This week's blog mourns the death of Michael Dowd,
creator of the resource-rich website postdoom.com, who died on 7 October 2023. Michael
was a writer, a lecturer, a preacher with the Unitarian Universalist church, and
an advocate of eco-theology. He is best known by many around the globe for his
extensive body of work related to post-doom.
Michael Dowd
Michael was surely one of the warriors of the Tibetan
story of Shambhala.
This legend tells of how, when the Earth is in danger,
the realm of Shambhala emerges. Shambhala is not a place; it exists in the
hearts and minds of the Shambhala Warriors. You cannot identify these warriors
by any external appearance. They wear no uniform, and they do not display
insignia. The only way to recognise a Shambhala Warrior is by the two weapons
(or implements) they wield. (Listen here to the legend retold by Joanna Macy, as it was told to her by a Tibetan monk.)
One of these weapons is compassion. The other is
insight into the inter-being of all things.
Michael Dowd had a firm grasp on both these weapons. Just
two weeks before his death he gave his final sermon to the Flint, Michigan
congregation. Fortunately, for us, this sermon was recorded. It is a sermon in
which, as you watch and listen, you notice that he wields both these weapons
with highly trained skill.
Appropriately, this sermon is titled ‘Being theCalm in the Storm’ - no better label could epitomise how Michael lived his
life and how he wished for all of us to be able to live in these troubled
times. No matter whether you are a theist, an atheist, or a non-theist, this
final address by Michael is one for all of us.
When you listen to his interviews with others, or
watch his YouTube clips, his grace and wisdom are readily apparent. The range
of people he interviewed (all available on his website) is staggering. As a
resource and as a link to other people’s work, Michael Dowd’s website is
possibly unsurpassed. It is a testament to his dedication, not only to his
subject matter, but also to his endeavour to provide the best resources
available for anyone wishing to find out more.
Michael Dowd coined the term post-doom, and in
doing so opened up the possibility of living with compassion, joy, an
appreciation of beauty, and love, even though understanding that the world as
we know it has entered the global, and quite possibly final, collapse phase of
an unsustainable boom-bust scenario. His website (postdoom.com) contains dozens
of interviews with people from all over the world who understand the nature of
the predicament we are in, yet who live their lives in a meaningful and joyful
manner.
Michael too, understood this very well. It is telling
that in his final sermon he offered us three tools for “being the calm in the
storm” of these troubled, and disruptive times: 1. Nurture your personal
intimacy with life, 2. Honour your and our mortality, and 3. Attend to what
matters most.
Michael leaves us with a wealth of resources: interviews,
podcasts, book readings, videos, talks, and documentaries. These resources
cover everything you ever wanted to know (and a lot more besides) about the
state of the world and how best to negotiate it.
Surely, Michael was, and remains, a Shambhala warrior.
Farewell Michael.
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