As we approach the longest night of the year, we’re hoping to light a candle in the darkness.

In his book At Work in the Ruins, Dougald Hine asks a question about the climate crisis: how did we find ourselves in this trouble? Is it simply a piece of bad luck with atmospheric chemistry, or might it be a consequence of the way we have been approaching the world?

While this conversation won’t be focused on the climate crisis, we'll start from Dougald’s perspective on this situation to think about what it could mean for our day-to-day lives.

As I understand it, working in the ruins is a fractal concept that can be used to understand both the wider world and our own, individual, worlds.

How do we surrender to situations that can’t be changed?

What does it mean to face unstoppable transitions as a human being?

What is our work to do in a complex and uncertain world?

Listening to an interview with Dougald on The Sacred podcast I learned the phrase “engaged surrender."

What I understood from this phrase was that while we can’t avoid the inevitable, we can still find agency.

When we’re navigating a professional or personal transition, it may seem like we’re living in chaos, and there’s nothing we can do that can make things better.

Maybe what we need to do first is sit with our doubts and despair, sit with others, and share openly how we’re feeling. Only in that way can we journey to the far side of despair and discover what is possible.

So in this conversation, we’ll be creating a little campfire alongside the big path of life to sit with the questions and the uncertainty together. You don’t have to go through it on your own, and not knowing how to act is ok.

I hope that this conversation will bring you comfort if you’re currently experiencing a big change in your life.

And that it will help you become more aware of how we’re currently acting in the world and understand what your work is to do.

Making good in the ruins