The Impossible Conversation: Choosing Reconnection and Resilience at the End of Business as Usual

by Dean Walker

In The Impossible Conversation, Dean Walker takes the reader’s hand and compassionately asks them to join him in exploring our global crises. He leads us past the realm of climate deniers, cynical corporate And government players and disempowered citizens – to a far more sober, clear and empowered place where we might reclaim our agency, regain access to truth in this Post-Truth world and stand for what Truly matters. In The Impossible Conversation we are invited to intimately with our own inner wisdom, with the miracle that is every other human and with our magnificent, magnanimous Earth. I urge you to take this book into your heart and allow it to become part of your blood and bones. Carolyn Baker. PhD., author of Collapsing Transformative Truths for Turbulent Times and Dark The Human Shadow and the Global Crisis. Craig K. Comstock, Huffington Post. In Walker’s book, what a relief to see the situation defined not as a “problem” that can be “solved,” but as a “predicament” that we must live with. The kinds of “reconnection” described by Walker (reconnection deeper self, others and Earth) would be attractive even if the situation were normal. Given our situation, they are necessary. Some of the climate scientists quoted by Walker suggest it’s too late to prevent disaster. From now on, we can only grieve what we have inadvertently grieve, and live intensely; behave well as we witness the gathering storm. Very few people want to accept this, and prefer to persist as if our way of life could continue. Besides, as someone always says just before the attempted conversation dribbles away, “what can one person do?” Walker has some answers, which go less to preventing disaster, than to living with the knowledge of what’s happening. Walker praises reconnection with the deeper self, with other people, and with nature. The (workshop and coaching) project announced by Walker and Carolyn Baker (in The Impossible Conversation) is based on the practice of psychotherapy, a knowledge of history, and experience in organizational consulting. For readers, their books offer some of the very best ideas for the enlargement of a community that can make the “conversation” more possible. In The Impossible Conversation, Dean Walker recounts his transformational journey from his first contact with the shocking data and projections of Abrupt Climate Change – to the mind blowing awareness of the full scope of the global problems and predicaments we all must face. As we engage in The Impossible Conversation we begin to grapple with questions that really “How did we get ourselves and our planet-home into these predicaments?” and “What are the inner skills and capacities that are called for as we confront our global problems and predicaments?” and “How does my life change as I witness the collapse of our environmental and human systems?” and “How can we come together to regain our long lost sense of agency in life?” and “What are the qualities of presence and relationship I can bring to my family, community, workplace, local environment, as I stand with new purpose in the face of our predicaments.?” The Impossible Conversation is not another feel-good guide to our quick return to a thriving economy and business as usual. It is a sober look at how our business as usual paradigm is, in fact, what has driven us to the brink.

Genres: Nonfiction

292 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 27, 2017

Reviews

[Ciara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this if you want to know things. Don't if you don't.
Even as a person who arrived at the relative acceptance of accelerated climate change before reading this, it's a book that took me a while to get through. If you're looking for condensed information on what's going on with climate and you're prepared to go down rabbit holes, here ya go.

A special thing about this book
They're not using shame as a tactic to get people on their side. After listing this potentially horrifying info about the state of our world, they follow it up with tangible empathy, hope, and honesty.

The hope is not that cloying and desperate toxic positivity you may sometimes see around climate change stuff online. It's coming from a deeper knowing that we all have a unique opportunity to face our individual and collective shadows and find a way of coming back to connection and gratitude. And to stop destroying each other (and, by extension, the planet.)

Really appreciate the way this person credits the source for so many of their ideas and spends portions of the book describing and recommending other ppls work.

There are links to videos and articles, suggested people to follow and read their work, and book recommendations, and they don't leave you hanging, give good advice about grounding yourself regularly, finding community/friendship, having difficult conversations, and holding the space to process the feelings that come with giving an honest look at preparing for the future.

TL;DR
Recommended for anyone who wants to understand the scale of the climate crisis through a realistic lens and does not want to be left alone in the dark with that information without next steps for processing it. Not recommended if you're looking for a sugar-coated "Let's just all buy EVs and shop from sustainable brands and hope that a tech bro somewhere figures out a solution," type of thing.