishing business, Green Fire Press, is “Books that Make the World Better.”
If these intentions resonate with you and you are working on a book, or have one in mind, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Supporting creative people bring their work more strongly out into the world is one way I try to make the world better.
Psychically if not physically... Yes
I really appreciate your lifting up imagination as an under appreciated quality that can contribute to human healing. It's also wonderful to be reminded of the power of the earth to sustain itself under threat.