A Crisis of Climate within each of us || Acharya Prashant, with Bard College (2022)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...  ~~~~~  Video Information: 27.07.22, 'East-West Dialogue on Climate and Justice', organized by Bard College, USA.  Context: ~ What is climate change? ~ How to stop climate change? ~ What is the solution to global warming? ~ How can we control the increasing population? ~ How can spirituality solve the problem of global warming? ~ What is the most effective way of dealing with climate change? ~ How can population control help in dealing with climate change? ~ What is the solution to climate change? ~ How spirituality can stop climate change? ~ Climate change has no scientific solution  Music Credits: Milind Date

Transcript

00:00Welcome, everyone, to the second East-West Dialogue on Climate and Justice.

00:08My name is David Blochstein.

00:10I'm the co-director of Solve Climate by 2030, a program of the Bard College in New York.

00:18This discussion with Acharya Prashant of the Prashant Advait Foundation of India is part

00:24of our worldwide teach-in on climate and justice.

00:29Acharya Prashant is a powerful voice of socio-spiritual awakening in today's world.

00:36He is an acclaimed Vedanta exegete and author of over 80 books, including the national bestseller,

00:44Karma, Why Everything You Know About It is Wrong.

00:48An alumnus of IIT Delhi, IIM, a medibod, and a former civil services officer, he is an

00:58exponent of pure Vedantic wisdom, a vocal warrior against superstition and inner weakness,

01:06a promulgator of pure spiritual veganism, and an expounder of essential human freedom.

01:13This discussion today is a follow-up to a conversation between Acharya Prashant and

01:20my colleague, Dr. Eben Goodstein, director of Bard's graduate programs in sustainability

01:27and director of Solve Climate by 2030.

01:30That conversation, recorded in April of 2023, is available on the Acharya Prashant YouTube channel.

01:40Today, Acharya will respond to questions from students around the world, including participants

01:48in Bard's internship in social media for climate activism.

01:53I'm delighted to welcome Acharya Prashant and our student participants.

01:58We thank you all for being with us today.

02:01In a moment, I will be turning it over to my friend and colleague, Anupam Chatterjee

02:07of the Prashant Advait Foundation, who will be moderating the question and answer session.

02:14But I'd like to begin with the question myself, which is that in this discussion between yourself

02:22and my colleague, Eben, you talked from a very deep spiritual perspective and the need

02:31for personal transformation, but yet as we're looking at the climate emergency which is

02:38on us right now, we've named our project Solve Climate by 2030 because the time is very short,

02:48as identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

02:53So how do we reconcile the need for immediate action with the need for deep personal and

03:03societal transformation that often takes longer than the time that may be available to us?

03:11So an easy question to begin.

03:14Yes, and thank you, first of all, for having this discussion.

03:23Yes, it's an easy question about a difficult situation.

03:29You said inner transformation processes are often long winding and deliver results only in the

03:41long term. So it's not really so that inner transformation will necessarily take a long time

04:00and inordinately long time considering that we are looking at 2030 as the threshold, as the cut-off year.

04:16You see, look at it differently.

04:19Apart from the inner transformation route, we have tried everything else.

04:31That there is a climate catastrophe upon us is not new information. We have known it since at least

04:42at least four decades now, if not more.

04:48What have we been able to do in these four decades?

04:55Not only has the climate crisis worsened, the rate of worsening has actually accelerated.

05:06So, we are sinking at an increasing rate of sinking per year. That's how we are doing.

05:24If that is what we are getting from our conventional route of inner transformation,

05:33conventional routes of crisis mitigation, it surprises me how we still hold so much trust over them.

05:45You know, we talk as if the other routes, which include legislation, regulation

05:58and so many other things, you know, as if those routes are tried, tested

06:09and have delivered results beautifully till now.

06:16And we assume as if the spiritual process is untrustworthy, unreliable and will necessarily

06:26take a long time, if at all, if it delivers any results. I'm saying, I'll repeat,

06:35keep the spiritual route aside and let's objectively, factually look at what have the

06:42other routes given us, except frustration, disappointment. Our confidence in our own methods

06:53needs to be checked, verified. And if we really test whether our confidence in our

07:10governmental processes and legal and technical processes is really well founded,

07:24now let's come to the spiritual thing. I'm not talking mumbo-jumbo, I'm not talking black magic,

07:34but it is entirely possible and it happens

07:39that clear communication of information, information in its entirety, is able to

07:50touch a person at such a deep place, that he is stirred into the right kind of action.

08:02And when I'm saying the right information in a holistic way needs to reach the individual,

08:11this is hardly even spiritual in the conventional sense, you know. When you say that a person

08:20fellow is on the spiritual route, what you usually mean is that the fellow is

08:30into some kind of esoteric methods or some kind of awakening of paranormal energies

08:42is being attempted, these kinds of things. When I'm saying that the spiritual route is the only

08:49route, I mean none of that rubbish, that illogical stuff. I mean simple dissemination of information

09:02in its entirety. Now there lies the catch. What do I mean by information in its entirety?

09:10You see, we often look at the climate crisis in isolation.

09:16We act as if we are otherwise all right, generally okay, and somehow, incidentally,

09:27incidentally, an alien crisis has hit us

09:35for no strong reason whatsoever.

09:43So we want to treat it in a very peripheral way,

09:49as if it is a skin infection or something,

09:53caused by a bacteria that has settled on the surface of the body,

10:02and the effect of that alien bacteria is only skin deep.

10:09That's the mental model we hold with respect to the climate crisis. On the other hand, what I am

10:16talking of is the right diagnosis of this crisis. Is it just an external infection on the skin of

10:32mankind or is it about our very blood having become toxic? Is it an influence

10:50affecting us from the outside or is it a malaise arising from the inside?

10:57That's what I mean by the spiritual route.

11:03So it is actually very scientific, no? Right diagnosis is the prerequisite for any kind of

11:10successful treatment. Nothing per se spiritual about this statement. It's very logical.

11:21What I am proposing is, for us to ponder on, that climate crisis, culture,

11:40and consumer capitalism are one and the same thing and

11:48unless all of them are treated together, the climate part just cannot be taken care of.

12:00You treat one part of this trifecta and you will find you are not succeeding even in 100 years,

12:11as if we have 100 years, first of all. But if you can look at the

12:19bigger picture, if you can have the bird's eye view and you realize what really is going on,

12:27then there can be a solution and a quick solution, a powerful solution.

12:33Mankind's very soul, if you may call it, for want of a better word,

12:43you could say core or you could simply say mind, the collective mind of humanity.

12:48That's what I mean by soul.

12:49That soul has gone sick, that needs treatment and I'm not dealing in metaphors,

13:07needless euphemisms, no. This is the most direct way of stating it.

13:14We do not know who we are. We do not know what we are here for.

13:20Therefore, we endlessly consume, we procreate, we live meaningless lives

13:30because we do not know ourselves and therefore the right purpose to life. Therefore, we

13:37run after miscellaneous identities, power, freedom and so much else

13:47and all that is externally manifested as climate change.

13:55So, climate change is nothing but a gross and tangible representation of what is sick

14:05in our very hearts and if you do not treat the sickness where it really lies,

14:17there is no point giving superficial treatments

14:27like applying ointments to the skin.

14:34When the symptom on the skin is just representative of a problem far deeper,

14:44the good news is this far deeper problem is actually easier to solve

14:55because the other routes have all conclusively anyway failed.

15:01Hence, the only route remaining has to be the only easy route remaining.

15:09You know, we don't have an option. If you don't have an option, how can you call

15:15the only available option as difficult? It has to be taken as easy because there is nothing else possible.

15:22Tell people that they need to tackle climate change and they'll be indifferent. Everybody is indifferent.

15:30Tell people that they are missing out on the essence of their own life,

15:38then they will listen because we all are basically selfish people.

15:43Climate crisis appears far too general, a bit too far in time

15:53and not so severe that it cannot be negotiated. You tell the common man on the road

16:00that global temperatures will rise by an average of two degrees centigrade.

16:04You'll not find him collapsing in shock.

16:12Two degrees rise in mean global temperature, he'll say fine,

16:20fine, I'll adapt.

16:22I'll get a better air conditioner.

16:27I'll take a longer vacation

16:33or I'll simply bear it. It doesn't matter so much. You may tell him of the other changes

16:38that you have seen in the world. You may tell him of the other changes that you've seen in the world.

16:45Or I'll simply bear it. It doesn't matter so much. You may tell him of the other changes and

16:53drastic effects that are possible. Rising sea levels and entire cities will be threatened and

16:58ecosystems will be washed out.

17:03And the negative feedback loop, the whole thing will keep worsening. Glaciers will be gone.

17:11We do not know what will happen to aquatic ecosystems. You tell him all these things.

17:15Was he ever in the first place interested in these things? You're talking to, let's say,

17:22a 35-year-old man. In his 35 years, and I'm talking of the average man, there will be

17:28exceptions always, but let's look at the average case. In his 35 years, when has he demonstrated

17:37any ecological sensitivity? How will he suddenly become sensitive today?

17:44We will have to realize that the climate crisis is nothing but the sickness of our

17:54personality coming out in the open. For far too long has it remained concealed.

18:04But now the cat is out of the bag.

18:09And we would be just continuing our primitive tendencies of self-deception

18:19if we do not admit the climate crisis for what it really is.

18:24It is a crisis of insane consumerism.

18:32And we consume because we know nothing better to do.

18:40We consume because we have a life to live and we do not know what to do with the 70,

18:4780 or 90 years and average lifespans are rising across the world.

18:56People are living up to 100, lots of them.

19:03People are living for long and have huge disposable incomes.

19:09There are so many countries that have millions of millionaires now.

19:13The USA obviously being the foremost.

19:18Millions of millionaires, so much money, so much money and so much time.

19:22The fellow is going to live for 80 years, 100 years, 110 years.

19:27What will he do? He does not know what to do with life.

19:32And every bit of action arising from his consumption of food,

19:39every bit of action arising from ignorance is carbon intensive.

19:48If you do not have a real purpose to live for,

19:53then you will live out of your whims, tendencies, emotions

19:56and they all have a huge carbon footprint.

20:02You do not know what to do in life, you will produce a lot of kids.

20:05I know I am generalizing.

20:10But then the climate crisis too is a general crisis, is it not?

20:15So let us keep the exceptions aside.

20:19Let us look at the common man.

20:23Can we talk of...

20:28I cannot hear you, you said something?

20:30I was just going to say, I mean, it is a powerful answer.

20:34And it makes me realize that the thing about the climate catastrophe that is in front of us

20:49is that it is putting those questions in front of individuals and society

20:55and that this may be actually the opportunity to make the real shifts in who we are

21:05that we need to be making otherwise and that we would not recognize that.

21:11Sir, if I may venture that far, I would say the climate crisis

21:21is challenging us to answer questions we should have answered several centuries back.

21:30You could even say it's a crisis of philosophy.

21:36It is just proving that the philosophies we have based our lives on

21:42since long are inadequate, actually false.

21:47We could not answer those questions then and there was nothing and nobody

21:56to conclusively tell us in our face that we do not know the answers.

22:03Now we have a very, very tangible proof available,

22:07a proof of our inadequacy in the form of this crisis.

22:10So, you know, we need the right understanding, we need to know who we are and why we exist,

22:17and that determines our economics, that determines our very lives.

22:26Is it not true and is it not obvious that the shape of the world that we live in

22:34Is it not true and is it not obvious that the shape of the economic structure

22:43that we have, the entire economic system of the entire world, that's what is producing

22:53the carbon in the atmosphere?

22:55We have philosophies that have no space for compassion. We do not want to look inwards,

23:11we do not want to know what should be the right relationship between man and the world he inhabits.

23:20And that's why we are living in an absolutely awkward way. Our lives are bizarre.

23:31They are bizarre and they are producing a lot of gas, you know, like the fart of the cattle

23:44that's responsible for so much of the carbon concentration that represents in a very dramatic way

23:58a picture of our lives.

24:03That can be changed, all that can be changed.

24:06People can give up flesh consumption, it takes an instant.

24:18There are people and I know several thousands of them, optimistically I could say there are

24:27lakhs of them, who have given up flesh consumption in a matter of days, weeks, a few months.

24:36And we very well know that flesh consumption and dairy, they are either the largest or the

24:45second largest cause of carbon concentration.

24:51And that cause can be addressed in a jiffy because the climate crisis is a crisis of the choices we

25:06are making. And since we are the chooser, the choices can immediately change, a lot of them.

25:13A few are structural that may take a little more time, but there is a lot that can be immediately

25:18done if we can show the total picture to the human being and the total picture must include

25:28his own face. If the climate crisis remains something outside of ourselves, we will not be

25:37too interested in tackling it. It is a crisis inside of us, not outside of us. If it is shown

25:45to be a crisis inside of us, I know I am repeating these ideas, but I think I need to,

25:50so I am taking that liberty, I hope you will pardon. It is a crisis inside of us and when

26:00we see that it is a crisis inside of us, we will be more interested in tackling it.

26:04Because as we said we are all selfish people, let's use that selfishness constructively.

26:15Thank you, that is a powerful answer. And one that I think we all do well to heed.

26:26We have students who have been also thinking and have questions that are also powerful questions,

26:33so I think we should yield to them to ask some questions that will I think enlighten all of us.

26:43So Anupam, do you want to call on the first student please?

26:46Yes, definitely.

26:48Sure David, thank you.

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