It's the end of the world as we know it

“It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.”

REM is pumping through the speakers and for the better part of the day I have been thinking about endings. Not just any ending. The end of all of this, of all that we know.

Then I look at the grass. The trees. The sky. I look deeply into the faces and eyes of the people I love. Drinking it in. Every little morsel. Because I know it’s going to end.

I’ve been like this for the better part of two days. And it’s all because of a man.

His name’s Lawrence E. Joseph and the bastard went and wrote a book called: “Apocalypse 2012.” By the way TS Elliot is wrong. It doesn’t end with a whimper. It ends with devastating earthquakes. Record-breaking tsunamis. Category five hurricanes. Catastrophic depressions. Spiking global temperatures. World war.

It’s not just Joseph that’s saying it. Basically he’s taken the word from NASA, seismologists, palaeontologists, geologists, meteorologists, vulcanologists, astronomers, and the great ancient traditions.

There’s scientific evidence that the Earth’s species are wiped out every 62 to 65 million years. Guess what? It’s been 65 million years since the Cretaceous-Tertiary disaster extinguished the dinosaurs, meaning that we’re overdue for a cataclysm.

Then there’s the fact that we’ve basically been treating the earth like absolute shit, and by all accounts she’s pretty pissed at us. If you’ve seen Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” or movies by any of the other Hollywood green bandwagoners you’ll have seen some of the evidence. The truth isn’t that self-proclaimed “former next President of the United States of America” is a complete and utter ego-maniacal capitalist (and part of the problem, not the solution.) Rather that the planet is basically heading for the deep fryer and the outcome is going to be pretty similar to how fundamentalist Christians describe hell.

Then there’s mounting evidence that economically we’re lurching toward a global depression the likes of have which we not seen since The Great Depression in the late 1920s. It’s a lose-lose situation we can’t do too much about. A capitalist system based on an adversarial, winner takes all mentality where profit, acquisition and greed is put above everything else is largely to blame. An Adam Smith inspired system of extreme self-interest where governments and politicians are bedfellows consumed by the Leviathan that is unchecked power, disguised as democracy.

And in a world where rampant consumerism is alive, well and beginning to take up residence in China (after eating it’s fill in the United States), the sad truth is that there are two options open to us:
-    carry on consuming as we have been and destroy the world;
-    or cut back on our consumer economy and spiral uncontrollably into a more dramatic depression the likes of which have never been seen before.

If that’s not enough to drive you to Prozac, Yellowstone the largest supervolcano in the world is preparing to erupt. The last time it did that (600 0000 years ago) it vomited enough dust to cover the North American continent several feet deep. Today such an eruption would lead to a nuclear-winter-type scenario that would savage global agriculture and economy, killing hundreds of millions.

So were was I? Oh yes.

I had the most amazing Grand Marnier soufflé for breakfast today. I laughed with my sister and brother in law over breakfast. I watched our boys play together and thought that they are unbelievably smart and beautiful, how did we make them that way? I had a huge fight with my husband yesterday and slept over at my sisters, which was fun. Like when I was in my early twenties and we all went out and got pissed together and talked late into the night. And I am back home now. I love my home and even my husband who’s just brought me tea and a slice of my favourite rye, pecan and sultana toast. He says he’s putting my son to bed early tonight. And we both know what that means.

The world is beautiful.

My life is joy.

And I’m going to love each and every minute until it’s done.

“It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.”

Comments

[Mandy de Waal]

@wordsmythe: The amazing DaisyFae? Isn't she just a jewel? Welcome, and thank you!

[wordsmythe]

To hell and back...

This is wonderful, thanks to Daisyfae for helping me find your blog. I'm enjoying every morsel.

[Mandy de Waal]

@Kyknoord. I believe it's happening just after lunch. Round about tea time.

[kyknoord]

2012? I don't suppose you could be a bit more specific? I need to plan my leave accordingly.

[Mandy de Waal]

@daisyfae- For sure he does kids parties. Also does funerals and weddings. Thanks for the comment. Appreciated.

@amerettogirl- I am a great believer in the duality of life. That the beauty of life is understood through the possibility of death. Love made meaningful by loss. Thanks for coming over.

@paisley- For sure. Mother earth is savage. She eats her own young. But also is unspeakably beautiful. Thanks for your comment and for your visit.

[paisley]

mother earths time clock is invariably not at all interested in our plans... to believe that we could be her downfall,, is arrogant,, and at best laughable... to believe that she will destroy herself,, much more probable....

i agree eat drink and be merry... because we both know what that means......

[Amarettogirl]

Wonderful job-- well reading it didn't FEEl wonderful but it felt real - JUST as real as your spat, grand marnier souffle and potential sex. I may have done my post in a very different style, but in a similar vein. It is painful, but we have to face it- not like a separate part of us but as a valid, daily part of our existence along with everything else. You did that amazingly well and I really enjoyed it. Thank you

[daisyfae]

Does Mr. Joseph entertain at childrens parties? i'd hire him...

and yes. we must not waste breaths and heartbeats. both are finite.

nicely framed!

[Mandy de Waal]

@GrannySmith - sounds like the work you and your husband do is very interesting. And the possible permutations for any future scenarios are endless and dynamic while I don't think they should be ignored I reckon obsession to the detriment of being in today is worthwhile or useful.Thanks for popping by.

@Rebecca - the book is really worthwhile. Funny, well writing, and actually it's an optimists view of end world scenarios. Not at all as gloomy as one would expect, despite the title. Really interesting. And welcome here.

[rebecca]

and here i was having a nice day....now, 2012 is just around the bend...too quickly for me to plan on the easy way out and hope for a massive heart attack...altho if i begin to eat really badly now, up my level of stress, and basically have a free-for-all in everything and anything i want, i just may succeed...i would much rather die of my OWN natural causes than that which awaits me from mother nature, thank you very much!

wow, this was depressing...i don't think i will read the book.

but i did like the way you ended it....it is, after all, about the QUALITY of life we have here with our loved ones than the QUANTITY...because we just never know much quantity we have!

i liked this post very much....and, yes, i agree, the damn Lawrence Joseph is a bastard!

[Granny Smith]

You express so well the dichotomy that we all feel. My husband and I work full time at trying to prevent the disasters of our present course, yet the sun is shining on the redwood needles and a Stellar's jay has just taken up residence in the tree outside my window.

[Mandy de Waal]

@Robin. Thanks a lot. And that souffle - wicked. Absolutely. Made by a French chef who really knows food. Yum. (Welcome, and thanks for visiting.)

@Dolce. Ja - that cuts to the quick. Nothing like a potential apocalypse to sort the chaff from the cliches.

@Imelda. The books incredibly interesting. He calls it 'an optimists view of the end of the world'. And thanks for popping by and reading. Appreciated.

[Imelda / GreenishLady]

You really laid it all out there... and then you brought it back to real life, as it is now. Hopefully, that's what stays of today for you. I don't think I want to read that book, though.

[Dolce]

Oi, Mands. Nothing like cataclysm to make one feel warm and fuzzy.

And go girl, a little parental action tonight? I think my eyes are bleeding.

[Robin]

I love (and envy) your ability to reframe. I also envy your Grand Marnier souffle. Very much.