PDF Summary:Life After Doom, by Brian D. McLaren

In Life After Doom, Brian D. McLaren examines the forces driving our civilization toward collapse and explores how we might navigate an uncertain future. He argues that our global society, built on fossil fuels and domination, is entering a phase of decline due to environmental damage and unsustainable ideologies. Rather than offering false hope, McLaren suggests we face this reality through moral choice and character development.

McLaren draws on biblical wisdom to propose ways of living meaningfully even as familiar structures crumble. He discusses cultivating inner resilience through virtue ethics and love rather than conventional hope, and he emphasizes the need for collective adaptation through imagination and cooperation. Whether you believe collapse is imminent or distant, this guide offers a framework for responding to doom with wisdom, courage, and humanity.

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(Shortform note: Our reliance on fossil fuels makes it difficult for the global system to move into a different stage because it’s become so deeply entrenched in our society. For decades, we’ve invested in infrastructure, regulations, and profit structures that are all dependent on fossil fuels. These three domains are mutually dependent, so abandoning fossil fuels would require disrupting all three at once.)

McLaren also observes that our present worldwide society is moving into a phase of decline. Although we thought the stages of exploiting and conserving resources would last indefinitely, many are starting to realize that's not feasible.

(Shortform note: In The Collapse of Complex Societies, Joseph A. Tainter argues that complex societies are problem-solving organizations that respond to challenges by increasing their complexity. However, each additional layer of complexity requires more energy and resources to maintain, leading to diminishing returns on investment.)

In the following sub-sections, we will discuss the environmental, ecological, socio-political, and ideological drivers behind this deterioration.

Environmental & Ecological Drivers

McLaren explains that progress in our society has relied heavily on cheap energy sources, including fossil fuels, which have contributed to environmental degradation. Fossil fuels have enabled us to conquer gravity, hunger, disease, and arduous physical labor. However, our reliance on these energy sources has led to environmental damage, and we're now confronting the impact of our actions. We're addicted to fossil fuels, and this has led to our civilization spiraling out of control. We must restore our sanity and find alternative methods to live in harmony with our planet.

(Shortform note: To begin restoring our sanity, we can start by identifying one habit that relies heavily on fossil fuels and replacing it with a more sustainable alternative. For example, if you drive to work every day, consider carpooling or taking public transportation instead. This approach is based on the concept of the "habit loop," which consists of a cue, routine, and reward. By changing just one aspect of the loop (the routine), we can create new, more sustainable habits without completely disrupting our lives.)

Socio-Political & Ideological Drivers

McLaren also believes that financial and governmental ideologies shape religious beliefs and actions. He explains that fundamentalist ideologies, both spiritual and financial, collaborate to push us into ecological overshoot. Religious and corporate leaders are involved in the same conspiracy, whether they realize it or not. They gain financially in the near term by exceeding Earth's limits and looting its resources, disregarding future consequences—one claiming religious authority, the other seeking business gains.

According to McLaren, spiritual leaders mold their followers into submissive laborers, dutiful citizens, and eager economic participants. This enables corporate profiteers to use both people's labor and Earth's resources under the cover of religion. The profiteers then contribute to their partners in religion, which are described as charitable donations but are really payoffs.

Financial Capitalism and Religious Beliefs

In Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism, Kathryn Tanner explores how financial and governmental ideologies shape religious beliefs and actions. She argues that contemporary capitalism, especially in its finance-driven form, transforms the whole of a believer’s existence into a site of economic calculation and performance. Tanner shows how financial capitalism first reorganizes people’s daily lives around debt and relentless performance, and then religious language recasts those same economic pressures as faithful obedience to God’s will. She argues that Christian doctrines of vocation, providence, and self-sacrifice are often reinterpreted so that meeting the system’s exacting demands for productivity, flexibility, and risk-taking comes to be seen as an expression of trust in God, grateful acceptance of one’s calling, and willing conformity to Christlike obedience.

Human Responses to "Disaster"

McLaren observes that people are shifting their views on how likely different collapse scenarios are. Many are moving from believing that we can avoid collapse or rebuild afterward to believing that we'll either barely survive or go extinct. He argues that humans are the main issue, rather than the environment. We've constructed a society that endangers both nature and itself. If we keep depleting resources more rapidly than they can be replenished, our future is uncertain. If we don't make quick adjustments, a catastrophic outcome is certain.

Is Collapse Inevitable?

While McLaren argues that human-driven resource depletion makes a catastrophic outcome the most likely scenario, some thinkers disagree. For example, in Enlightenment Now, Steven Pinker argues that human ingenuity, technological progress, and the application of reason have again and again allowed us to overcome seemingly insurmountable environmental and resource constraints. He points to long-term data on pollution, population, and prosperity to show that affluent, enlightened societies can “decouple” economic growth from environmental harm instead of rushing toward inevitable ruin.

McLaren contends that we need to come up with various ways to navigate through potential collapse scenarios, since it's uncertain which one will unfold. It's crucial that we adapt to whatever happens.

(Shortform note: In Antifragile, Nassim Nicholas Taleb argues that the best way to prepare for unpredictable events is to regularly stress-test your systems and routines. By intentionally introducing small disruptions and challenges into your daily life, you can discover how you respond to breakdowns in normal conditions.)

Handling the Unavoidable

McLaren argues that responding to despair is a moral choice, not an intellectual one. You can choose to lead a life full of wisdom and bravery, rescuing all you can, resisting the negative forces around us. You can choose to live in a truly human and magnificent way, no matter the results. Detaching from what you want to happen shifts your response to doom from being an intellectual risk assessment to becoming a freely made moral choice.

Letting Go of Your Desired Outcomes

In The Happiness Trap, Russ Harris argues that you don’t have to get rid of unpleasant thoughts and feelings or turn them into something positive. Instead, you can notice them as passing words and pictures in your mind, let them come and go without a struggle, and then choose to take even the smallest action that matters to you, allowing your deeper values—not your thoughts or emotions—to guide what you do next. You can apply this approach to doom by noticing your catastrophic thoughts, letting them pass, and then taking one small action that enacts the kind of person you choose to be, regardless of whether it affects the larger situation. For example, you might pick up a piece of litter, plant a tree, or simply smile at a stranger. These small actions, repeated daily, can help you detach from your desired outcomes and make your response to doom a moral choice.

In the following sub-sections, we will discuss ways to cultivate inner resilience and enact collective adaptation to what's unavoidable.

Cultivating Inner Resilience

McLaren believes that cultivating inner resilience involves embracing love and ethics centered on virtues over traditional hope. The philosophy of virtue ethics emphasizes the importance of developing good character traits, such as courage, wisdom, and kindness, rather than focusing solely on the consequences of our actions or following strict rules. According to McLaren, hope is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it motivates us to take action and persevere when facing challenges.

(Shortform note: In The Therapy of Desire, Martha Nussbaum explores how ancient philosophers like the Stoics emphasized cultivating virtues such as courage, wisdom, and kindness to achieve inner resilience. They believed that by developing these character traits, individuals could maintain a stable and contented mind regardless of external circumstances.)

Conversely, it can prevent us from fully acknowledging how serious our circumstances are and taking the right actions. Hope can be used to manipulate us, keeping us compliant when we encounter oppression. It can also cause us to focus on an imagined future rather than the present moment, causing us to miss out on the gifts available to us now. In contrast, McLaren argues that love and virtue ethics offer a path forward even when hope seems lost. By committing to live as good people—courageous, wise, kind, and loving—we can find the strength to persevere when confronted with adversity. This type of hope, which comes from our ability to endure with wisdom and generosity, is even more powerful than conventional hope.

Hope as a Force for Social Change

In Theology of Hope, Jürgen Moltmann argues that hope is a powerful force for social change, not a tool for compliance. He believes that hope in God’s promised future awakens people to the injustices of the present and energizes them to struggle against oppression. Moltmann’s theology suggests that hope is not about passively waiting for a better future, but about actively participating in God’s work to bring about justice and liberation. He sees hope as a form of protest against the status quo, inspiring people to imagine and work toward a more just and compassionate world.

Enacting Collective Adaptation

McLaren contends that enacting collective adaptation requires imagination and cooperation. Imagination is essential for envisioning a new, decolonized, post-industrialized, fair, and non-exploitative civilization. Collaboration is crucial because those who envision fixing or enhancing existing structures, adapting during their collapse, and creating new worlds are often frustrated with each other. Every group feels their tasks are urgent enough that others should join, leading to frustration and anxiety.

However, McLaren emphasizes the importance of decent individuals using fresh imagination in the three fields of restoration, adjustment, and innovation. If there's any chance for even a slightly secure conclusion, each of the three groups must collaborate respectfully, engaging in countless diverse creative actions across a multitude of locations.

How to Choose Where to Focus Your Efforts

McLaren’s three fields of restoration, adjustment, and innovation are all important for enacting collective adaptation. But how do you decide which one to focus on? In Doing Good Better, William MacAskill argues that in order to do the most good, we should direct our limited time and resources toward those problems that are large in scale, highly neglected, and reasonably tractable. By focusing on areas where the stakes are high, where very few others are already working, and where additional effort can realistically achieve meaningful progress, we can have a far greater positive impact than if we simply follow our first impulses or the most visible and popular causes.