One of the areas of our world which is causing anger, confusion, and argument, is not a war zone or an area of physical conflict, but has its roots in the searing question, what on earth can we do about the way that climate change is affecting Mother Nature, our physical world, the only home we all share?
People are getting angry not because they can see things getting worse, affecting their lifestyle, their health and sustainable development, but because everyone can see the obvious needs of the situation, all the facts are out there, and yet the ones who are in a position, and have the power, to do something about it, are consistently making excuses for not doing what they know they have to do. This makes the situation very complex.
What can be done? Do we keep talking, advocating, lobbying, hoping that someone will eventually listen — even if we die in the process? Or do we just pull back and simply accept the inevitability of the destruction of all that we currently have and experience?
The paradox is that many involved in the climate change arena are now moving towards more spiritual ways of dealing with the issue. They are moving towards having peace in the mind, through prayer, contemplation and meditation — re-establishing the fundamental relationship that the human soul has with the environment.
If I have peace in my mind, I can find and resonate with the peace in matter and re-establish respect for and harmony with Mother Nature. Closeness to the earth does not just happen. We have to live by peaceful principles, spend time in the outdoors, respect the rhythms of the natural world, our world, and leave aside the artificial. We have to look for and connect with those who are working from the inner domain. We are talking about the environment, which is an entity in its own right, and is working and changing according to its own nature, despite what human beings do or do not do. There is a saying which states that if the religion of the self is non-violent, then there will be peace.
The Brahma Kumaris have been experimenting with yogic agriculture in the Gujarat region of India. The farmers spend time in deep meditation in the fields before fertilising the earth only with organic matter, and the results, tracked scientifically by universities, have found the yield of fruit and vegetables to be greater in quantity and quality.
If mother earth has a heart, it has been broken into many pieces, as that of human beings. We need to put the pieces of the heart back together peacefully, piece by piece. This will then give rise to intrinsic pure feelings of the heart, which will give us the will to do what we have to do. Then we will know exactly what we have to do and do it now.
Gayatri Naraine represents the Brahma Kumaris at the United Nations in New York.