A Buddhist Response to Climate Change, Part 8

Accepting Responsibility with Honor

In his book, On Hallowing One’s Diminishments, the Quaker writer John Yungblut wrote,

“ One might say with the Buddhists, that this [hallowing] is an important form of ‘mindfulness’ and try and cultivate the inner posture in which such consciousness can be relatively sustained. Consulting the dictionary I find that for the word ‘hallowing’ the following definitions are offered: ‘make holy or set apart for holy use, consecrate; to respect greatly; venerate.’ It was a new and most encouraging idea to me - that one's diminishments could be ‘made holy,’ ‘consecrated,’ ‘respected greatly,’ even ‘venerated.’

I saw that the first step for me in learning to ‘hallow’ the progressive diminishments in store for me was deep-going acceptance. But the acceptance would have to be positive, not a negative one, if it were to be a real hallowing. I must learn to do something creative with it.”

We do not know whether we have enough time to alter future events that have been put into motion by so many people for so long. But we need to do everything we possibly can to try. We hear so often about intention. Our intention in hallowing our diminishments of global warming and energy depletion is to accept responsibility for what lies in our future. As Sharon Astyk, a peak oil educator, wrote on her blog “Casaubon’s Book,” “[W]e can come to recognize that sometimes, the point is not whether we can alter events, but how we face them. We can find meaning, even when we cannot change things, in our ability to shape the meaning of things - to do right, even when the right thing is not enough, to face even very hard times with courage and honor, even though it won’t make the hard times go away to do so.”

We can fight and rail against the things in life that feel so unfair. We can slip into pretending they do not exist. We can give up in despair. Or we can turn around to face that horror and work to understand why it is so terrifying. We can learn to face it with honor and thus, manage our fear.

What we are now facing are the consequences of our own past actions and decisions. Initially, we were unaware of what was happening, but now we know. We have been using up our natural resources and now they are running out. We have exported our style of living through movies, television, and other media. Now people around the world want to live like Americans do. But the reality is that Americans can no longer live as Americans have lived. The longer those of us who enjoy the privileges of wealth delay making the necessary changes, the harder it will be for all of us to face them later.

Previously, we did not think of what we were doing. Now we have come up against the reality of our actions. We can postpone what needs to be done or just make token efforts at making some changes. But if we fail to make the big changes—life-altering changes—our children and grandchildren will be forced to inhabit a world terribly different from the one we have been so privileged to enjoy.

If we can hallow our diminishments, we will find some benefits—a stronger sense of community and family, the knowledge that we tried to do the right thing when we realized that we had done some of the worst.

The Buddha taught about impermanence, how everything is continuously changing. Each of us has changed from who we were just a minute ago. Some cells have died, others have replaced them. These are minor changes, not even noticeable. We still function as we did a minute ago even though we have changed.

But climate change? No more cheap oil and, eventually, no oil at any price? Not enough natural gas? Not enough water? These are terrifying. When we come face-to-face with the changes that we feel are overwhelming and more than we can handle, we initially react from our fear. We say it cannot possibly be true. We say those who suffer from inadequate resources and natural disasters suffer due to their karma. Or we look for ways to disprove what people are saying. Or we choose to do nothing as we abruptly shut the door in the messenger’s face.

As a commenter wrote on Astyk’s blog “I think cognitive dissonance has much to do with our collective denial of responsibility. We’re unwilling to sacrifice a standard of living that cannot be sustained without exploiting others. So instead of changing, we find ways to minimize the truth and blame our victims for their troubles. People shut out clear, rational arguments that don’t fit with their world view and self-concept. Our self-esteem is totally wrapped up with consumption. We have been told since we were children that having lots of stuff is what makes us ‘winners’ in life. We don’t want to give anything up—it would be giving up a part of ourselves that we’ve worked hard to create and nourish. That’s why people get so completely defensive and pissed off when you bring up this subject—you’re messing with their self-esteem and sense of self-worth. I'm not just pointing the finger at others. I also plead guilty.”

So there is a lot going on in people’s reactions to words like global warming and resource depletion. The reactions revolve around change. We usually do not like it. The Buddha taught that change permeates life. That just as our minds are continuously changing, phenomena are also continuously changing. Everything is manifested by the mind and altered by the consciousness and thus, with our thoughts we change the world. And yet, we still believe that we can keep living as we have been doing. We doubt, debate, and deny. But doubting, debating, and denying will not help us fix this new, frightening world of ours.

Nor will what we have been told to do for the past sixty years—go shopping—solve this problem. We believe buying things will make us happy. But studies show people were happier in the 1950s. Yes they had less—less stuff. But they had time for their children, they worked fewer hours, and they felt more secure. It was safe for children to walk to school. People could leave their doors unlocked. But then, we were told to buy more, that by doing so we would be really happy.

We have seen the results of looking for happiness in consuming. It does not work. This is hardly news since the Buddha taught over 2500 years ago that happiness does not lie in new things or experiences. Happiness is to be found within ourselves, it lies in what we tell ourselves. Happiness is a mental state, not a physical state.

The earlier we realize happiness does not lie in consumption, the earlier we will realize we cannot consume ourselves out of what is now happening. It is going to take more than changing light bulbs and carrying canvas shopping bags. These are of course an excellent start, but that is all—a beginning.

We need to make changes in our lives, in every aspect of our lives. What we tell ourselves about those changes will determine how we feel. We can make the changes, or we can doubt, debate, and deny. We can complain, or we can hallow those changes by honoring them and accept responsibility for what we have done. We can learn to live with the changes, understanding that doing so is, as Astyk says, “not an unjust cruelty, but simply what is asked of us, our share of the burden.”

Peak oil, water depletion, and climate change are some of the most destructive conditions that could happen to society and this planet we live on. But they are what we have created. Very simply, they are cause and effect. Initially, we acted out of ignorance. At some level, we knew there was only so much oil and natural gas, but we figured some clever person would come along and fix things for us. They would find a new form of energy or invent a better technology. It was not anything we needed to be concerned about.

Ignorance is one of the three poisons the Buddha so often warned about. The other two poisons? Greed and anger. Indeed, with our thoughts we create the world. So not only from the everyday standpoint, but from the karmic standpoint, we have created and are currently creating the world we will be living in. The environmental changes we are now beginning to experience are not an unjust punishment inflicted on us. We have recklessly exploited our planet and now we will be paying for our actions. How will we justify what we have done when our children and grandchildren inherit the world from us? When they realize how we have lived, they will wonder what we were thinking. Why did we not change when we learned of the immense harm we were doing? How could we have cared so little? For the world’s children? For our own?

It is up to us to face our diminishments now, when we still have a choice. To do so when we are forced to would be irresponsible, and largely futile. Now at least, we still have some time to change the way we do things.

And this is where the hallowing comes in, for there are benefits to be had if we just recognize and honor them. We will have more time with family and neighbors, benefit from healthier lifestyles, learn more about ourselves, and maybe, just maybe, help save the future for our children and our planet.

Life in forty, twenty, even ten years will be very different from what it is now. We need to come together and learn what to do, both on a community level and as responsible individuals. We live in a universe that adheres to the law of cause and consequence. The consequences are not within our control. But our current karmas, our current actions, are. Honoring and respecting resource depletion and climate change are within our control and ability.

We need to do everything within our power to hallow these diminishments, for they are ours.