Caring for the Planet with Strength, Love, and Wisdom

The following piece was originally a Credible Mind blog. I was asked to write on meditation and the climate crisis. I enjoy being invited to guest write on other platforms with a topic and a word count. It makes me think about topics in new ways, and tests my creativity to work to a word count—I have to hone and hone and hone again!

This particular topic is one I have thought about a lot prior to writing this blog—it feels close to my heart. So, this was particularly hard to keep as brief as I have. I hope you enjoy and find it helpful. If you do, please share it with others.

Warm best wishes,
Rose

Interdependence and Interbeing

As you settle into the depths of your being, notice how every moment you are intimately connected to and reliant upon the world around you. As you continually exchange air through your breath, dissolve the separation between yourself and the outside world. Feel the solid earth beneath you, giving you a place to be. Recognize how the ocean of each moment of your experience comes about through the gathering of many rivers—your parents, friends, strangers, seeds, plants, water, warmth, air, stardust. The miracle of life is interdependent—we need each other, and you are needed. This perspective helps you realize that you are truly a part of the world, and a deep love and care can come forth as a result. You will discover that to care for and protect our environment and all beings is to love and care for your own being.

Impermanence and Preciousness

As you rest your attention on each moment of experience, feel its fleeting quality. Even a tenacious thought, as we watch it, will change, evolve, and eventually disappear. Recognizing impermanence in this way, begin to experience the preciousness of every moment. Life also brings us moments of this recognition, for example, in the death of a loved one. Moments like these reveal what is of true importance. The constant updating of your wardrobe, technology, and vehicles seems meaningless in the face of the fleeting nature of things. Recognize how from this perspective of impermanence, caring for each other and our world is of ultimate value. When grounded in impermanence and preciousness, we are wiser in making decisions— we walk more lightly on the precious earth and align with true value.

Your Core As a Wellspring of Goodness

As you settle into yourself, you come into relationship with your core qualities of strength, love, and wisdom. As these qualities emerge, they lead you to a place within that feels real, connected, and content. Gradually, you will find that the fleeting satisfactions that comes from materialism and consumption—buying and using the latest product—is no longer gratifying. We have a source of deep and limitless contentment right here in our own beings. Rampant consumerism is a major driver of climate change. And even though it is the mega-wealthy consumers who do the most damage, if you can live in a way true to your sense of integrity, your life will take on greater meaning and wholesomeness. Your example will demonstrate to others that such a life is possible. You will become a beacon of sanity in the world through your actions; a more powerful statement than any words you might speak or write.

Truth, Clear Seeing, and Honesty

Truth has become about preference and opinion, which is utterly corrosive. Ongoing meditation can train you to develop clear seeing and can help you to stop contorting reality. Meditation can help you overcome the delusion that you need certain things or need to continue certain behaviors in order to be satisfied in life. Unfortunately, the resources of the natural world are not infinite. Part of the challenge of battling climate change is to constantly seek and become aware of the truth in order to marshal our internal strength to take action (it’s not easy) and to stand up for that truth.

Love, Worth, and the Sacredness of our World

You can begin to find a deep sense of self-worth based not on your status, accomplishments, or material possessions but on your own being. Recognize the sacredness of your being so that you can start to truly love and appreciate yourself. As we are loved, we love and honor all as sacred. A loving heart is the most powerful agent of change. And, importantly, a loving heart will help protect you from burnout. Remember that the reason you feel so anxious about the climate crisis is that you love our planet. Let us feel that love in a joyful and appreciative way. Your loving connection with our world strengthens and inspires you for the hard work ahead.

If you are reading this, you are part of the solution. May your innate strength, love, and wisdom go from strength to strength.