On the Edge of the Abyss: From Denial to Praxis

This paper's message to educators is that we need to help facilitate a decisive shift in the direction of the world both by removing the psychological veil that conceals the present signs of civilisation collapse and by imagining and promoting an alternative project. This paper thus rejects the gathering steam of the 'bounce back' movement towards a preCOVID-19 scenario of normalcy. Instead, it argues strongly that humanity needs to 'bounce forward' on the momentum of critical-alternative-seeking that COVID-19 has provoked. However, it is very difficult, psychologically, to transcend denial and think beyond the familiar security of an existing way of life even when it is being catastrophically disrupted.