Love as an act of full presence with what is breaking in the world, refusing numbness or denial in the face of civilizational decline.
Mirabai's prema—her radical, embodied love for the divine—offers a model for how to grieve civilization without despair. Rather than love as sentimentality, prema is the capacity to witness with an open heart, to see clearly what is being lost without turning away. In anticipatory grief for civilization, this means cultivating the courage to remain present to ecological collapse, institutional failure, and cultural dissolution without dissociating or retreating into cynicism. Mirabai's poetry demonstrates that love and grief are not opposites but partners in truthful seeing. This concept invites practitioners to develop a quality of attention that honors what is dying while remaining alive to beauty and connection. It is the prerequisite for any meaningful response to civilizational decline: we must first love what we grieve.
Peri can explain this concept, give practical examples, help you decide whether it applies to your situation, or recommend a journey if appropriate.
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