November 20, 2012
Road to the Apocalypse: “Kicking the Apocaholic Habit”
In his new book The Advance of Love: Reading the Bible with an Evolutionary Heart, evolutionary Christian Bruce Sanguin includes a confession that will no doubt ring true for many others: he was addicted to apocalyptic thinking. Being an evolutionary, his apocalyptic ‘fix’ was not found in the promise of a divine tribulation and the second coming of Jesus that would bring an end to this world. No, he admits, his habit was nourished by the words of intelligent thinkers who seem to conclude that the world is getting worse and that it’s too late to fix it.
Sanguin talks about the discomfort he felt when reading Matt Ridley’s book The Rational Optimist because an optimism rooted in evidence really throws a wrench into all of the one-dimensional ‘doom and gloom’ scenarios for our collective future (we recently posted a related article by Ridley that you can read here). This experience helped Sanguin recognize his own addiction to what has been called ‘apocaholic‘ thinking—a condition that blinds us from seeing genuine progress and legitimate reasons to have hope for humanity and the world.
You can read an excerpt below or download the PDF of the entire chapter. (‘right-click’ here and choose “Save Link As…”)
‘Kicking the Apocaholic Habit’ from The Advance of Love by Bruce Sanguin
…Halfway through the book, Ridley used a term that was coined by Gary Alexander to describe people like me: apocaholics! I’m addicted to apocalyptic scenarios. You know that you may need to go into a twelve- step program if you walk into a bookstore and the only ones that attract you are the ones that tell you that it’s already too late for the human species; any title with the phrase turning point causes you to twitch uncontrollably—as in, “the human species is at a turning point.” Ridley calls this “turning-pointitis,” infuriatingly documenting the multiple occasions over the past fifty years when various writers have solemnly warned that we were at a turning point. Each came and went.
Walk through any airport bookstore and check out the current- affairs section. All my favourite apocalyptic prophets are there: Noam Chomsky, Barbara Ehrenreich, Al Gore, John Gray, Naomi Klein, George Monbiot, Michael Moore. Ridley makes the point that all these good people, in one way or another, come to the same conclusions: (1) the world is a terrible place, (2) it’s getting worse, (3) it’s mostly the fault of commerce, and (4) a turning point has been reached. I respect each of these writers. They serve us well in pointing out the indigni- ties of the modernist mindset and agenda. But, I have to confess, that rarely, if ever, do any of them mention any of the dignities. But, like any addict, I can’t stay away from them. I should try heroin. At least (I’m told) you feel good for a little while after the fix…continue reading (‘right-click’ and select “Save Link As…”)
**You can view the entire ‘Road to the Apocalypse’ series here.
You can purchase The Advance of Love here
or visit Bruce Sanguin’s blog here.
Image: © Sergey Khamidulin – Fotolia.com
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Andrew Cohen is a spiritual teacher, cultural visionary, founder of EnlightenNext, and the author of 
Anyone who believes the “doom and gloom” crowd is one dimensional simply isn’t paying attention or is deeply steeped in denial, the first of the Five Stages of Grief. Even the term “doom and gloom” is so one-dimensional that it becomes laughable. And Ridley’s reasoning in the chapter excerpt totally ignores that it is the chemical fertilizers and fossil fuel that has given the “appearance” that things are getting better, when, in the long run, they are the very things that are guaranteeing things won’t get better…at least in his definition of “better.” The term “Apocalypse” originally meant “lifting of the veil” before it was co-opted by religion to create a fearful reason to “follow the rules.” Many us do not see the “end of the world,” but an opportunity to create a new world that doesn’t include codependence with chemical fertilizers and fossil fuels. Pass.
Man, it’s lonely here!