Part 1 — Staying With the Trouble

The Boldest Devastation

A chapter of collapse, crumbling ecologies, civilisation fraying. Systems are driving us faster than our agency to resist or divert them. If you feel cast into isolation, siloed by powerlessness in the face of things, hold steady to your roots. Remember what we are made of. Cling to the heart of things. Look to those who still live with their hearts out. Let your love of life be the momentum that races away…

Read the Lyrics

Singing Key

LEFT RIGHT ALL

Take me to your lonely place and leave me there
You always look so calm - How can you keep your stillness
in amongst all these alarms?
The near-collapse of everything
It's time these engines stalled;
it's the Boldest Devastation, wrought by us, upon us all.

You're brave - despite all of this fury, there's a hope you always say,
and your love of life is racing away…

Hold this forever: love and honesty are what we're made of;
it's not going away.
We're way beyond our limits, and the time is right for us to refrain
There's nothing to strive for and nothing to crave - it's just how we behaved.
Hold this - it's as precious as the loving that we never made.

We're all wasted when we're hungering for money and the gravy trains
There's nothing to strive for and nothing to gain - it's just how we behave.

You're brave - despite all of this fury, there's a hope you always say,
and your love of life is racing away.

If I held you forever and I promised you that I'd never stray
Would you save all of the species and reverse all of the climate change?
Is it too much to ask? Can you take it away?

Sit With This

Theme: collapse, grief at scale, stillness, presence, values

What alarms are loudest in your life right now. Climate. Money. Politics. Loss.
Where do you find people who remain calm without being numb.
Can you name qualities in people that help them be impactful with their presence or actions.
What values feel non-negotiable for you, even as systems fray.
What does "refraining" look like in your life. Less striving. Less consuming. Less speed.
What kind of world are you quietly practising already, even if it feels small.

Audio Recording

The Deeper Dive

A lockdown Covid song. I had taken the last plane out of Kenya before they closed the airports, and now I was quarantining in a camper van on my parents' driveway. There was panic in the shopping aisles, whilst in Kenya, people simply ploughed more fields and planted more food, pragmatic and calm. I thought of a friend of mine who had escaped the fast burn of California for a new life of yoga and breathwork in Bali. She was cultivating her inner stillness, reconnecting with what matters as the world's systems went crazy. But there was still grief to engage with and transform.