In a world that seems to be falling apart, are you, like so many, having trouble embracing a positive outlook on the future and where our world is headed? If so, you're not alone. Depression and feeling down seem to be common feelings these days.

A democracy is a fragile structure created by humans. It needs to be vigorously defended from those forces that would lead to its collapse. Unfortunately, America is a democracy standing on the edge of collapse. The current growing right-wing populism and right-wing political extremism pose a serious threat to our American democracy, but they are not the primary threat! They are simply the extremist right-wing political threats that have been created and reinforced by the primary threat…… the unevolved, immature, collective primitive ego-consciousness of humanity created by its early childhood conditioning.

To answer this important question, we need to understand the ego of the unconscious inner child that resides inside all of us. We humans use our minds to create the world we live in, so the better we understand how our minds work, the more successful we will be in creating the world we live in….and more importantly, the world we want to create.

They are manifesting the consciousness of very primitive, unevolved early childhood egos. An immature primitive ego thinking process and consciousness that includes:

• "Don't tell me what to do! (entitlement)

• I'm right! You're wrong!! (need to be right)

• What's in it for "me"? (greed) (inability to manifest "we" thinking)

• This is our sandbox! Go away! (rejection of "other")

• We don't like you….go away! (you "make" me feel)

• You can't have that! It's mine! Give it back to me! (I'm the boss, not you!)

• I want it now!! (

• your fault, not mine!! (Blaming others)

• I'm mad at you! You're not nice. ( If you disagree with me)

• You make me angry! (My feelings are your fault!)

• I'm going home and tell on you! (Using powerful authority figures)

• He hit me on purpose! (I'm innocent!)

• It's her fault! (She made me do it!! I'm innocent!)

The temperature of our planet is rising, and I’m not talking about global warming. I’m talking about the rising social anger temperature and its potential to create a social, civil, and economic collapse. Collapse is the corrosive erosion of social, civil, and economic systems that support human civilization. It happens over time, and once that collapse begins, reversing it is extremely difficult and complex. It requires a change in the consciousness of the species that initially created those systems. As we’ll see below, human civilization has begun the process of collapse.

I recognize that the title of this Stonyhill Nugget is alarming and that I will be accused of holding extremist views on global warming and climate intensification. But I am concerned that the media and our government are not telling us the truth. Stated simply, the 1% that control the media, and the reigns of political power in Washington and other nations around the globe, have absolutely no desire or motivation to talk about the real threats embedded in global warming.

America is a nation in crisis. Our emotional political divisiveness, frustration, sense of powerlessness, and anger are distracting us from the deeper reality that our nation is in crisis and is crawling day-by-day toward fascism. Our democratic American rights, our democratic values, and our constitutional checks and balances are all intentionally under attack by forces historically reminiscent of autocratic political leaders of fascist nations. The most recent were Stalin and Hitler.

Driven by zero-sum thinking, the rigid, inflexible, ideological thinking and obsessive need of our collective human ego are to be absolutely and imperatively “right”, is rapidly driving our Nation and our American democracy toward collapse.

Years ago, a good friend of mine used the metaphor of the Titanic to explain how humanity too often ignores reality. He said instead of preparing the life boats and breaking out the life-jackets, we tend to debate about how the chairs on the deck of the Titanic should be arranged before the ship sinks.

That metaphor is a good example of human nature and how humanity is operating today in the face of global warming, climate change and half a dozen other life altering changes that are coming. We tend to ignore reality when reality feels too big and too threatening. We freeze. We shut down. We focus on irrelevant tasks rather than preparing for the larger threatening realities……realities that feel too big and too over-whelming to even think about.

In this article, we will take a look at systemic thinking and the dangerous unconscious childhood illusion that each of us is a unique being independent and separate from the rest of reality. We’re not.

But that unconscious childhood belief and the behaviors and actions that this unconscious childhood belief allows us to manifest in the world is clearly threatening the collapse of our planet’s life support system, the foundations of human civilization, and the very survival of humanity.

Most of us know that the world is changing in ways that leave us uncomfortable and powerless… even frightened. We know the future is not what it used to be. It’s impossible to read a newspaper or watch the media news without daily reminders that the life-altering changes that threaten to change our future are already here. And their impact on our lives will continue to become more extreme.

About a year ago, I wrote a Nugget in which I talked about my concern about Trump’s mental health. As an NYS Licensed mental health counselor and a certified Fellow in AAPC with experience treating clients for over twenty years, I was concerned that Trump was mentally ill.

I have been listening to the uproar over Facebook and the loss of personal data. The level of energy and anger being displayed dumbfounds me. It has become a major issue for our American government. We are now holding hearings in Washington. It is creating problems for the stock market. And it has taken over the headlines in our media. An outsider looking at our global response to the loss of personal data would have to assume that the major threat to humanity is not global climate change, it’s the loss of individual personal data. That loss is somehow literally threatening the future of the human race.

I would suggest that Facebook is nothing more than a distraction from the real problem of social media. A problem far more dangerous than the loss of personal data.

The last two months have been insanely busy. I apologize to all of you who have wondered what happened to the Stonyhill-Nuggets for the last eight weeks. The answer to that question is we sold our house, moved out, bought a new motorhome, moved in, and are now living full time……again…..on the road. Sometimes life takes some unexpected turns in the road…and this turn was a big one! It gave a whole new meaning to the word “busy”!

I am appalled at the egregious lack of moral fiber in the GOP and their lack of courage to protect the foundational values of our American democracy. Republicans control both the Senate and House. The potential for them to pass measures that would help America become stronger and a leader in the world is being squandered.

Welcome to 2018. It’s hard to believe that the uproar over 2000 was almost two decades ago. And today we find ourselves challenged with saving our planet and our human way of life.

In 2018 I will continue exploring how each of us can prepare for the significant challenges and changes that are coming. Changes that will threaten our current way of life. I believe the more we know, the more we can prepare. The more we can prepare, the greater our resilience will be toward surviving those changes. And they are coming far sooner than most of us believe.

As I head into the Christmas season. I find that I need to vent. I’m fed up. I’m tired of being politically correct. I’m tired of keeping a smile on my face and being positive. Right now, I don’t feel very positive. I’m feeling powerless, frightened for our future, and very frustrated.

If you agree with the title of this article you know in your heart things have to change. You fight for your values. You believe in a sustainable world, radical simplicity, powering down from petroleum and renewable green energy. Global warming and global climate change have you worried. Washington’s intransigent GOP conservative denial of global warming has you worried. You know business as usual in our world has to change. We are at war with Nature. You know we have to create a more sustainable economy and way of life.

Our world is in trouble. Our intuition is telling us that we have to make some significant changes. We know that business as usual needs to come to an end. We know we are destroying our planet. We know that waiting for Trump, or the 1%, or the multinational corporations to save our planet is not a good option. We know intuitively that the changes needed to save our planet and create a sustainable future will not come from the top down…..they will only come from the bottom up…..when you and I are willing to make a commitment, step up and get actively involved

Big changes are coming and surviving those changes will require downsizing……everything. We are living in a time of major global transition, and the challenges that are coming will continue to intensify until we: