As I contemplate the horror of the Los Angeles fires, I can’t help but hope for something.

Hope this will be the call, the slap that wakes us to our folly, that induces us to examine our part in this fire, fed as it is by the climate-induced drought in the forests and fields of California, the westernmost frontier of the American dream.

The American dream: unfettered progress, westward expansion. But there on cliffs at the edge of the Pacific, the farthest reaches of that frontier and in plain view before us, we are, like Dante in the Sixth Circle of Hell, forced to witness the flaming consequences of our expansionist fantasy.

Will we, like Dante, witness the corruption, the greed, the sins against nature and find salvation or will we remain blind to the immorality of our behavior and be condemned to eternal fire? It’s all going up in flames before our very eyes, this moment, the moment when we’ve officially blown past 1.5 degrees of global warming, the milestone we were warned that if we crossed, devastating consequences would follow.

Will this burning teach us another message about the value of that multimillion-dollar house, that closet full of designer clothes, that JennAir refrigerator and Missoni rug? Once it’s all gone, isn’t it easier to let go, to say what matters is love and the beauty of the morning sky and our connections to each other?

Our biggest corporations, our rich billionaire tech bros, our new president: none of them wants you to see these fires as an omen. They want to keep you blind and blame endangered smelt, LGBTQ hires, Gov. Newsom, anyone but themselves and their schemes to acquire money and power.

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Can you and I take in the lessons of this fire? Can we look into our own lives and say that this isn’t working, my internalization of the story of progress and consumption has brought this on. I must stop. I must find another story about what it means to be a good citizen, a good steward, a person who cares for her homeland?

What do I know from my 50 years of work as a psychotherapist about how this critical change can happen? What advice do I have? First, don’t project the blame onto others. Don’t even try at this point blaming the people who don’t believe in man-made climate change. Don’t even blame Elon and his buddies. Or Citibank. Or Exxon. Projection is cheap and spineless and won’t make you any happier. Projection is a way of giving over all agency.

By all means, acknowledge that corporate America is part of the problem, but with every Citibank purchase of another doodad, or upgraded refrigerator or in-fashion coat or steak from Argentina, or flight to Brazil, know that you are the person supporting Elon and his buddies and helping corporate America flourish. You won’t die if you stop ordering from Amazon this year.

Taking responsibility is not meant to overwhelm you with guilt and shame. That will get you nowhere but in bed with the covers over you. Acknowledge the power of the corporate sham to make you think your next purchase will bring eternal happiness and make you look beautiful. Put the credit card away and silently tell them to get lost.

Talk, talk, talk to your friends and family about waking up to the idea that this culture is based on assumptions about nature and mankind that once worked for us, but which are now revealing themselves to be dangerous. Find stories of people living whole and happy lives outside of this consumer culture and be inspired by them.

The American dream needs to burn and in its place we need to find another dream, another story. It isn’t written yet. We must write it together.

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