Scaling Down the Cliff of Collapse

Choosing Agency When Systems Fail

In my podcast conversation with Skinner Layne he offered a compelling metaphor for our current situation: As we see the cliff of collapse ahead, we can choose to intentionally scale down that cliff rather than being pushed over it with everyone else.

This metaphor works for our material circumstances—yes, it's wise to reduce dependency on fragile supply chains and find more sustainable ways of living. But there's a more urgent reality facing many in my networks: the interior dimension of collapse.

Since Trump's victory, I've spoken with many people who have been functionally disabled by what his win signifies about their world. They describe themselves as depressed, disoriented, afraid. There's a kind of paralytic frozenness taking over their minds, mirroring what trauma researchers call "freeze," where the nervous system shuts down in the face of overwhelming threat.

Let me be clear about something: There are populations facing direct, material threats to their safety and wellbeing. This piece isn't about them - if you or those you care about are genuinely vulnerable, the appropriate response is clear, focused action to ensure safety and protection. There's also a wide spectrum of legitimate concerns and impacts that different people face - I'm not dismissing these complexities or suggesting that all worry is baseless. What I'm specifically addressing here is a particular phenomenon: the psychological paralysis affecting many who, while not directly threatened, find themselves disabled by what these changes represent. This paralysis doesn't serve anyone - not those who are experiencing it, and certainly not those who need real support and protection. We need people who can respond effectively to protect the vulnerable, not freeze in existential terror.

Given this distinction, I want to share what I've learned about moving beyond paralysis. For the past twenty years, I've devoted myself to deconditioning my mind through spiritual practice. In Buddhist circles, we often talk about finding well-being independent of conditions. This might sound abstract, but it's intensely practical. It means that when events like Trump's victory occur, your stability, joy, and relationships aren't threatened. It means your well-being isn't dependent on the New York Times providing information that keeps your psychological prison coherent.

Because that's what collapse really means. It's not just supply chains failing or garbage piling up in the streets (or worse). It's the breakdown of the ideologies and worldviews that afforded us a some sense of safety and coherence. In America, thanks to our great wealth, these psychological structures are collapsing faster than material ones.

Here's what I see happening: As these ideological structures break down, people who are deeply invested in them—people who believe their way of seeing the world IS reality—fall into hopelessness and paralysis. It's a failure of imagination dressed up as realism. And it's not true.

I am, with my friends, feeling more creative and empowered than ever before. Not because I agree with Trump but because I am working with people I love to do meaningful, creative work that builds a different future—for me and hopefully for many others.

"That's nice for you," you might say, "but I've trained my whole life to be a cog in a government bureaucracy that no longer wants me. I have a family and a brownstone in DC." Yes, that's hard. Really hard. And it would be easy to take on the identity of a victim. But you made those choices. You chose to pursue a path dependent on a system of delusion. In Buddhism we practice daily to remember the truth that we are the inheritors of our actions. You are currently inheriting your actions. This is actually a position of great empowerment, though it may not feel that way.

We desperately want to escape this reality by outsourcing our discernment to ideologies that offer some semblance of security and coherence. But in the end, we have to do our own work. We must clarify what is right action, what is good, what is true. If you find yourself in a position where the world seems to be falling apart and you don't know how to move forward—this is actually a great position to be in if you allow it to catalyze new agency.

That very space of breakdown is the space of emergence. It's where new intelligence can burst forth if we let it. Many people won't allow this emergence. They may very well die, psychologically if not physically, because they won't allow something new to be born. Death isn't bad or wrong, but there is another choice. And the world desperately needs those who make that choice—people who have liberated themselves from dying ideologies and are willing to create and discover something new.

The ideological complex that enabled our lifestyle was based on ignoring profound externalities that were debasing the planet's life systems and harming people worldwide. We're entering a future of exponential technology where any individual could potentially cause great harm. We can no longer afford structures of externalization that afford us a pleasant lifestyle but create resentment and anger elsewhere. We need to find a way forward together.

It's no individual's fault if you found yourself encased in this ideological prison. I'm genuinely sorry—it's painful to wake up to this reality. But here we are, and it's time to grow up. It's time to be guided by a love of truth instead of a love of security and false belonging. The way down the cliff is challenging, but it's far better than being pushed.

Work with me: I offer one-on-one guidance helping people develop secure attachment with reality through deep unfoldment work. If this resonates, explore working together