About Polycrisis Navigator

Who is this website For?

I created Polycrisis Navigator to assist/support anyone (especially fellow Americans) who:

  1. Want to make more ethical purchasing decisions
  2. Believe that building resilient communities is a primary path for ordinary people to respond to the polycrisis
  3. May be interested in joining existing movements and projects responding to the polycrisis

People who fit any of the above description would be whom I imagine as my “primary audience.” The American focus is just because I am an American and I can’t do everything. But maybe, eventually, I might branch into covering more resources for people in other countries.

Also: New Monasticism

For the few who want to take it further

I’m also here for a very small minority of people who feel drawn to some kind of new monasticism. Most anyone can benefit from efforts to build community and to be more careful about how they use resources … but a few people will be called to take this further than others. I feel that a commitment to this, based on a relationship with God, is the spirit of monasticism that needs new expression in our time.

The Religious Landscape Today

I used to be a Presbyterian pastor and thought I would be part of the renewal of my denomination. But the changes I have come to see as necessary are too radical for the institution was once part of. Like many others, I have struggled to find my place in the current landscape of religion and spirituality in America. The broad trends I see are:

  • Mainline (“denominational”) churches in rapid decline and not being renewed
  • Growing nondenominational churches (and the Mormons) corrupted by alignment with right-wing politics and rejection of scientific and historical knowledge
  • A growing “Spiritual But Not Religious”/New Age industry that encourages fantasy and delusions over practical engagement with reality and is typically driven by a profit-motive
  • Anti-religious scientism and emerging techno-cults among wealthy elites
  • A smattering of others representing various traditional religions (often associated with ethnic minority communities), and new religious movements or renewal movements that have not gained much traction

New monasticism is one of the renewal movements that hasn’t become popular. I don’t expect it will ever become more than a small minority movement, just as only a small number of people have ever, throughout history, chosen a monastic life. And yet, as monasteries through history have had tremendous influence, new monastic communities have the potential to impact society more deeply than their minority status would suggest.

How Elective “Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience” are Needed Now

The traditional monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience might need to be updated with more accessible terminology and adapted to contemporary life, but they could hardly be a clearer path forward through the polycrisis.

  • Poverty/Simplicity:
    • In a crisis caused by reckless overconsumption of resources, we must discover contentment and joy in simpler ways of being.
  • Chastity/Responsible Sexual Expression:
    • In a society saturated with “sex sells” advertising and entertainment, promoting an “anything goes” attitude, we must carefully define our sexual standards of behavior to promote responsibility and restraint while addressing the difficult realities of contemporary life.
  • Obedience/Humble Service:
    • As our global civilization has been founded on selfishness and greed, we need to demonstrate an alternative way of living and relating based on humility and servanthood.
Starting a New Monastic Community

I have come to understand, about myself, that sometimes I might need to accomplish things on a very, very slow timeline. Building this website is an example. I didn’t just decide one day to do it. It’s only now flowering out of many years of learning, thinking, and creating.

Starting some kind of new monastic community seems to be a long-term goal of my life, but as I have found from experience, it’s not something to try to rush into. It could take me years to reach the point of actually organizing something. And that’s not a bad thing.

But I want to share with you that this is something I am working toward and I am interested in hearing from you, if you are on a similar path.

I have developed a curriculum (in “draft” form—needing to be experimented with and refined) for small groups exploring new expressions of Christian monasticism. If you have a small group that might be interested, feel free to contact me.