Why is The Experience of We?
Our planet is experiencing a crisis of crises.
We wouldn’t be writing these words otherwise. Nor would you be reading them.
That is the context of this precious, present moment we’re sharing.
There are people who very rightly fear that this crisis will lead, inevitably, to systemic collapse (chaos) or oppressive control (authoritarianism).
Still others predict a great simplification.
However, we don’t think in absolutes or inevitabilities. But we do think in terms of transitions.
And we are currently navigating the liminal space of the most consequential phase transition in the deep time evolutionary history of our species.
If we acknowledge the data that affirms this premise, the obvious and unavoidable question is:
“What can we do?” Or perhaps, “What can anyone do?”
Because when faced with a polycrisis — as well as an underlying metacrisis — of such unfathomable magnitude, we may experience acute anxiety, existential dread, and a sense of hopelessness.
These are not problems. They are normal and adaptive responses to the overwhelming scale and interconnectedness of our challenges.
Yet, experience will not end. And creation will continue.
So although we do not and cannot know how this phase transition will play out, we can and do know something crucial.
In every plausible post-transition scenario short of rapid extinction:
We will still co-regulate our nervous systems through our relationships
Information will still move through channels that require trust and safety
Survival will still depend on collaboration, repair, and shared meaning
Power will still be mediated through relational legitimacy, not just force
Even authoritarian systems run on relationships — they just centralize, weaponize, and impoverish them. Collapse doesn’t erase relationship; it makes relational quality decisive.
This means that, for almost everyone, relationship is the highest-leverage layer of influence available. This is true before, during, and after phase transitions.
It is always true. It will always be true.
This reframes our agency without inflating it.
We’re not claiming relationships can “save civilization.”
We’re saying something subtler, more accurate, and more radical:
Whatever adapts and survives will do so through relationships.
Whatever degrades and disappears will also do so through relationships.
Therefore, stewarding our relational field is not optional.
It’s participatory alignment with reality.