Staying Sane


How does one respond to a massive crisis—or one that is about to occur?

denial   blame   bargaining   depression   acceptance

The above list is based on Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ famous stages observed in people learning of their terminal illness. It was originally called The Five Stages of Receiving Catastrophic News.

Essentially, we have all received catastrophic news, and we are all in some way moving or cycling through the stages listed above. The overall society is still largely in the denial stage. I think that staying sane means moving in the direction of acceptance, but an active acceptance, not a passive one—after all, we’re still alive and kicking!

Another way of looking at acceptance is to be thoughtful about what we accept. Of course it is wise and healthy to accept the things we really can’t change, as is wonderfully expressed in the Serenity Prayer. Some things definitely fall into that category; for example, the Earth is warming, and will continue to do so for some time. Many, many other things are either changeable, by people working together, or unknown in their changeability.

Is there hope?

We don’t know at this point whether all of our best efforts will succeed in keeping the planet livable for people and many other forms of life. For now, we have to live with a very deep uncertainty. But to live with hope does not mean we have to know the outcome. I don’t think it even means that we sustain ourselves by clinging to a particular future. I think that essentially it is living with the awareness that it is good to be alive, that the future is unknown in many ways, and that we have a role to play as long as we are here.

Václav Havel, who started as a grassroots organizer at a time when the authoritarian regime in Czechoslovakia seemed to have Gibraltar-like permanence, wrote something striking about hope:


The kind of hope I often think about (especially in situations that are particularly hopeless, such as prison) I understand above all as a state of mind, not a state of the world....Hope is not a prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons....it is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.
—Václav Havel
former President of the Czech Republic
from Disturbing the Peace

Here is another perspective on hope I find useful:


I tend to avoid the hope word, because I think it gets us into the wrong way of thinking. I try to think about being practical. Once you start being practical and doing certain tasks, especially doing them socially and not feeling isolated, the body releases chemicals into the bloodstream which make you feel better. To play a short piece on the violin or the piano, especially with somebody else, causes a peculiar effect on you that lasts for some time, a satisfaction. You’ve actually done something, and the body rewards you.
—Julian Darley


I think that a hopeless attitude is not realistic, but is a kind of shutting down in defense, a turning away from the possibilities that exist, whatever they may be. But even though I believe this, I have to work every day to remain hopeful, and I don’t always succeed. Here are the main things I have found that keep me out “in the light of day.” (Click on each for a description.)


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