Thriving in apocalyptic times
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we haven’t had any global health scares like Swine Flu, Avian Flu or SARS recently. Why? Well, with all the economic misery in the United States and Europe, revolutionary unrest in the Middle East, rioting mobs in the UK plus the usual war and famine elsewhere, things are so awful right now that apparently we do not need hallucinatory fears to stimulate the collective nervous system. We have enough actual worries of our own.
Times are hard, friends, times are hard. The human response is to stick one’s head in the sand and hope things improve. But what if they don’t? Consider the history of Europe 1914-1945. Your average German living in Berlin in 1923 knew that the situation was bad, but could he have imagined that ten years later a tiny man with a silly moustache would be leading his nation down the path of madness and epic butchery? No. Likewise, for decades after 1917, millions of exiled Russians persisted in the belief that “any day now” the USSR would collapse and they would get their estates back. They went to their graves empty-handed.
So is it time to consider investing in a personal bunker in which to ride out the coming apocalypse? They’re easily available, in Texas at least, and some of them even have air conditioning and DVD players. But dedicated pessimism is as suffocating as keeping one’s head in the sand for years. Furthermore, if a crisis is nigh, then why not emulate those few among our species who- when faced with the total collapse of everything- not only survive, but positively thrive?
The history of Russia throws up numerous examples of such personalities. Consider for instance V.I. Lenin. A few years ago I read Orlando Figes history of the Revolution A People’s Tragedy, and was profoundly struck by Lenin’s almost clairvoyant ability to read the signs of his era, to maneuver himself into the right place at the right moment, and then force history to move in the direction he desired.
How did he do it? Well, he was highly intelligent; a gifted leader; a great organizer; he never doubted himself, and he was driven by an almost inhuman energy that enabled him to recover quickly after every setback. Unfortunately, he was also a murderous fanatic inspired by a ludicrous interpretation of history. Still, he wound up living in the Kremlin while millions of others suffered and died, many of them executed on his orders. Lenin changed the course of history, and for that he still lies pickled on Red Square to this day.
Hmm. Maybe I should pick a more positive example. How about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn? Dispatched to kill Nazis at the front in World War II, and subsequently sent to the camps after criticizing Stalin in a letter, he was then released into exile, only to be diagnosed with terminal cancer. At this point many a lesser mortal might have given up in exhaustion and embraced oblivion. But Solzhenitsyn recovered and wrote some of most famous books of the 20th century, transforming himself into the foremost enemy of Lenin’s system in the process. Memoirs such as The Oak and the Calf or Invisible Allies reveal the extraordinary measures Solzhenitsyn and his co-conspirators took to bring his books into existence. He died aged 89, having seen the system he had spent much of his life fighting collapse.
Thus we see two very different individuals who not only survived the major crises of their eras, but thrived amid the madness and even came to define history. Are there any lessons here for the rest of us? Certainly- the careers of both Lenin and Solzhenitsyn show that if you wish to thrive in apocalyptic eras it is necessary to have at least some of the following: an iron will, strong convictions, excellent leadership skills, personal charisma, intelligence, physical toughness, and immense self-belief.
And here’s something else that appears to be useful: a sense of moral indignation that borders on (or is indistinguishable from) hatred. Lenin hated the Tsar, his own social class (the bourgeoisie) and yearned to annihilate the old order. Solzhenitsyn hated the USSR, world Communism and passionately desired the destruction of the Empire of Lies. Of course, Lenin served evil while Solzhenitsyn was an agent of good, but nevertheless both of them drew strength from an awe-inspiring hatred for the things they opposed.
Does hatred really help you to thrive in difficult times? If so, that is a disturbing conclusion because hatred is also time consuming, enervating, and it makes the person who hates difficult company. Furthermore, if you hate the wrong thing, the results can be disastrous, as Lenin (and Hitler, and Stalin, and Osama Bin Laden, et al proved). How do you know that your hatred is the right hatred?
Hmm. Actually this whole thriving-in-chaos is starting to sound very difficult. Maybe I’ll invest in a bunker after all. Got any good DVDs?
Originally published at RIA Novosti, the home of awesomeness
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Another great post, D.
I think an additional key to surviving our apocalyptic times is to embrace it a bit with some slightly perverse love. For instance, there are times when I’m sitting in my backyard late at night, enjoying a quiet summer night, and the police sirens off in the distance became a dystopian part of the melody in my ‘hood. Just another layer to the soundscape. I know it sounds kind of hokey, but there’s something to it.
I also like taking the dog for a walk late at night. If nothing else, I hope it acts as a disincentive to the local thugs, who might otherwise be too emboldened . My wife and neighbors tease me about it — my hero complex or Batman complex; whichever — but they also admit it puts their minds at ease a little bit to know me and the canine are out traipsing around at 11 p.m.
It is always good to make a virtue of necessity, and extract what pleasure we can from the death throes of civilization. A stroll amid the smoking ruins with a dog; the music of sirens; the consumption of half a cold burger, picked up from the gutter. Why not? Let us seize our pleasures wherever we can locate them.