Are the end of times/epochs/eras relevant stories and conversations to be having?
I don’t personally believe that the end times are near, or if they are, we have no way of really knowing this. Humans are small and the mystery of what holds this universe together is vast. Nonetheless, I think the conversation is fruitful. Facing extinction makes us confront what we value. Imagining the end might lead us (personally, perhaps societally) to embrace who we are and where we are right now. This is why Buddhist monks meditate upon the image of their own rotting flesh. It is not morbid. It forces a clear view. If we grant the reality of something like global warming, for example, then what is the role of the storyteller? To make people feel the problem in their nerves and hearts and bellies. Right now, I think most of us embrace the threat of global climate change intellectually, and we worry about it (intellectually) as we drive to work in our big cars. But the intellect is limited. The reality of global warming needs to sink deeper — beyond just logic and mental understa
