Reverend Dowd Helped Many People, an excerpt from a Full Article by Jem Bendell

December 16, 2023

I can’t end this review of some of my audiovisual outputs this year without a mention of the late great Reverend Dowd, who passed away suddenly in October. He helped many people learn of my ideas by releasing 39 audio narrations. In addition, Michael’s audio narrations provided me with an additional means of learning about the wider field of collapse. He is the only person I know to have stated publicly that he was sorry for not sticking by me in public when I was criticised for my warnings about the corporate-dominated, authoritarian and ineffective responses to Covid-19. He made amends by audio recording one of my essays on what to learn from the Covid situation. A brave, bold, positive, humble, intelligent and good-hearted man who made a unique contribution to humanity at this unprecedented time. Soon before he died, Michael connected me with Karen Perry, and for nearly 2 hours we dived deep into her ideas on the benefits of collapse acceptance, rather than just awareness. She is part of the team continuing the Reverend’s communication on a postdoom perspective.

When people close to us die, or even our pets, it is a reminder of the miracle of life. Grief was a significant aspect of my year. It has made me all-the-more incredulous at how much unnecessary suffering and death is being caused around the world. I have felt deep sadness both at the horrible loss of life and the hateful lies involved in so many conflicts…Through meditating on grief during one of the retreats I co-organised, I realised that the final ingredient of grief is to re-focus on who and what is still alive with more presence and compassion…Whatever your faith, or none, and whatever your views on current affairs, I hope you have a good break, with some fun and meaningful conversations about what’s important to you and your loved ones, as you consider the years ahead in new ways.

Warmly, Jem