Some decades ago, during a time when Leonard Cohen was in a monastery tending to the Roshi, I reached out and invited him to be a Wisdom Advisor for Mighty Companions, the non-profit I was forming. No dice, he was busy. But he said he got what I was up to and that I could use any of his music. How perfect for Suzanne to become the theme song of a podcast I did! But the world is a less zesty place now that the person who could write this lyric is no longer in it:
Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in. —Leonard Cohen
My bells are ringing now, calling you to what I can do to try to let light in!
Subject: Open letter to some best-of-the-best writers on Substack
To: Heather Delaney Reese, Johan, Margi Prideaux, Marianne Williamson, Dave Pell, George Tsakraklides, Ernesto Van Peborgh, Mark McInerney, Normal Island News, Corbin Trent, Mariah Faith Continelli, Greg Olear, Frank Schaeffer, Geoffrey Deihl, Justin McAffee, Ava DuVernay, Anarcasper, Maya Frost, Ronald Logan, Patty Smith, Akhil, Neal Gabler, Tham Zhiwa, Christy Shaver, Elizabeth Lukehart, Thom Hartmann, Richard Crim, Steve Schmidt, Jeff Tiedrich, Jessica Wildfire, Matt Orsagh, Max Wilbert, Marc Randolph, Seymour Hersh, Robert Reich, Chris Hedges, Michele Burton, Robert Sinn, Martin McSweeney, Frank George, Robin Wilding, The Honest Sorcerer, Kahlil Greene, Greg Palast, Joyce Vance, James Fallows, Lea Bonheim, Kira Thomsen-Cheek, Patrick Mazza, Bill Miller, Stephen Dinan, William J. Barber, Alex Evans, Sam Harris, Alexander Beiner, Hamilton Nolan, Jared Yates Sexton, Timothy Snyder, Sam Stein, Barry Gander, Ralph Nader, Rachel Donald, Michael Moore, Dennis Kucinich,Tim Minchin,James Schneider, Soren Gordhamer, Shannon Watts, James R. Martin, Elle Griffin,Peter Diamandis, Andrew Yang, Noah Smith, Tom Murphy, Alan Urban, Daniel Schmachtenberger, Nate Hagens, Bernie Sanders, Peter Russell, David Spangler
Hello to you writers of outstanding Substack pieces that I’ve shared with my subscribers. They’re all collected here, in a treasure trove that’s available for everyone’s great pleasure.
I have a proposal for you. The State of the Union spectacle, with half the legislators floated off to la la land, clapping two hours nonstop for a naked emperor, was too much for me. Donald Trump is delusional, and, imperfect as I am, I want to do more.
You all know what’s going on with collapse. I say to wise humanity up to that. If we knew a major asteroid was going to hit us in a few years, everyone would be looking for how avert it. Now, here, with an asteroid called overshoot getting so close that the pebbles that precede it already are hurting us, the question I’m posing is how to get the seriousness of what’s happening across to humanity. Great excitement accompanies great purpose, like when we were getting ourselves to the moon, and that enthusiasm could be here again with everybody working up a new operating system for Earth.
For us to be able to scheme together, I’ve opened a Substack Chat. Please say something there about this invite. Would getting humanity wised up to the danger we are in be your top to-do? I have other ideas to talk about, too.
Do forward this to collapse-savvy people whose names aren’t in the To line above. If this was forwarded to you, subscribe to my Substack, which is free, to participate in the Chat. Also, all the authors listed above need to be subscribed in order to access the Chat.
In this leaderless world, fingers crossed that the time is right for us to think together. As we despair at humanity’s indifference to overshoot, be assured I’m not bossing anything, just facilitating. Zooms could be ahead.
Thanks so much for getting me brownie points for sharing your wonderful writing, that assures me we aren’t going to be pushovers for a takeover by any dark forces.
The Chat is open to all subscribers, but right now it’s collapse-aware people I want to think with. If you aren’t in the To line and are smart about collapse, you’re invited to join in!
Followers -- Please become subscribers so you don’t miss anything. There’s never a charge for one post a week from me plus cross-posts of the best of what other people write.
In Now What? I advocate a revolution. You could say an evolution, to a next phase of consciousness where we act from our interconnection as one humanity. In not having paying subscribers I lose the gods of Substack singing my praises, where all I have for support is you.
In addition to Liking and Commenting on this post, here’s how to help Now What? to be seen:
1. Everyone can Share this post in all ways. If you forwardit, delete the “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom or people you forward it to could unsubscribe me.
2. Substack writers can Restack this post for Notes.
3.Substack writers can Cross-post this post to your subscribers.
4. The best thing Substack writers can do is to Recommend me to your subscribers. There’s a direct link if you are on the net. If you’re in email, go to your Dashboard. Under Creator Tools on the left click Recommendations → click Add recommendation→ search for Suzanne Taylor’s Now What?
Thank you for your helpful ideas about building a community of people thinking about not only the collapse that we are witnessing, but ways to move forward and recover from this difficult transitional period. What we are living through is a convergence of unhealthy aging — personal, institutional, and geopolitical. Trump is not the cause of this condition. He is its most visible embodiment. I am very interested in the ways to repair our adult developmental capacity so that we can begin to utilize some of the great suggestions I've seen from folks about policy, program, and relational possibilities for the future. Thanks for starting to identify people whose ideas will be essential to recovery.
Thank you for your helpful ideas about building a community of people thinking about not only the collapse that we are witnessing, but ways to move forward and recover from this difficult transitional period. What we are living through is a convergence of unhealthy aging — personal, institutional, and geopolitical. Trump is not the cause of this condition. He is its most visible embodiment. I am very interested in the ways to repair our adult developmental capacity so that we can begin to utilize some of the great suggestions I've seen from folks about policy, program, and relational possibilities for the future. Thanks for starting to identify people whose ideas will be essential to recovery.
An asteroid named collapse is right. Thank you Suzanne for jump-starting the engines on this.