Last Saturday I attended the San Francisco Spring Green Festival. Brian Weller spoke on the relationship, or link, between sustainablility and the inner consciousness. Brian studied as a monk in his early years and learned to transcend reality and the mind--the essence of Vedic Science. The following is a collection of my notes from Brian's talk as well as some of my own commentary and interjections. It may seem a bit disjointed (because the talk itself was a bit scattered) but please just take it for what it is and hopefully you receive as much wisdom from these notes as did I.
In our bipolar world, there are cycles of mania and depression due to an incredible increase in the rate of change and the complexity of information. The need of our time is to shift into sustainable consciousness. We cannot create a sustainable world from fear- and survival-based thinking. And, as you know, everything manifested in the world is originally created by thoughts. If our personal lives are overloaded and out of balance, then this state of consciousness will drive our actions and subvert our good intentions. Brian gave an example of city planning in India in which the wind patterns were known to be a certain way, so herbs were strategically planted which created an herb-scented breeze throughout the city, allowing a peaceful experience for the population. I'm not sure how well this example shows how sustainable thinking can lead to sustainable practices, but I liked the idea overall and thought it was an interesting concept. Ayurved, he said, is the science of optimal health--the biology is based on a deeper subtle level and goes to the gross level. As this science ackowledges, to make changes on the gross level you must start at the subtle.
Sat-absolute-chit-awareness-ananda-bliss. The subtlest value of thought leads to samhita, bliss, which IS a sustainable state of consciousness. The difference between the vedas, eastern science and western science lies in the knower.
Eastern science:
1. Knower (who)
2. Process of knowing (how)
3. Objects of knowledge (what)
Western science:
1. Process of knowing (how)
2. Objects of knowledge (what)
Brian then gave a few anecdotes and details from the Bhavagad Gita, Krishna's message and teachings for man on the battlefield of life. It's the story of everyone of us everyday. He then went on to detail that the vedas are a science of vibrations, sounds, and mantras. The mantras came from states of ecstacy, deep ecstatic bliss. This idea makes sense and is definitely something that stuck with me and I had never thought of before. It aligns with what Pratichi once told us at class--that she worships the mantras.
After the background details, Brian's main message is: Taking the big time out. Which means, taking one small time out at a time. Start with just 10 minutes a day. Take a break from action before you act. Before you attempt to solve a problem, go within. Dive deep within the ocean, where it's completely still. Then go out and act.
At first when you meditate, when you take the time out, the self (subject) experiences the process of seeing the object (other). The seer sees the scenery. Then, gradually, as you go within, the self becomes a thinker (state of action). The process becomes the thinker thinks the thought. As the self and other become closer...eventually a state of being is reached which is a union of self and other. Yoga=union. Satchitananda. In this state there exists a field of timelessness and there is no change. What we do we do for the pursuit of happiness.
The philosophy of bringing together green sustainability and the inner consciousness is this: The practical approaches to sustainability in the world for our environment are necessary, but these sustainable changes begin with sustainable thoughts (i.e. a sattvic mind). This link is something I had been pondering for years, but hadn't been able to identify. Thank you Brian for enlightening me!
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