Dead Canaries.

We are surrounded by the unmistakable signs that we have mangled our environments — ecological, social, moral, economic, political, psychological — beyond repair.  We are unable to respond effectively to the inevitable coming catastrophes because over the last 500 years of Modernity we have systematically maimed our spiritual capacity by enslaving ourselves to ego at every turn.  We have elevated sins into “virtues” in an economic system that declares greed, lust, gluttony, envy, anger, pride, etc., along with every form of selfishness, to be good.  We have valorized wanton consumption, mindless pleasure, and irresponsible theft from both creation and the poor, marginalized, and vulnerable.  And we have deliberately mocked and thrown away every tool for real transformation and real freedom.  We will not avoid the consequences; they have already begun.

We are ankle deep in dead canaries and still insist on hacking away at the same shiny lode.  We are addicted to egocentricity, and we have forgotten, denied, or rejected any alternative.  We will kill the planet for the sake of our own self-gratification, which means, we know, suicide.  

Is there a better definition of nihilism?