Question: I am the father of a three year old. It appears that, given the current trends, the planet will become uninhabitable before he can live out a normal life span. There will be a lot of suffering if human life on the planet comes to an end. I understand that it is all supposed to be perfect, but how do you view this situation from a cosmic perspective and what should we be doing at this time?
Ram Dass: I think that more than ever we are beginning to awaken to the fact that we are part of an eco-system and that we are entities in that with some responsibility for the nest we live in and the maintenance of the nest. In the same way that we clean up our house, we also have to clean up our environment. That consciousness seems to be slow in happening because the motivation to keep it from happening — because there are economic costs in that awakening — that in the reorganization — not in the long run, but in the short run — there is an economic realignment of power.
And the people that have the power have a lot of inertia. I mean the stockholders of a big company are not ready to do dramatic shifts unless they are forced to do it because it changes the amount of dividends that come. And all of us aren’t quite willing to change our lives that much in the little ways. I mean, we don’t have to make those big guys the bad guys, because we’re all part of that web too. But there is an increasing consciousness now about rain forests, about air, about water, and so on. It is hard to access what the outcome will be.
You can’t conclude. You can’t extrapolate from what is now to what will be, because the unknown factor is the creative awareness and what happens when that is mobilized.
Creative awareness at a certain moment created the bomb. We live through the fact that when most of us were growing up we got vaccinated. Because prior to that there were these incredible smallpox epidemics that ravaged the Earth. And we still saw it in third-world countries. And we saw in our lifetime the eradication of the last case of smallpox in the world by vaccination. And that there is now no more smallpox in the world. When people ask me is Armageddon coming? Or is it going to be the Aquarian Age? In other words is this the end of the Kali Yuga? Or are we just entering the Sat Yuga? I say that I am not privy to that knowledge.
But when I stand back and think about it, I realize that if we are all going to die, then all my training in how to die leads me to understand that what I must do now is to quiet my mind so I can hear most clearly, open my heart deeply so that quality of compassion and feeding is at its optimum. And be fully in this present moment. That’s the best preparation I can do for the moment of death. And I would train my child to do the same thing. If it’s going to be the Aquarian Age, and I am going to help the new age come into existence, the best way I can help the new age come into existence is to quiet my mind so I can hear more clearly how to help. Open my heart to express my compassion as deeply as I can. And be fully in the present moment so I can hear it all clearly.
So when I look at it, what difference does it make how it all comes out? I’ve still got to do the same thing. And the quieter I am, the more I hear the nature of the dharma of my incarnation, and I hear that it means that I am a voting member of a social system. It means that I am a member of a family. It means that I am a member of an eco-system. It means that I am a member of a spiritual community. Each one of those has in it certain actions that are appropriate to that which are dharmic actions.
So that now I take my little book when I go to a grocery store, because it tells which companies produce which products and how they are in terms of their environmental consciousness. And I know which gas stations I go to. And I know that I don’t eat grapes that have been sprayed with pesticide. And grapes that aren’t sprayed with pesticide are okay. I mean I’m beginning to be aware. I’m learning. I’m gross at first and then I get more subtle. I am learning how to discriminate. And it’s not good guys and bad guys. We’re all hearing how to make it work in a compassionate and humanly good way, so that people will understand what the cost of the game is. That’s our consciousness manifesting. One person is doing it about nuclear issues. Another person is doing it about labor exploitation. Another person is doing it about the air. Another person is doing it about Central America. And it’s all a web.
I mean if the polarity between the haves and the have-nots gets too extreme, you can expect a lot of stuff to hit the fan. Because disempowered people just don’t sit around and watch everybody keep sipping the cream off the top of the bottle. Sooner or later, the game changes. And we are seeing such fluidity in politics and culture at this moment.
You are seeing in your own lifetime the shifts of human collective consciousness. Now it’s not all good and it’s not all bad. And it’s very scary. But you can feel the human spirit is alive and well. A lot is going on at this moment. So don’t write the script too fast. Just raise your child with ecological consciousness.
-Ram Dass
I think that there definitely is a large scale awakening emerging which understands the importance of changing our way of doing business (big and small) as well as the way we communicate and interact together. For an example of big business changing for the better, take a look at Richard Branson of Virgin. He donates 100% of his airlines businesses profits to finding better more environmentally friendly fuels which is a creative way of finding a solution. And even Bill Gates is a good example, he donated 90% of his wealth to charities and finding solutions to some of humanities problems such as getting medicine to countries in need.
People on a large scale are beginning to wake up and realise that things need to change also, and in a peaceful way. If you look at the “Occupy Movement” and how much protests have evolved from angry mobs and violence to the now more peaceful protests, you can definitely take inspiration from that. There were even large scale meditations which the protestors took part in.
I think that definitely the world is beginning to wake up and realise that a shift is needed. Perhaps this awakening is evolution taking its course.
This poem reflects the beautiful points in your blog.
God’s Voice in You
Listen to your innermost feelings
hear the whisper of God in you –
forever divinely appealing,
His thoughts, tenderly rising through you.
Listen to your inner voice,
steering your every direction;
fleeting notions and wavering choices
cease in silent wisdom’s perfection.
In your heart He forever dwells,
always there to support each need,
gracefully concealed in the bottomless well,
rising to guide every deed.
Act upon God’s voice in you;
harmoniously flow in His song.
Every thought, word, and act will sing true,
empowering you in right, weakening all wrong.
Always go by your inner feelings;
hold on tightly to God’s leading hand.
Gain trust in His quiet revealings
and walk in the light of His Divine Plan.
Ann Purcell
Author: Let Your Soul Sing Enlightenment is for Everyone
Keep your nest clean. It is good karma, you will accrue merit. Things are only hopeless when everyone gives up.