First is the survival committee. This is the complex part of me that evolved long ago in fish and reptiles and has been passed up the evolutionary tree, further evolving through mammals and primates to humans. The survival committee’s headquarters are in my brain stem and cerebellum. Its primary job is to keep me alive at least long enough to

Doom is a kind of pre-traumatic stress disorder that arises when our old normal is deteriorating and no new normal has come into view. For our purposes, it isn’t a single catastrophic event at some point in the future. Instead, it is the emotional and intellectual experience shared by all who realize the dangerous future into which we are presently

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory [italics mine].9

Second is the belonging committee. It is often associated with the limbic system of the brain. This essential part of me evolved among mammals (and also birds) whose survival depended on strong bonds of primal attachment between babies and their mothers, and sometimes their fathers and siblings, too, and often, the members of their herd, troop,

People often say it manages the seven F’s of survival for our species: our instincts or reflexes to feed, fight, flee, freeze, fawn, flock, or … mate.

It feels so right that Zinn uses the word “defiance,” because that is what I feel: the energy of fierce defiance. All that is bad around us motivates me to resist, to defy, to refuse to comply, and that very defiance feels like a marvelous victory.

Poetry and the arts—like the right kind of prayer—can help us to stay with grief long enough to feel its sweetness, long enough for the sweetness and grief to deepen our sensitivity to the exquisite agony and ecstasy that we call appreciation, praise, love … and life. We will find or write and recite the poems and prayers that resonate most deeply

Life After Doom is for everyone who has reached a point where not facing their unpeaceful, uneasy, unwanted feelings about the future has become more draining than facing them. It’s for anyone who understands that we’ve entered a dangerous time and we need to prepare ourselves to face that danger with wisdom, courage, character, and compassion.

shock and denial, bargaining, anger, and depression. Ideally, depression eventually recedes and leaves us in a place of acceptance.