If we can’t feel, we can’t deal with change.

As the impacts of climate change and unchecked capitalism become clearer with each year, various political, economic, and social systems that once felt stable appear to be eroding, and many folks are losing trust that the future will be better than the past.

Throughout history, ‘apocalypse’ was used by religious extremists to inspire a fear of the future. Now, folks are using the word—some seriously, some lightly—to capture the disorientations and losses of our own time.

But ‘apocalypse’ was never supposed to promise or predict ‘the end.’ Originally, it simply meant ‘to uncover’ or ‘to reveal.’

As we live into an uncertain future, we have two choices:

1. Continue pushing away our fears, and in doing so, letting them control us;

2. Getting curious about what is ending and what is beginning, in the world and in us.

What is the truth of this time? That we don’t actually need to rush through this moment. With care and with integrity, we can discern a path forward that harnesses our values, our hopes, and our most radical imaginations.