## Metadata - Author: [[Ahmed Afzaal and John B. Cobb Jr.]] - Full Title: Teaching at Twilight - Category: #books ## Highlights - Even the evening twilight need not be associated with the end; in the Jewish and Islamic reckoning, for example, the day begins at sunset rather than at sunrise. Metaphorically, twilight is best understood as the ambiguous interval between two unmistakably different objects of experience—daytime and nighttime. As such, the word can also suggest an undefined, intermediate, or “in-between” state, or a period of rapid transformation from one state to another. ([Location 253](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=253)) - I wrote this book because of the utter inadequacy of anything I can do in an individual capacity. The only approach that allows me to meet my need for meaning is therefore my participation in a collective effort whose goals match my own values. The pursuit of meaning is an individual project, but it cannot be accomplished outside a community. ([Location 285](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=285)) - The reason why I prefer “Business-as-Usual” over “industrial capitalism” or “technological society” is because the phrase highlights how the vast majority of the world’s population is directly or indirectly involved in maintaining the present social order. ([Location 529](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=529)) - Today, virtually everyone must follow the same behavioral pathways, to a lesser or greater extent, as a necessary condition for participating in the modern world. By doing so, we create and sustain our social systems, political institutions, economic and financial flows, and cultural matrix—all of which, taken together, constitute the structure of modern civilization. ([Location 643](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=643)) - Since the mainstream media won’t give center stage to this subject, we cannot expect ordinary citizens to show any conscious awareness of the Predicament. But just because the Predicament won’t be televised doesn’t mean that it represents some sort of fake news, or that it’s nothing more than a figment of a few individuals’ paranoid imagination. The truth is that we have all been the victims of gaslighting on a massive scale. Virtually the entire world has been led to believe that, despite a few minor glitches, the onward march of human civilization will continue in the foreseeable future. This illusion is necessary for Business-as-Usual to function. Without a baseline of collective optimism, the population cannot be relied upon to keep calm and carry on. ([Location 814](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=814)) - The Collapse is best imagined as a series of cascading upheavals or disturbances whose cumulative effect is to undermine political and economic systems, thereby shrinking the capacity of both individuals and societies to meet their needs. ([Location 903](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=903)) - the Collapse is a decades-long process leading to a severe reduction in the per capita availability of resources. It is an unevenly distributed and nonlinear phenomenon, which is why the details of its unfolding cannot be known in advance. ([Location 971](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=971)) - The drive towards hyper-specialization exists because any division of labor tends to increase efficiency, which is the most valued outcome from the viewpoint of practical rationality. When intellectual labor is divided into smaller and smaller chunks, there is a corresponding increase in the flow of new discoveries, which causes the total stock of human knowledge to grow faster than ever. Yet, this rapid expansion of knowledge comes at the cost of individual scholars sacrificing their curiosity about much of the world—leading to an epidemic of tunnel vision, as well as the proliferation of silos and echo chambers. ([Location 2473](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=2473)) - As a result, the type of new information to which the vast majority of academics are actually exposed tends to be narrowly focused, since it has to be directly relevant to their teaching and current research. This type of information can be easily integrated within one’s prior knowledge without too much difficulty, through a process called “assimilation.” In contrast, new information that challenges one’s prior knowledge often necessitates significant changes in one’s fundamental beliefs and assumptions, which require a process known as “accommodation.” Such information is often ignored, minimized, or explained away. ([Location 2480](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=2480)) - through a combination of intense intellectual work and a variety of external influences, each of us comes to acquire what I like to call a “personal paradigm,” which is basically a set of deeply rooted beliefs and assumptions. ([Location 2491](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=2491)) - Note: Like alvin plantinga's properly basic beliefs - Viewed as a pure abstraction, the Collapse is a nebulous yet strangely fascinating concept. Approached in this way, the Collapse can easily turn into a symbol that academics can manipulate in their minds, in conjunction with a host of other symbols, in order to generate multiple streams of new symbolic configurations—a process known as “theorizing.” ([Location 2667](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=2667)) - The world-historical consequences of Columbus’s arrival on the island of Guanahani, in the fateful year of 1492, cannot be overestimated. ([Location 3019](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3019)) - To summarize, one particular way of organizing individual and collective lives developed, spread, and came to dominate the world over a period of five hundred years. One view of human nature, one economic system, one attitude towards the natural world ended up dominating all alternatives, giving rise to a single global civilization. ([Location 3046](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3046)) - A nation’s wealth, as commonly understood, is reflected in the living standards of its citizens, and these living standards, in turn, reflect how much damage that nation is causing, and has caused, to the planet’s life-support system. The wealth of a nation is therefore a measure of its responsibility in the intensification of the human Predicament and the ongoing Collapse of civilization. ([Location 3068](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3068)) - The effort to increase food production through industrial processes is typically justified on the grounds that we have to feed a growing population. In reality, it is the increase in food production that is driving population growth. ([Location 3222](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3222)) - Elon Musk believes that “population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming.”106 This attitude makes perfect sense from the viewpoint of Business-as-Usual, which finds a lower birthrate to be nothing less than an “assault” on capitalism “by inexorable long-term population trends that may kill the ability of economies to grow.” ([Location 3239](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3239)) - Generally speaking, a growing population helps maintain economic growth, which is why declining birthrates are seen as a threat to capitalism. ([Location 3312](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3312)) - If the ecological footprint represents the demand being placed on the environment, biocapacity refers to the environment’s ability to meet that demand. Both are measured in “global hectares” per capita, which is a standardized unit. When the ecological footprint of a nation is smaller than the biocapacity of its home region, that region is said to have an ecological reserve. When the ecological footprint of a nation is larger than the biocapacity of its home region, that region is said to be in an ecological deficit. In the latter case, this means that the nation is bridging the gap between its ecological footprint and its biocapacity by importing resources, exporting waste, and/or liquidating its assets.115 According to the Global Footprint Network, more than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries that are running ecological deficits. The world as a whole is in a state of “ecological overshoot,” i.e., humanity’s ecological footprint is larger than the earth’s biocapacity. How much larger? The latest figures at the time of this writing suggest that humanity is using the equivalent of 1.75 earths. The obvious problem with overshoot is that it harms, and therefore reduces, the planet’s biocapacity, thereby jeopardizing the future of humanity and the integrity of the web of life. ([Location 3354](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3354)) - The year 1970 marks the first time when humanity used more resources than the earth could regenerate and produced more waste than it could absorb—in one year. ([Location 3369](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3369)) - But how is it possible to run an ecological deficit? We know that a government can print money, but there is nothing the global economy can do to increase the earth’s biocapacity. Yet, each year our economic system demands more resources and generates more waste than the previous year. This phenomenon, generally celebrated as “economic growth,” is the defining characteristic of Homo colossus. ([Location 3372](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3372)) - Crossing the absolute limits of nature is tantamount to committing the ultimate act of violence, the ultimate act of suicide, and the ultimate act of ingratitude. As we approach the thresholds that lie beyond the planetary boundaries, we start to stare in the face of the most horrific of all worst-case scenarios—an uninhabitable world, with no living being left to inherit the earth. ([Location 3468](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3468)) - We know that fossil fuels are nonrenewable, which means they cannot be relied upon to support our civilization forever. But that’s only the consumption side of the issue. On the pollution side, we are dealing with an existential crisis—in the literal sense of the word. The case of fossil fuels can be considered the archetype of the human Predicament. On the one hand, the burning of fossil fuels releases enormous amounts of energy that is necessary for maintaining human civilization in its present form. On the other hand, the burning of fossil fuels releases waste products that accumulate in the atmosphere and the oceans, interfering with the planet’s life-support system in ways that are ultimately incompatible with civilization as we know it. One process, two contradictory outcomes. We want the former without the latter, but that’s like trying to draw a triangle with four sides. ([Location 3498](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3498)) - Consider the fact that in the year 1700 the global population was only about six hundred million. That was essentially the maximum number of people that could be supported through the physical labor of humans and their draft animals, along with some kinetic energy from wind and rivers. The main reason why there are eight billion people today, and why only a small percentage of them are involved in growing food, is because we gained access to the tremendous amount of energy of ancient sunlight that nature had stored underground. That’s also why the modern middle class has been enjoying a standard of living that used to be the exclusive domain of Pharaoh and Caesar. Now remove fossil fuels from this picture and try to imagine the economic unraveling and human suffering that their sudden disappearance will unleash. It will be an age of mass death and extreme deprivation. The human population will take a sharp plunge until it stabilizes at a fraction of what it is today. At the moment, the only thing standing between humanity and this horrible fate is the miraculous energy of fossil fuels. Yet, the same fossil fuels are also making that horrible fate unavoidable through destabilizing the earth’s climate. What all of this means is that there are no painless options anymore. The cost of saving the planet from the devastating impacts of climate mayhem involves shutting down much of the global economy, which will effectively end civilization in its present form—a price few are willing to acknowledge and no one is willing to pay. But this unwillingness doesn’t really matter, for our civilization is already on the chopping block because of the unfolding climate catastrophe. I can’t imagine any realistic scenario in which humanity transitions into a post Business-as-Usual world without billions of deaths and without large areas of the planet becoming uninhabitable. And that’s not even the worst-case scenario. ([Location 3534](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3534)) - William Catton’s term for techno-optimism is “cargoism,” which is the delusion that technology will always save us from the consequences of overshoot, obviating the need for fundamental change. ([Location 3642](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3642)) - The climate crisis is telling us that civilization in its present form is built on a delusion, that its foundations are weaker than those of any traditional or indigenous culture, and that its material and technological progress is so bereft of a moral compass that it is about to make the entire planet inhospitable to life. Presented with such disturbing news, what are we supposed to do? We have three options. We can (a) refuse to believe the evidence, (b) insist that it’s an exceptional situation that can be easily fixed, or (c) take a critical look at our culture’s dominant story. ([Location 3661](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3661)) - The ruling elites—by which I mean those who hold the most power in governments and multinational corporations—have no intention of actually mitigating the climate crisis, or any other ecological breakdown, for that matter. Whether this is due to a lack of concern or a lack of capacity is irrelevant, since in either case the consequences for you and me will be the same. What the ruling elites are doing, instead, is to consolidate their own power in anticipation of the coming upheavals, and they are doing so increasingly through militarized means; the goal, obviously, is to ensure the survival and security of a tiny minority.127 This means that the vast majority of the world’s population is essentially on its own. We have to produce our own leaders from the grassroots, because those on the top cannot be expected to help anyone except their own friends and allies. ([Location 3774](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3774)) - To reiterate, the leadership that the world needs today, given that human civilization is on a steep downward trajectory, cannot possibly emerge from either of the two main centers of power—governments and corporations. As a result, a huge vacuum has opened up for authentic and altruistic leadership at the local, national, and global levels. If educators don’t step up to fill this vacuum, it won’t remain open for long. Instead, we can expect all sorts of opportunistic elements to rise up in order to exploit the population’s growing insecurity and desperation to their own advantage. To some extent, that process has already started, as seen in the rise of authoritarian leaders and ideologies. ([Location 3780](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3780)) - The Collapse itself is unstoppable, but there is a lot we can do, both individually and collectively, to lessen the pain that many of us are already feeling and all of us will experience in the coming years and decades. For instance, we cannot stop “natural” disasters from occurring—such as floods, heatwaves, reduced or decimated harvests, or wildfires—but we can definitely help the victims as well as significantly lessen the damage that may otherwise occur due to ignorance, greed, fear, or prejudice. I am thinking of artificial scarcity due to hoarding, physical violence, exploitation, and other forms of injustice that are likely to increase as more and more people find themselves increasingly impoverished and insecure. While reducing harm is not the exclusive burden of educators, I believe that the magnitude of influence, respect, and opportunities that educators enjoy makes them significantly more responsible for leading this effort, in both direct and indirect ways, than any other professional community. ([Location 3817](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3817)) - Guiding the Collapse of civilization in a peaceful, humane, and equitable direction necessarily includes, among other things, the creation of a wide range of practical alternatives to Business-as-Usual. By “practical alternatives,” I mean models for organizing individual and collective lives that may replace the dysfunctional aspects of civilization in its present form. In general, these models will have to privilege substantive rationality over practical rationality, and the talents and skills of the right hemisphere over those of the left. ([Location 3825](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3825)) - We can initiate our own projects or start participating in existing efforts aimed at building viable alternatives to Business-as-Usual. A great example of such models can be found in David Fleming’s conception of a “lean economy,” a small-scale, hyper-local economy that deliberately sacrifices efficiency for the sake of other, more important values, such as community and sustainability.128 Other examples include intentional communities, eco-villages, technological minimalism, permaculture, restorative justice, slow food, slow democracy, local currencies, regenerative agriculture, nonviolent communication, the gift economy, networks of mutual aid, the Circle process, and revitalization of the commons. ([Location 3838](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3838)) - Most people assume that being a leader is identical with being an officeholder, and that leaders are individuals who have certain official titles, such as manager, president, director, executive, and so on. According to this understanding, you are not a leader unless you are able to tell other people what to do. This approach blurs the boundary between leadership and authority, especially the type of authority associated with one’s position within a hierarchical structure. The underlying belief is that only a small number of people can be leaders, which assumes that (a) leadership is a rare quality, and (b) rigid hierarchies are natural. The conventional approach can be useful, but only in situations that call for prompt action and unquestioning compliance, such as in the immediate aftermath of a disaster or in a hospital’s operating room. For the vast majority of situations, we need an alternative approach, one that views leadership in terms of actions rather than actors. From this perspective, leadership is about what we do, not about who we are. There is no scarcity of leaders, because anyone can act in a leaderful way in any given context. A leaderful act can be defined as an action whose aim is to serve the greater good or increase people’s capacity for achieving meaningful goals. Anyone who realizes that something specific needs to happen in a given time and place that will have such an impact, and who then takes the initiative to make it happen, is behaving in a leaderful way. The scale of the action is irrelevant. During a meeting, for example, the person who gives a reassuring nod and a smile to an anxious newcomer is acting leaderfully, and so is the person who gets up to open the window when the room gets stuffy. ([Location 3845](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJMV9CZR&location=3845))