The thing that Cassandra pieces like that tend to get wrong, however, is that they take a valid thesis regarding decline and telescope many years or decades of events into a more compressed timeline, which makes the looming experience seem more terrifying, which in turn has a way of crippling one's ability to think rationally and make good decisions in the present.
Ultimately, I have found that thinking of the demise of our society, economy, culture and political institutions is a bit like thinking about my own death: I figured out at some point that I was going to die some day and figured out how to make peace with it. I am also aware that other human institutions also pass away, and I try to make peace with that as well.
Against this backdrop of heavy doses of reality, it isn't surprising that people turn to fantastic beliefs and belief systems that promise what Harry Browne called "a more enticing future." Who cares if it's true or not if it makes you feel better today, right? I have often thought of our whole debt-based monetary system as a form of secular religion that ultimately relies for its viability upon beliefs about the future that are at best delusional.
The trick, I suppose, is to see the world as clearly as our senses will allow without allowing the experience to exhaust us or rob life of its meaning or sense of purpose.
Lest I leave things on a dark note, I recommend Joseph Campbell's "Hero With a Thousand Faces" as a way of finding meaning based upon the experiences of countless generations that grappled with many of the same issues we are grappling with today (including the grief of losing a treasured way of life).
