Listen Copenhagen Talks On Climate Change: Our Spiritual Footprints Are What Matters

The environmental crisis is as old as humankind. Its cause has more to do with the way that we treat each rather than simply our carbon footprint or any of the other explanations spouted by the environmental movement. It is our selfishness, greed, materialism, violence and lack of compassion that is behind climate change.

Since early recorded history the Hebrew prophets consistently warned the Israelites that idolatry, exploitation and violence resulted in devastating natural catastrophes. Ezekiel (5.6-17) said that living outside of God’s law brings famine and pestilence. Amos (9.4-9) taught that the consequences of dishonesty, of exploiting the poor and of ignoring the Sabbath makes the land tremble and the sun go down in broad day light. Jeremiah (3) taught that materialism and idolatry pollute the land bringing about hardships such as drought. It was humanity’s wicked thoughts and deeds that brought the great flood (Gen 6.5.)

So why do we today ignore the cause of our problem and its comensurative solution of love and nonviolence? It must be that we either do not believe the prophetic message, or are too enamored with our culture of violence, consumption and exploitation to give it up. So we instead opt for technical solutions such as reducing our carbon footprint that only seeks to temper our base behavior. We need wholesale radical change. We need to focus on our spiritual footprints and make love, compassion, generosity and non-violence the way.

Mind body

To understand how humanity’s selfishness and violence has defiled the earth and brought about calamity we need to turn to the eastern concept of mind body which teaches that our thinking (mind) influences the health of our physical body. Most often the mind body concept is used to show how negative thinking can bring about illness. In other words if our mind is full of negativity and violence then this sort of thinking will ultimately begin to diminish our health.

Healers, such as acupuncturists or pranic healers believe that negative thinking creates blockages in the free flow of the life force (energy), called chi/qi or prana in our body. The life force (chi/qi/prana) sustains all of life and without it we would die. We absorb the life force from the ether around us and it is part of the geomagnetic field that surrounds the planet. When blockages occur within our body it prevents some part of our body from getting a sufficient amount of the life force. Ultimately disease or illness will manifest from the body part deprived of prana.

Mother Earth is subject to the same mind body dynamic. This occurs because, as Vedanta (the theology of Hinduism sans rituals) teaches, all is Brahman (God), and that we are of the same essence or makeup (Chandogya Upanishad VI.9.1-4.) What distinguishes Mother Earth’s mind body dynamic from humanity’s mind body dynamic is that it is our, humanity’s thoughts and actions, that influence her body. If we are filling the world with negative thoughts, violence and materialism, then we are, as Jeremiah teaches, polluting the land. Our wicked behavior and thinking is damaging Mother Earth the same way it damages us when we think or do bad things. Here it brings about calamity from droughts, to floods, to hurricanes, to famines, to earthquakes and worse. We are killing Mother Earth and as a result killing ourselves.

Technology is not the Solution

Efforts to reduce our carbon footprint and be more environmentally conscientious are noble and worthwhile pursuits, but fail to address our system of cruelty, selfishness and violence. Similarly the idea that only technology can solve our crisis is wrong and even dangerous.

It has been our blind belief in the power of technology to overcome that has exacerbated our situation. The history of technological development over the centuries shows that while it has brought creature comforts it has also increased our ability to control, exploit and kill each other, all of which we have been doing with increased vigor (Burke, Ornstein, The Axemaker’s Gift.) In other words, technology plays to and reinforces the worst in us selfishness, materialism, idolatry and violence: all to the detriment of our salvation and spiritual development.

Technology also has a penchant to defile and damage Mother Earth which was accelerated with the Industrial Revolution and morphed again with the digital age. The term “Electropollution” has come into our lexicon over the last few decades to describe the damaging affects caused by artificially created electromagnetic waves and radiation upon us and Mother Earth. We are, as Dr. Robert Becker says, who was an early pioneer in the study of electro magnetic waves and human health, creating “new plagues” (Cross Currents) from cancers to new medical syndromes. We are as the title of Arthur Firstenberg’s book says, “Microwaving the Planet’ having de facto placed ourselves and Mother Earth in a giant microwave oven and turned on the switch.

Let’s look at windmills, the darling of the environmental movement. Many believe that harnessing the power of the wind is what is needed to reduce our carbon footprint. Unfortunately with the increasing use of windmills we are beginning to see that they are bad for people and for Mother Earth. Wind Turbines cause a host of problems from migraines, to sleep disorders to nausea as Dr. Nina Pierpont documents in her book, The Wind Turbine Syndrome. Over time as the use of wind turbines grows it is highly likely that will see that cancers and other horrific illnesses are associated with them. Wind Turbines also bad for Mother Earth and disrupt the movement of the life force as I note in my report “Wind Turbines Disrupt the Flow of Prana” http://www.jubileeinitiative.org/windmills.html. All life is contingent upon the geomagnetic field (Burr, Becker, Oschman,…) and if we disrupt it with things such windmills, radio waves or cell phones, we are damaging Mother Earth and ourselves at the same time.

Embrace each Other and Mother Earth

Native Americans long ago realized that we have a dynamic relationship with Mother Earth. They regularly give thanks and blessings to her for their bounty as seen with the Thanksgiving celebration. The Lakota Medicine Man, Black Elk (The Sacred Pipe), said that we should endeavor to do things in a sacred manner, which is about being conscious of what we do and think, honoring the fruits of the earth by showing respect and countering negativity with a blessing.

When we do things in a sacred manner and are aware of our spiritual footprints, we are not polluting the environment. When we add prayer, ritual or meditation to this wonderful things begin to happen as Mother Earth responds to our overtures. Many may have noted this at sacred sites where the environment can become charged or have a very good feeling about it, what Sufi’s call a barakah. Over time other wonderful things manifest, one of which is the formation of energy vortices which baths people in an increased dose of the life force raising their consciousness and boosting their health (See my “Energy Vortices” http://www.jubileeinitiative.org/energyvortices.html)

The bible teaches the same concept saying that if we mend our hearts and follow the law of love then the land will be healed: “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (Chronicles 2.14.)

A Better World, a Heaven of Sorts is Possible

The idea that the solution to climate change is in our hearts and requires us to be compassionate and embrace nonviolence goes against conventional and scientific thinking. Yet it is a message that is as old as time itself. We, humanity, have unfortunately become so enamored with sense objects and fragmented from each other and Mother Earth that we have lost our connection to each other and the world around us. Because of this we see climate change as a problem unto itself rather than a symptom of the larger problem of the system that we live in. We need to realize that the words of the prophets, mystics, rishis, and gurus still resonate today. Love transcends and transforms all. Whether you approach it from the prophetic Abrahamic tradition or the Eastern mind body perspective our negative thinking and behavior is hurting us and Mother Earth.

By embracing love and nonviolence we will do more than end climate change. We will usher in world peace. A peace that is more than a lack of violence, but in the Jewish sense of Shalom (peace), whereby we are in harmony with all facets of our life, society and the world around us. There have been brief periods of peace in the world. One clear example would be when the Native American prophet, the Peacemaker, who brought together various peoples and got them to “bury the hatchet” to form the Haudenosaunee, or the Iroquois Confederacy. His message to maintain peace and harmony coded in the Great Law of Peace was "The cause of peace shall not die if you remember the Great Creator."

Over time if we embrace love and compassion a heaven of sorts will begin to materialize. The prophets spoke of such a beautiful world where peace reins and the lion lies down with the lamb. They taught that to bring about such a transformation we need to let love guide us and to put our faith in God and God’s teachings.

Isaiah holds out the dream of what is possible:

“For I am about to create new heavens

and a new earth;

the former things shall not be remembered

or come to mind.

But be glad and rejoice for ever

in what I am creating; …

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,

the lion shall eat straw like the ox;

but the serpent—its food shall be dust!

They shall not hurt or destroy

on all my holy mountain,

says the Lord.” (Isaiah 65.17-18, 25)

By embracing love we will do more than end climate change. We will begin to bring about heaven on earth.

Madis Senner is sentient of Mother Earth and her various energies and essences. He maintains a listing of sacred sites and a detailed cosmology of Mother Earth at www.MotherEarthPrayers.org. His book The Way Home—Making Heaven on Earth (O Books http://www.o-books.com/obookssite/book/detail/672 ) explains our dynamic relationship with Mother Earth and how our thoughts affect her mind body balance. He believes that the evolution of our collective consciousness is intimately tied to Mother Earth.