Please join us in conversation with author and “soul activist” Deb Ozarko. Deb is a pioneer in the world of “collapse awareness,” seeking to understand the global predicament of our civilization. Her path of heartful engagement with the very real possibility of civilizational collapse led her to write Beyond Hope: Letting Go of a World in Collapse.
Deb’s journey has taken her through powerful activism work as a vegan advocate, intense physical performance as a tri-athlete, and experiments with stepping back from civilizational life. Now her work is more focused on living a meaningful life in a context where she believes our collective story is breaking apart in coming years and decades. As she writes:
"As a passionate activist for animals, the Earth and accelerated Soul evolution, I’ve dedicated my life to ensuring that there are no wasted moments. This has taught me the delicate balance between being and doing. My mission is to inspire simplicity, kindness, authentic expression, and meaning outside of the stifling confines of today’s dysfunctional, distracted … and less face it, insane cultural mindset. By shifting the paradigm from head to heart we can live a more passionate and compassionate life that excludes no living being. In the end, all you really need to know is that I give a damn. About life. About love. About me. About you. … oh ya, and I really love to dance."
Our conversation will focus on the general topic of living meaningfully in a world experiencing breakdown. What does it mean for “us” to “make it”? What are the contours of hope and anthropocentrism as we navigate the global predicament? What happens when we explore letting go of hope? How can we show up to life with an embodied acceptance of life as finite? How do we unconsciously embody "meta-stories" of humanity and life on earth? What do compassion and joy look like in a context of systems breakdown? What is the role of personal responsibility and collective action for the broader state we are in?
Join Birju Pandya as he engages in conversation with Deb to explore a perspective that is rarely voiced – acceptance that our civilizational story (as that of all civilizations) will eventually become compost for something else, and feeling into what is born in that exploration. Birju’s work has intersected with global overshoot, systems collapse, and resilience; he is focused on inviting greater inner and outer capacity as we collectively experience ever more volatility in this process.
The conversation will dive directly into the topic, assuming a basic level of familiarity with the underlying perspective. As this topic can bring up complex emotions and there is limited shared context collectively, Birju and Deb invite participants to engage, in advance of the call, with the learning resources below so as to support deeper engagement with the conversation and shared inquiry:
- This short share by Deb, naming the fierceness invited by finding meaning in moment-to-moment presence when one’s broader story of civilization has collapsed. (3 minutes)
- The introduction to Deb’s most recent book, Beyond Hope, sharing an overview of what brought her to write such a book. (10 minutes)
- An essay by elder Catherine Ingram, providing a “big picture” view of how such a narrative that is so far from what we normally receive is possible, and integrating that with an intimate heart of compassion and wisdom. (30 minutes)
- BONUS: A broader painting of some of the pioneers who have named the larger connection between ecology, wisdom, and dropping the need for particular outcomes (takes as long as you want it to).
Please join us for this deep inquiry into a rich and rarely explored perspective.
