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Addressing the Existential Crisis We Face in Today's World · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Today's topic is the existential crisis of humanity and the
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  evolution of consciousness as a solution to this crisis.
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  First, I'd like to thank you for your interest in this critical
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  issue for the future survival of our entire human race.
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  There's a positive way forward for humanity as we face the
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  intense challenges before us. When we are under intense
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  pressure, we have the impetus to make needed changes.
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  That's the lesson of nature and the lesson of human history.
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  What do we each worry about as we live our lives?
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  We worry about our health and that of our family.
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  We don't generally tie our health issues to our
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  environment, but there is a clear link.
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  We are filling the rivers, the oceans, the earth and the air
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  with toxic chemicals which are migrating into our bodies.
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  We find increasing stress in our lives as we struggle to survive,
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  deal with health and family issues, and try to deal with the
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  increasing climate impacts that we notice every day.
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  We are inundated with constant news of wars, mass migrations,
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  increased homelessness, drug use, alcoholism, and the
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  breakdown of health. But there's more.
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  The ocean fisheries are on the brink of total collapse,
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  threatening the food supply for billions of people.
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  Freshwater aquifers are being drained and freshwater is
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  running out. The oceans are dying, and with
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  it the greatest source of oxygen we need to live.
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  As the problems increase, tensions increase, and we
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  continue to develop ever more destructive weapons that can
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  destroy all life on the planet many times over at the push of a
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  button, so to speak. Anyone who experienced the
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  nuclear bomb drills in schools in the 1960s carries this fear
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  in a very real way. All of these things have one
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  common cause. Our business and economic
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  leaders, religious leaders, political leaders all try to
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  find ways to solve these issues. But we are met with failure to
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  act, gridlock and finger pointing rather than any real
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  answers. The problems continue to get
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  worse. Our despair deepens.
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  So what is the solution if it is not to be found in technology,
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  business, religion, economic systems, or politics?
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  First, we need to step back a little bit and understand the
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  problem from a foundational perspective.
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  In order to do so, let's talk about consciousness for a
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  moment. When we look at physical matter,
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  there's no way or method for consciousness to arise
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  spontaneously. Rock remains rock.
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  When we see life emerge, we find that certain types of material
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  forms have been modified to hold the energy we call life, and we
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  see that each life has encoded within its material shell a
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  specific formulation that makes it what it is.
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  The seed of a dandelion brings forth a dandelion.
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  The seed of a Redwood tree brings forth a Redwood tree.
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  Life is the first major evolutionary emergence of
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  consciousness in the material world, and it came about with
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  encoded data and modified forms that could carry out that data
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  set. Eventually, life forms evolve
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  that could hold a new level of consciousness, the animal
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  consciousness. Animal consciousness has an
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  enhanced vital force, includes the ability to move and
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  eventually utilize at least rudimentary mental powers to
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  carry out the encoded data set included in animals.
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  Out of animal life we see the development of full mentality
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  with the emergence of thinking mind, the ability to analyze
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  developed organized pattern recognition, create logical step
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  by step inferences, develop complex communication methods
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  and create and utilize tools. And then the ability of self
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  reflection and recognition of a broader world and universe
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  arises and we become truly human in our viewpoint.
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  The steps we see here, each with ever increasingly complex outer
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  forms suited to expressing an ever more complex and coded data
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  set, each bring with them a paradigm shift.
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  And with that paradigm shift comes new opportunities and new
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  challenges. The new level of consciousness
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  is tasked with finding ways to solve the issues created by the
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  action of the prior level. Evolution of consciousness is
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  not done. We believe that the challenges
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  facing us in today's world are basically unable to be solved,
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  and thus many people simply have given up hope.
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  And one way or the other, through despair or through
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  uncaring pursuit of personal enjoyment, they let the problems
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  get worse. A wise man once said that we
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  cannot solve the problems we face with the same level of
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  thinking that led to those problems in the 1st place.
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  He was so right. It is time therefore, to
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  understand and embrace the pattern of the evolution of
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  consciousness and take up the challenge and carry out the
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  opportunity to develop a new paradigm representing the next
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  evolutionary stage of development beyond the mental
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  level. We have explored under the
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  oceans, climbed mountains, searched the jungles and plains
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  and frozen regions of the planet and started exploring outer
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  space. It is time to undertake the
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  exploration of inner space and open ourselves up to the further
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  encoded opportunities that lie within as we become more than
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  mind driven human beings and embrace our greater destiny.
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  As the next phase of consciousness develops and
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  manifests, this involves a paradigm shift.
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  Humanity has already started to undergo this paradigm shift.
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  At one point in our history, we believed that the Earth was
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  flat. It became revolutionary when we
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  finally recognized that the world was round and could be
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  circumnavigated. At another point, we believed
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  that the sun revolved around the earth and we were actually the
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  center of all existence. Those who researched and
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  determined otherwise were treated as heretics and had to
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  undergo tremendous suffering in their day.
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  Now we know that the Earth revolves around the sun, and
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  even the sun is not the center of the universe, but a small
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  player in a much larger universal existence.
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  We have not yet caught up with the implications of these shifts
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  in our way of relating to our lives and the world we live in.
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  We still act as if each one of us is the center of the
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  universe. We work to optimize our own
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  situation at the expense of everyone and everything else.
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  This is the strict mental and vital consciousness at work.
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  When we saw the image of the Earth seen from space, it
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  crystallized for many people the oneness and interdependence of
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  all existence. Many people began to reflect on
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  this and open themselves to another paradigm shift, this
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  time away from the mental logic to a more complete global way of
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  seeing things. This process needs to be
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  developed and it is our role as part of the solution towards
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  saving the planet and our species to begin to implement
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  this shift of awareness in the day-to-day decisions we make and
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  the way we evaluate our lives and our actions.
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  From this new viewpoint, we can find solutions that are not all
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  black and white either or, but which find the solution of
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  harmony that begins to heal the planet and our relations with
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  each other. There are ranges of
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  consciousness beyond the mind that many are beginning to
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  recognize. Scientists are starting to work
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  with intuition, inspiration, and the essential basis of
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  consciousness, which is the source of specific encoding that
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  is involved in matter and which manifests once the conditions
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  are ripe. There are practical steps one
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  can take to participate in this evolutionary development.
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  So we ask ourselves, what can we do about all of this?
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  Is there any solution? The evolution of consciousness
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  is an inevitable development, but will it occur quickly enough
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  to forestall the damage that has already occurred and is
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  accelerating as we speak? Individuals who become awake to
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  this possibility and aid the process and help speed it up.
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  And that is where you and I come into this picture.
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  You can find out more. Sri Aurobindo has been a leading
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  researcher in this field. The book Integral Yoga,
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  Shriorobindo's Teaching and Method of Practice, is a great
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  guidebook for understanding both the concept and the
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  implementation of the practice to begin to realize these next
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  stages of consciousness beyond the mind into one's own life.
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  Another great introductory text is Shriorobindo, or The
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  Adventure of Consciousness by SAT Prem.
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  We can also practice integrating the new global perspective of
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  oneness into our lives. It may begin as a purely mental
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  practice, but eventually you begin to see and respond based
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  on that unity of the entire creation.
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  You will notice your reaction to events and beings changing as
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  you do this, with a growing and greater understanding taking
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  place of more rigid mental viewpoints.
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  Take up practices, whether they are part of a spiritual or
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  religious path or a spiritual endeavor, or a scientific
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  seeking or artistic path that opens up your receptivity to
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  intuition, inspiration, insights that are not driven by the
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  fragmented and stepwise process of the logical mental intellect.
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  Begin to look at the major issues the world faces and see
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  how they can be addressed with a sense of harmony and balance
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  instead of fixed ideological approaches.
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  This may involve technology or not.
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  All human endeavors have their place in the massive adjustments
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  we need to make in order for humanities to survive and
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  thrive. Whatever you are doing in your
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  life, your career and your relationships, try to bring
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  compassion, goodwill, understanding and harmony based
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  on the interrelated nature of all your approach to these
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  things. Encourage and support others who
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  are trying to solve the issues and focus time, attention and
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  where possible funds into approaches that rely on building
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  a harmonious balance rather than A1 sided approach with
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  unintended consequences. Look into organizations that are
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  working to make a difference, for instance Oroville
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  International USA. You can find it at AVIU sa.org.
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  Oroville aspires to be a laboratory of spiritual and
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  material research to address the existential problems of humanity
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  from a new perspective and standpoint.
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  For more information and for a brief daily study, you can visit
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  theblog@shriorobindostudies.wordpress.com or the YouTube site at Santosh
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  Krinsky 871, or you can visit ourwebsite@holisticinstitute.org.
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  If you're interested in books to find out more, you can visit
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  lotuspress@lotuspress.com. Their publications are also
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  available in most cases, both in print and as ebooks, and the
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  ebooks are widely available on Amazon, Apple iTunes and Google
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  Play. These may look like small or
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  simple things, but be assured as you begin to make changes in
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  your life and the focus of your time, attention, energy and
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  resources, things begin to change around you.
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  Every individual who takes up this effort makes a real
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  difference and helps us to reach the tipping point where humanity
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  can begin to solve the problems rather than make them worse.
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  It is not a matter of converting anybody or proselytizing, but in
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  effectuating real change inwardly.
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  It is not as easy as it sounds, but it is far more rewarding
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  than the endless round of entertainment and avoidance that
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  we normally engage in when we confront the endless challenges
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  of the world that are vital and mental elements have created.
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  Thank you for your caring, your interest and your efforts.