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I picked up St Sophrony's On Prayer the other day, which came highly recommended. he was a Russian who ended up in England after the Bolshevik seizure of power and finished out his life in Essex (hence St Sophrony of Essex). His settlement initially had no liturgical books, so they chanted the Jesus Prayer. This book is sort of his "how to" manual, so it's a continuation of the hesychast (sic) tradition that's alive on Mr Athos. Alas, sinner that I am, I have not read it. I've been reading Gordon Rhea's account of the Overland Campaign in the US War Between the States, which represents a triumph of the machine soldier and logistics over the rural, heroic age, which consequences we are suffering through today.

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Thanks for drawing my attention to Peter Zeihan, who I was not previously familiar with. I have yet to watch the video linked, but looking him up on Wikipedia, I see the the video probably draws on his new book The End of the World is Just Beginning -- which does appear (from the summary I saw) to deal more substantially with climate change.

What am I doing to ready myself? Well, my wife and I just purchased a few acres of land on which we plan to expand the gardening and orchard plantings that currently exist on our large city lot. And it doesn't hurt that we are in the upper midwest of the United States, a region that should fare better within a country that should fare better, according to Zeihan's analysis. I do, however, have a medical condition that requires fairly pricey specially medications to keep under control, and so it's always on the back of my mind that a collapse may make access to these medications difficult or impossible.

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The Orthodox priests on the Lord of Spirits podcast recently had an episode about the Tower of Babel and the collapse of the Babylonian Empire. In light of that and the video, as well as the chaos enveloping the world, I could see globalization as another universalizing Tower that is going to be brought low. Perhaps people in the future will write about us as we do 5th century Romans.

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Thanks Paul, I hope you enjoy Paul Vanderklay and Calvin! I’ve watched Paul for years and going to an event with PV and Tom Holland on Saturday. I’ve been prepping for months now, tricky as I have a family of three kids and not a huge amount of space, I have bulk purchased all long life essentials (organic) stock pilled enough wood for our log burning stove to last the winter, got 6 chickens, and now I’m seriously about to press go on a solar system with battery, it’s a big investment…not 100 percent sure but almost there with being convinced. One question Paul…I’m in Cambridge and have been going to the local Romanian Orthodox Church…they don’t have a sermon, I wonder why? Is your church the same?

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How are we preparing? By going to liturgy, trying to love God and the people He puts in our lives, and praying.

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Sep 1, 2022·edited Sep 1, 2022

I very much doubt we will see any "collapse" of any sort in the West over the next few years. What I think we will experience is more of the same trends, resulting in spiritual sickness caused by the Machine. The symptoms of the sickness will include the continued inventions of ideologies, such as transgenderism, and artificial intelligence providing an inadequate remedy for the spiritual sickness.

But in the short term, the West will face no real crisis over fuel, energy, or food supplies.

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I haven't watched the video you linked, but as to preparing for the end: here in the US I do see a little less material chaos than in Europe (though perhaps I've just been blind to it). My wife and I moved to a smaller town that has less stuff and less options than a big city, but feels more stable and is surrounded by more farms (though many are being bought up by developers).

We're hoping to start a garden next year in our back yard - our first step in learning some skills to withstand the apocalypse.

Otherwise, I'm going to "watch and pray."

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I appreciate Peter Z’s economic perspectives, and to some extent his demographic ones, but he is a bit shaky on some facts, e.g., the US being tight on immigration? I guess he is not counting millions of illlegals. That aside, I agree that the western European model with its collapsing pillars is upon us. It should be noted that large families are being encouraged in Eastern Europe, to thwart the demographic declines Peter is talking about. Whether that works, who knows, butcat least they recognize that things are changing. Windmills saving Britain? Might help, but those 400 foot monstrosities (here in the US) cost near $50,000 apiece per year to maintain and need a lot of materials to build, which Britain does not have. “China makes things, Russia has things, the West buys things.” A broad generalization I know, but not all bad.

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The approaching winter certainly would appear to be the start of a new departure in modern times. That said the period of lavish plenty I have lived through is an historical anomaly. My father, born in 1911, lived most of his life without electricity. My grandfather's wedding gift to my Father's brother (now in his 90s) was a large paraffin lamp. My mother had to draw water from a communal well when first married in 1960. We are fortunate that when we moved here we bought two acres and have a developing food forest and plenty to eat, it may turn out to be a boon for us and our neighbours.

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Spring is breaking here on our 9 acres. Fruit blossom everywhere, our sheep are lambing, two weaner pigs are settling in and we are starting summer vegetable seeds. Have quietly acquired about 200kg of wheat (and a mill) over winter and now happy to have a holiday from endlessly cutting firewood too. Just hoping there is enough electricity to go around to run the slightly larger freezer we just bought to store last years lambs once the air conditioners, set to a constant 18degC, start spooling up in the great metropolitan heat sinks. We were told recently by a solar installer there was no point putting in a solar system as we 'didn't use enough electricity' to justify the cost. Not wanting to be identified as a mad prepper I fell silent, but will revisit the idea if only to keep that lamb, venison and pork in top condition during brownouts.

Rarely listen to Triggernometry but coincidentally heard that particular episode a few days ago. If memory serves, it's all sunny uplands once the four horsemen have moved on. Must remember to reassure the children.

Watching with no pleasure the potential chaos about to unfold during the coming northern winter and wishing everyone the best. We will not escape the repercussions even at (what once was) this great distance.

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If you can be self sustaining on a piece of land, and are young and healthy with land smarts to pull that off, Godspeed. For the rest of us, we’ll be praying for deliverance; I expect fasting will not be a voluntary act of love and sacrifice before too long. I wonder how long “Homo connecticus” will survive.

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Not a fan of the video or his smarmy charmy technocratic tyranny.

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What am i doing to prepare?

I'm hoping the 4 year training course in medical herbalism that i just completed will come in handy.

I also have logs and duvets and rice.

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Learn how to fast. Deepen silent prayer/meditation practice. Die before you die.

Fun things like that.

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I listened to the Peter Zeihan Triggernometry podcast and then bought the book - he does talk about environmental impact. Frighteningly enough there was another similar podcast the same week on Modern Wisdom with another expert Nate Hagens also predicting collapse and this was from an environmental perspective:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/modern-wisdom/id1347973549?i=1000574967600

It is stunning to me that no governments or main stream media are paying the slightest attention. Thinking of selling my city house to buy a country property but it’s hard with 4 teenagers who would not appreciate being moved away from friends.

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I think an important art in this time is the ability to be sober and prepared in response to the real risks of collapse, and at the same time to live spiritually with our hearts centered more on the eternal than on that which is passing.

For our family it means a habit of providing our own food and firewood from the land, and keeping a substantial surplus on hand. We're very fortunate to have a land base and a lifestyle that's already quite resilient. Yet, we spend about 2 hours per day in liturgical prayer, which is terribly inefficient from a materialist's prepping standpoint. It amounts to 28 hours of 'wasted' adult labor per week. However, it' what we acquire in prayer, not the presence of chicken and lamb in the freezer or grain in the pantry that gives us peace and strength in the face of reports (real or imagined) of war, famine and collapse on the horizon.

Truth be told, I'd rather starve with a heart rightly aligned to God than to keep my body alive and 'survive' by doing harm to others. I try to hold all the preparation lightly - we might be called to give aid to others beyond our means and suffer in common with the rest of our local community.

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