[P2P-F] Fwd: Radical Pessimism plus Utopian Action Plan

Sun Jan 12 12:00:46 CET 2020

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Daniel Pinchbeck <daniel at pinchbeck.io>
Date: Sat, Jan 11, 2020 at 9:44 PM
Subject: Radical Pessimism plus Utopian Action Plan
To: <michel at p2pfoundation.net>

What do we do now?
What do we do now?
Radical Pessimism Plus Utopian Action Plan

In my new book, *2012 Revisited*, I try to face our situation honestly.

To do this, I had to reconsider many of the esoteric ideas I wrote
about in *2012:
The Return of Quetzalcoatl*
<https://danielpinchbeck.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3ca3862889fa9a4809f017533&id=91004ee778&e=95120ecb85>(2006)
These
included ideas from Terence McKenna, Jose Arguelles, Graham Hancock, and so
on. Back then, I fully acknowledged the threat of ecological catastrophe.
Yet I hoped humanity would rally to embrace indigenous design principles. I
thought we would see a global movement to prevent the worst outcomes and
launch an antidote to hyper-consumerism.

I held out hopes for the tech community — a younger echelon of wealth
holders who made their fortunes connecting the world via virtual networks.
Some of them explore their consciousness through ayahuasca and so on. I
thought they might  use their genius to re-organize society around
a regenerative model. Instead, most of them embraced the Singularity
ideology of Ray Kurzweil, along with self-serving Libertarian or Neoliberal
political views.

When I wrote *2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl*
<https://danielpinchbeck.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3ca3862889fa9a4809f017533&id=884142fd1e&e=95120ecb85>,
I was already concerned about the evangelical desire to accelerate
Apocalypse. Now things are far worse. It turns out a huge contingent of
self-righteous maniacs believe that Trump was sent by God to accelerate the
"end of the world." As Newsweek reports
<https://danielpinchbeck.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3ca3862889fa9a4809f017533&id=116634c75a&e=95120ecb85>,
"Evangelical Christians overwhelmingly support President Donald Trump
because they believe he'll cause the world to end." That is a tough
position to reason with.

I still hold out faint hopes for a psychic transmutation that might change
the world in some fundamental, quantum-leap kind of a way. For the
documentary *2012: Time for Change*
<https://danielpinchbeck.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3ca3862889fa9a4809f017533&id=0ce943c418&e=95120ecb85>,
we interviewed visionaries like the late Barbara Marx Hubbard who promoted
"conscious evolution" and psychic researcher Dean Radin, who instigated the
Global Consciousness Project at Princeton University. However in *2012
Revisited*, I also take seriously the counter-proposal of Julius Evola, who
thought we are simply descending deeper into Kali Yuga, the dark age
ending with total destruction. He sees this as an inevitable
cylical process which all authentic esoteric traditions recognized. There
will be a "Golden Age" again — but outside of historical time as we
currently experience it. Evola is a complex figure who has been picked up
by the Far Right, but that doesn't make him wrong.

In my new book, I consider what happens to us if we think human extinction
is possible, or even probable, soon. Once past the stages of bargaining and
despair, it can be strangely liberating. It still leaves us with the
question of how to use our time and resources now. Tenderness, gentleness,
and love are probably great ideas. Also, perhaps the over-arching menace
can inspire us to seek "enlightenment" or "realization" or "liberation," as
the esoteric traditions define it, in an accelerated and disciplined way.
That seems worth a shot in any case. Given the severity of the situation,
we may as well explore the mystery of consciousness and existence to its
ultimate depths.

Of course I am still on board to be part of any legitimate,
last-minute effort to "save the world." I have many  plans, theories, and
strategies ready for marshaling a counter-movement to transform our current
system and salvage our planet from the destructive forces of
imperialism, Capitalism, neo-Fascism, Fundamentalism, etcetera. My 2017
book, *How Soon Is Now
<https://danielpinchbeck.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3ca3862889fa9a4809f017533&id=d90876db00&e=95120ecb85>*,
put together an action plan. The Regenerative Societies Wiki
<https://danielpinchbeck.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3ca3862889fa9a4809f017533&id=6596944d88&e=95120ecb85>
offers
a systemic approach.

Here is one example of a potentially world-saving idea: As Newsweek notes:
"Jerusalem has a central role as the city of prophecy and the place where
the end of times plays out. According to the prophecy, a 1,000-year period
of peace must be followed by seven years of tribulation, during which wars,
disease, and natural disasters will lay waste to the earth. In the book of
Revelation, Israel is described as a nation that exists during the time of
tribulation, and Jerusalem's Jewish temple is resurrected during this
period. The last temple was destroyed around 70 A.D, and today there is a
mosque on the Temple Mount where the previous two temples are believed to
have stood. Evangelicals believe that a unified Israel with control over
Jerusalem will facilitate the construction of a new Jewish temple, and set
the groundwork for the end of times." We could satisfy the prophecies and
rebuild the Temple on the Mount in a peaceful way, by projecting a hologram
of the Temple of Solomon on the current mosque, rather than having violent
conflict around it.

Perhaps I will propose some other ideas in future newsletters, in case
anyone is listening.

Get the new book
<https://danielpinchbeck.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3ca3862889fa9a4809f017533&id=66ca3d980c&e=95120ecb85>
The Occult Control System

Are "aliens" interfering with us and perhaps manipulating our
timelines?This short book considers ETs and UFOs from an occult and
metaphysical viewpoint.

Buy it here
<https://danielpinchbeck.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3ca3862889fa9a4809f017533&id=9532f501bd&e=95120ecb85>
When Plants Dream

This book is an overview of ayahuasca, considering all aspects of this
amazing visionary medicine. I wrote it with Sophia Rokhlin, an
anthropologist.

Buy it here
<https://danielpinchbeck.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3ca3862889fa9a4809f017533&id=0e8dcaba5f&e=95120ecb85>
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