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While others herald the end of the world as we know it, whether through the Bible's Book of Revelation or environmentalism's global climate change, Moab writers Mathew Barret Gross and Mel Gilles would rather see the end of our self-defeating talk of apocalypse.
"Understanding how our daydreams of doomsday are coming between us and our ability to confront global challenges has never been more urgent," the husband-and-wife team write in their new book The Last Myth. "But conflating our expectation of the apocalypse with the issues before us is an error: the apocalypse is a belief; the challenges facing us are real."
Subtitled What the Rise of Apocalyptic Thinking Tells Us About America, Gross and Gilles set out to untangle the national psyche from apocalyptic thinking they believe hobbles public discourse and progress toward solutions. First, it demonstrates that both sides of the political debate are guilty of this tendency, whether through books such as Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" or religious fundamentalists touting Jesus' return. Second, the book demonstrates that the apocaplytic mindset is only a recent phenomenon of human thinking, beginning with the ancient Hebrews' anxiety of foreign rule as recorded in Scripture.
Gross, who worked as Internet Communications for Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign and Gilles, a nonprofit consultant who now runs a yoga studio, took their phone interview from their Moab home.
What led you two to write a book about, of all things, the end of the world?
Gross • It was soon after the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004. There was talk about how much Bush himself believed in Apocalyptic thinking. At the same time Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins were selling their Left Behind series of books by the millions. But at the same time people on the left were warning that the time would come when everyone realized the reality of global warming. There was a breakdown, and a partisan divide emerged. Everyone was reacting to rhetoric.
Gilles • What we really wanted to look at was the similarity in consciousness, where that shared belief came from, and why.
Most people want to be prepared for the worst. What's wrong with that?
Gross: It evolved into thoughts of us vs. them that are really detrimental to democracy. People want to be proven right, and see others punished for not holding their views. What we need more than ever is to understand each other's views. That's not what apocalyptic rhetoric aims for.
What your book emphasizes is that there there's a sense of freedom and liberation once we step out of disaster-scenario thinking. Once we identify and move beyond it, we stop agonizing and live in a better present moment. You cite an example in your book of how you attended a meeting of Moab locals about how everyone was preparing to move beyond a "post-carbon" world, but when you two suggested everyone get together to insulate houses for residents who couldn't afford it know one offered to help.
Gilles • One focus in writing the book was to argue the point that even secular people hold this belief more in common than we like to acknowledge.
Gross • It's problematic all around. You can't remove anticipation for the return of the Savior from Christian doctrine. But what must be realized is that regardless of where the belief comes from it prevents us from coming together for solutions. If everything's going to collapse there's no need to envision the future. We don't hear talk anymore about "tomorrow land" and what we want the world to look like for our children.
What would recommend as a "twelve-step" program for people who want to kick the habit of apocalyptic thinking?
Gross • We identify it as separating the apocalyptic wheat from the chaff. Learn to recognize when you're treating an issue apocalyptically. It's similar to identifying any pattern of thought. Until you have that moment of awareness, you can't do anything to counter it. ... Take that to the next step, though. There will never be universal acceptance of science. People who don't believe in a religious doctrine will never be able persuade those who hold such doctrines that they're wrong. To get anything done we must first abandon the hope of converting everyone. If we wait for everyone to come together nothing will ever happen.
Gilles • And that's how history has worked before. It's happened gradually, not when everyone was on the same page.
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'The Last Myth: What the Rise of Apocalyptic Thinking Tells Us About America'
Mathew Barrett Gross and Mel Gilles
Prometheus Books
Price • $18
Pages • 254