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What Can I Do To Help Solve the Crises Facing Humanity in Today's World? · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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Namaste. Today's subject is integrating
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the inner awareness and consciousness with one's outer
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actions. We find that trying to change
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things from the mental standpoint, from the vital
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standpoint, fails. Humanity is stuck in a crisis of
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paralysis, a paralysis of gridlock.
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We have conflicting and competing mental ideas.
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We have conflicting and competing economic theories,
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political ideas, solutions based on the fragmentation method of
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the mental consciousness, solutions influenced by the
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vital forces of desire and self dealing and self aggrandizement.
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None of these approaches have worked in the past.
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We find that if we replace one political system with another,
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or one economic system with another, we wind up with a very
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similar situation at the end, just different people in charge.
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And so we tend to get discouraged.
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But there's no need to be discouraged.
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As we've been discussing in our recent programs, the first
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change that's needed is an inner change, a change in human
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awareness and consciousness, a linking of our inner growth and
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aspiration to the evolutionary force that is bringing out a new
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level of consciousness that is beginning to act worldwide in
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all fields of human interaction. So the first step is be the
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change that you want to see. Begin to examine as a witness
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where are your thoughts come from, Where are your emotions
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come from, Where are your vital desires and impulses come from,
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Where are your physical sensations come from?
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And begin to align them around the deeper aspiration, what we
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might call the psychic aspiration, the aspiration that
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looks towards something nobler, something greater, something
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truthful, something beautiful, something harmonious.
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And that aspiration acts more or less as the conductor of the
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orchestra, with each of our different faculties playing a
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different instrument and somehow needing to find a way to
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harmonize together. The real problem is the
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disharmony of all these clashing and conflicting ideas, views and
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opportunities, people going in all different directions without
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any real sense or purpose of where they're going or why or
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how they want to get there. Once we start to do that, the
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question then becomes, well, OK, I can sit in meditation, I can
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change my attitude about things, but that doesn't really change
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anything in the world. What?
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What is it? What are we accomplishing?
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Well, the first thing is that every attempt to develop human
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consciousness, even if done in isolation, secretly, without
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anybody else knowing about it or interacting with you, has its
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impact in the overall texture of consciousness on the planet.
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Now, we've all heard about the butterfly effect, and that's
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basically that a butterfly fluttering its wings in
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Indonesia is going to have some impact somewhere on the opposite
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side of the world. And I'm sure everybody has
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considered it and laughed about it and joked and said, well, I
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don't see it. We're skeptical, and that's
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understandable, but let's reframe the question a little
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bit. When there's an earthquake in
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Japan or Alaska or anywhere else, at a particular point on
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this enormous world of ours, we see a ripple effect.
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And then in some cases a tsunami occurs and where it starts, it
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may only be a one inch wave, but by the time it hits another
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coast on another part of the world, it can be a 30 foot
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deluge inundating that part of the world.
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So the ripple effect, the tsunami effect we may call it,
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proves that one point of action, however minor it looks in the
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grand scope of things in the world, can have outsize impacts.
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We see a similar effect with what we might call the avalanche
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effect, A snowball rolling down a hill, A small rock rolling
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down a hill in the mountains may start an avalanche and bury
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villages. Once again, a small impact at
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the point of action, a large impact down line.
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What I frequently discuss with people is what I call the 1%
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solution. If we can change human actions
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collectively, even just 1%. In other words, not a world
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shaking revolutionary change, but a 1% change in human action.
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We see that the trajectory over several 100 years yields a
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dramatically different result than if we do nothing.
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That 1% effect is the action of evolutionary forces through
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time, and it's important for us to remember that.
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So another issue that comes up frequently is there are so many
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problems, how do we know what to do, what to tackle, how to
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tackle it? One of the geniuses of the
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spiritual history of India was the seeking for what being
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known. All is known.
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In other words, what is the core essential element that we need
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to realize in order to have a complete knowledge?
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If we apply that to all of the human crises that we're facing,
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the water crisis, the food crisis, the income inequality
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crisis, the pollution crisis, the climate crisis, we can go on
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and on and on with all these crises.
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What we find is that at its core, there are certain key
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elements that represent the blockages created by the vital
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mental consciousness from which we act that are the essence,
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that being known. All is known.
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And so we come to a concept used in the logging industry called
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the key log. And what that basically is when
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loggers clear a forest and they roll the logs into a river to
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send them downstream to the mill, eventually so many logs
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get clogged up that they can't move forward.
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They're blocked and they send in somebody who becomes an expert
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to identify where the key log is, what the one log that being
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moved will allow all the other logs to move.
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Yes, it sounds very much like Indian spiritual philosophy
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being applied to a very mundane, external Western industrial
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pursuit of logging. And so if we look at all these
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problems, we see essentially it's a problem of limitation of
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consciousness and the corresponding disharmony that
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arises as a result of that. That disharmony needs to be
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reconciled. And it can only be done if we
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each individually and then collectively change the way we
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see things, the way we respond and react to things, and the way
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we project our influence greater or smaller into the world.
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So when we do this, we take up a practice of observation, a
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practice of examination of the motive forces, the springs
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behind our actions, and we begin to adjust them.
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Now, people have done this for many years.
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When they look back on their lives as they have gone through
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all their life changes, they can actually identify that they
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respond differently than they used to.
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They respond in many cases with new understanding, new
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compassion, new empathy, a feeling of peace, a feeling of
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helpfulness, a feeling of goodwill.
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Those things represent actions of a new consciousness that have
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taken hold within us almost invisibly through time.
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What we also can notice is that as we change and we interact
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with others around us, that they also change, that the whole
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atmosphere changes. There are many stories of
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Rishi's who had an ashram somewhere in the forest and wild
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beasts would lie down with lambs and there would be harmony in
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that environment and they wouldn't be aggressive towards
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one another. Well, whether real stories or
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anecdotal stories, the concept does work when we create within
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ourselves and in our surroundings and atmosphere of
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peace and goodwill and understanding and harmony.
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It begins to what we might say rub off and helps others to grow
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into a new understanding and consciousness on their own,
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without a teaching or a proselytization or a religion or
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a philosophy. Just by being the change.
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And that brings us to the 100th monkey phenomenon.
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Now, the 100th monkey phenomenon is one where a monkey was
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observed washing its fruit, a new behavior among that tribe of
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monkeys somewhere in Southeast Asia, I believe it was.
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And after a while, other monkeys in that group started washing
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their fruit before eating it, and eventually the whole group
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was washing their fruit before eating it.
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What was interesting was that when a certain number of monkeys
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adopted that behavior in that one tribe, in that one place, in
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that one group, over time they saw that the same behavior
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quickly disseminated itself worldwide in the monkey
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population. And so people came up with the
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idea that when there are a certain number of individuals
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who carry out a similar behaviour, a similar force of
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action, that that goes into the vital or the mental atmosphere
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of the world and impacts those who are receptive to it anywhere
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they are in the world. And change can occur.
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And that is, in our sense, how a change of human nature can begin
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one person at a time. Which of us might be the 100th
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monkey in the human race to change consciousness, to bring
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about a new understanding, to align ourselves with the new
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consciousness that is developing?
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One of the things we find that occurs is that as we change our
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inner life, we also change our outer actions and our focus.
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And while many people have jobs and they have to earn their
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livings and they take whatever job they can get, if you do it
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with the right spirit and attitude, that too is part of
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the change. But if you have the capacity, if
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you have the training, if you have the education, if you have
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the motivation and focus to address and tackle some of the
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larger issues that we all face as humanity and you begin to
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apply that energy and focus to that issue, it will have an
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effect. We have a friend who is a an
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attorney and she works pro bono mean she does it for free for
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nonprofits working with governments to try to codify and
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find enforcement mechanisms for the law of the sea.
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Because we are polluting the oceans, we are killing off the
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ocean fisheries. We are creating a toxic soup
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that needs to be addressed and can only be addressed by all of
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humanity working together. Well, she has the background and
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the capacity. She's not a rich person, but
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she's decided to dedicate her experience and talents to this
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issue and however difficult and long the road is, she stuck with
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it for many years and none of us can actually see the long term
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benefit or impact. But over time, if we look back
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at history, we can see that such activity does in fact have an
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outsize influence. We can look at examples all
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through history. We look at someone like here in
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the United States, we have a legendary figure called Johnny
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Appleseed. And this was a real man.
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He was a pastor, and he also ran a nursery, and he went from
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state to state in a number of areas and arranged to have many
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thousands of apple trees planted.
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And he made a difference. America has an abundance of
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apples. People love apples.
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And as they say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
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That's the proverb. Well, we have Johnny Appleseed
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to thank for thank for his efforts, but we have others that
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we can identify through history because they stood out as
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outside influence in their own field.
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Leonardo da Vinci, Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln,
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Beethoven, who knows? There are many, many, many such
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examples. But even those that we can't
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identify on the world stage can have an outsize influence in
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their own circles. And we find back in the 1960s,
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some work was done in sociology to identify a concept called
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opinion makers. And these people were
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individuals in their field or community who, for one reason or
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another, wielded an outsized influence on the opinions and
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actions of others around them. Maybe it was their or maybe it
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was their ability to communicate.
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Maybe it was their passion and dedication.
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Maybe it was just their essential being relating to
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people in a way that really struck people.
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And those people, those opinion makers, wield a much larger
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influence than being just one of 8 billion people.
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Now, this was actually put into practice some years ago when Al
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Gore set up his climate project. He decided that to bring climate
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change awareness to people, it was not going to work to try to
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retail it one-on-one to 8 billion people.
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So he reached out for influential people, people who
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had positions that would allow them to interface with large
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numbers of people, and he showed them the facts and the science,
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and they, in turn wielded their influence.
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And today, humanity is finally beginning to address the fact
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that climate change is real and that it needs to be dealt with
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if we're going to survive. If you can't change.
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Something on a big scale and you do your daily work.
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There's still things you can do. If you're not educated in
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climate change, if you're not educated in agriculture or
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energy production or freshwater development or any of these
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other fields where the crises exist, you can at least identify
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and locate those individuals, groups, and projects that are
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trying to address any one of these numerous problems.
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Find the one or ones that attract you and align yourself
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to them. Help them promulgate their
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ideas. If you have money, help them by
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giving them money and support. Help them by your goodwill, just
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your conscious willingness to stand for the principle that
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that organization or group is working towards.
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And there are numerous such groups, thousands of them around
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the world, working at smaller or larger aspects of the global
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crisis. So follow your heart and do what
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you know to be right. Make it real.
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Be the change. And that brings us actually to
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the to an interesting project called Oroville, where people
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from all over the world, from many different cultures,
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backgrounds, religions, philosophies and languages,
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education, whatever have come together.
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And they've started working as a laboratory to tackle a large
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number of the crisis leverage points that humanity is facing.
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How to waste less resources, how to create desalina tion for
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freshwater, how to create green energy and distributed
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effectively, How to create buildings and architecture that
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are more environmentally sound and more energy efficient.
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Numerous, numerous things. But also, they're trying to
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figure out how to live together, how to bring all these
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conflicting ideas and philosophies and mindsets
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together and find a way to work their way through it, starting
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from a basic essential goodwill, but having all of the
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limitations and problems that humanity is facing everywhere
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else. Now, you can say, well, are they
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a success at that? Well, not yet.
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The success comes through a lot of tests, experiments, and
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opportunities. Humanity's been trying to solve
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these problems for many thousands of years.
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We've tried capitalism, we've tried communism, we've tried
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democracy, we've tried dictatorship, we've tried
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religious theocracies, we've tried uniformity, and none of
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those things have solved the problem.
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We can't expect Oroville in just a few years to solve the
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problem. But what we can see is they are
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working actively on this problem and when they find a solution
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that doesn't work, they move and try to find a better way.
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Now there's an apocryphal story about the invention of the light
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bulb by Thomas Edison that when he said at one point that he
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tried 1000 different experiments to create a light bulb and every
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one of them failed until one succeeded.
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Sri Aurobindo points out that failure is the stepping stone to
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success. As long as we don't give up the
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basic aspiration, the basic interest in solving the crisis.
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All of the experiments, all of the trials, all of the failures
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are part of our road to success. Robert Oppenheimer, known as the
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father of the atomic bomb, after he saw the dramatic impacts of
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that, he said the people of this world must unite or they will
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perish. And I leave you with that
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thought. We must unite or we will perish,
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the Mother said. Truth or the abyss.
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We are at the tipping point where these crises can either
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destroy humanity entirely, or where we make that evolutionary
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leap into the new consciousness that is trying to manifest.
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Namaste.