Carpe Diem: The World is Falling Away

Cecilia Sepp, CAE, ACNP, LPEC

Currently, we are talking about the amount of disruption in the world, the stress it is causing, the uncertainty that is impacting mental health, and we wonder why it seems everything is spinning out of control. I give this topic a lot of thought too, and as an amateur historian I look at the current situation on Planet Earth and compare it to past eras. 

Because we have a past, after times of incredible disruption, stress, and change, I know that we will be okay in the long run because we are still here. It is getting to the long run that is excruciating. 

The historic period I compare our era to the most often is the fall of the Roman Empire. After a good run of 2,200 years from the founding of the city of Rome until the fall of Constantinople, the Roman Empire was the structure that held the world together. 

It built infrastructure, governed, and tied the edges of the world together through assimilation of conquered states or diplomacy with those that were not part of the empire. The Latin language became the basis for most languages in Europe and the government of Rome inspired Western democracies. 

The Roman Empire was evolutionary, starting off as a small city state that became a representative republic, and ultimately an Empire. When the Empire became too sprawling and unwieldy, it split into two parts, East and West. This lasted until the mid-15th Century when Constantinople fell ending the Eastern Empire.  

We can’t overlook the Holy Roman Empire, which took the place of the Western empire in the 10th century. This segment of history lasted 1,000 years and was a driving force of the spread of Christianity across Europe and the world. There was one church and most people belonged to it. This led to a shared worldview of expected behavior, punishment and reward, and anticipated experiences in the afterlife. 

When the Roman Empire fell, there was chaos and uncertainty. Tribalism grew. Travel was disrupted, food production was slowed, crime was rampant -- until new systems, that looked very much like the old one, took its place. However, multiple systems had to be built to do everything the Empire did in the past, and these systems were influenced by different ideas and different people. 

When we look at the impact on how we govern, think, worship, travel, and live, much of that is based on a city state that was once subordinate to the Etruscans. That’s where the Romans learned to party, too. We may not realize it, but much of what we do is based on a system from thousands of years ago. 

Yes, I could make a very appropriate joke about Board governance here, and how it’s stuck in the past. I won’t go there but Boards love to “do what they’ve always done” and we in the nonprofit community support them in taking that approach. Because that’s the way we do things – and because we want stability and security. 

What does all this history have to do with today, you may ask? Here’s how I look at it: 

The Roman Empire offered security. It offered safety. It offered consistency. People knew how things worked, and they had shared ideas and experiences. Everyone knew that even when there was disruption, like a new Emperor or another war, things would pretty much go on as they had before. Heck, even women’s fashion didn’t change much over the centuries. Stability is attractive and it keeps people from pushing back. 

When stability disappears, so does complacency. If this happens in a vacuum, we tend to end up with chaotic actions. 

Today we have a lack of stability due to swift changes in technology, shifting populations, new migration patterns, power and influence coming from Asia rather than the West, redefining of roles and identities, political extremism, economic uncertainty, and misinformation. 

This is driving people into smaller groups as they seek insularity to stave off the uncertainty. 

Everything we know is falling away. Everything we thought was accurate may not be. Who we thought we were is not who we actually are. And we cling to systems that no longer serve us. What worked in the past does not work in the present. 

And this is where the opportunity comes in: we can change how we do things. We can change what doesn’t work into something that does. We can let go of the old and embrace the new. We can accept that the world is not what it was and accept the world as it is. 

When something falls away, it is unsettling because we do not know what to expect. But once we take a close look, we see that something fresh and new is revealed. And the world goes on.