If we intend to find solutions to chronic problems such as degradation of the earth’s environment, we must go to its roots. By Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj Ji
All of us witness the realities of climate change in the form of rising temperatures, declining Arctic sea ice, extreme weather conditions, heat waves, floods, droughts, unprecedented storms and hurricanes and so on. It is being debated whether the climate will change catastrophically or if other natural factors will intervene to make the phenomena a whole lot milder.
The crucial challenges like the unprecedented change in climate that the earth is facing are best understood when we see the planet as a living system. The theory of living system is a body of work that describes how all living systems function, how they sustain themselves and how they develop and change. Living systems is actually a metaphor that represents an animate arrangement of parts and processes that continually affect one another over time while organising, growing, changing and connecting. When we are able to see the intricate interconnections of the many parts of the living system, our view of the world begins to change. We must understand that the natural world does not need humanity for its survival, but humanity itself cannot survive without the natural environment and resources from nature like soil, water, air, sunlight and so on. Thus we need to accept that we are all part of earth.
According to scientists, actions of humans like burning fossil fuels, cutting down rainforests, farming livestock increasingly influence the climate and the earth’s temperature. All such factors can be directly linked to the problem of endless consumerism. The biggest problem is that no matter how much we have, we always want more. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Earth produces enough for everyone’s needs but not enough for our greed.” So, whether it is an industrialist looking for his next billion or a hipster upgrading to the latest smart phone as soon as it is launched, all of us are guilty of taking more than we need. In fact, we are almost pressurised by our society into earning as much as we can throughout our working lives to collect as many “goodies” as we can before breathing our last whether we can enjoy them or not. Albert Einstein had rightly said that we cannot solve problems with the same level of perception that we created them with. For that, we have to step up to a higher and more inclusive level of seeing what is going on in order to understand and solve great challenges.
It has been observed that there is often a great sense of fear among those who focus perpetually on the problem: the doomsayers, the protesters, the motivators, researchers and the environmentalist. Inspite of this great fear among a certain section of the society, there is a greater sense of nonchalance among the wider public who would rather sit on the fence, not be bothered and go on about their business, ignoring the foretelling of impending doom. These people are not prepared to give up something they enjoy for the sake of future generations and for maintaining the status quo. And the reason for this is deep-seated. The attachment of the senses to the things they enjoy is so strong that one’s ‘better judgment’ is not enough to turn the tables and change habits and put a stop to the endless consumption that is driving the changes in climate.
PM Modi in his speech at UN said, “We can achieve the same level of development, prosperity and well-being without necessarily going down the path of reckless consumption. It doesn’t mean that the economies will suffer; it only means that our economies will take on a different character. For us in India, respect for nature is an integral part of spiritualism. We treat nature’s bounties as sacred. Yoga is an invaluable gift of our ancient tradition. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature and a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, world and nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change.”
The inner world of thought and the outer world of physical phenomena are not separate. They are part of the same ‘causal continuum.’ The outer physical phenomena begins as inner subtle phenomena — impressions, thoughts and feelings. We must always remember that these can change even long-held awareness.
For example, the astronauts and cosmonauts would have believed that they were part of a large, solid, and stable earth until they found themselves in space looking out of the window of a spaceship at the lovely Earth spinning slowly like a small blue marble. After that experience, many of them spoke of Earth’s vulnerability and of “Spaceship Earth.” In this causal continuum, our awareness naturally produces a certain kind of attitude. Our thoughts and feelings emerge naturally from the attitude we hold as it also causes us to see things in a certain way.
If we intend to find solutions to chronic problems such as degradation of the earth’s environment, we must go to its roots. If we want to change the world, we need to go beyond laws, and policies to end the causal continuum. We need to consider how we can work at the beginning of the continuum to change awareness and subsequently action, on a massive scale.
