Observances in Crisis

Mindful Awareness through the Lens of Permaculture and Sanskrit Heritage

by Tyagaraja Welch

In times of tragedy and great crisis, a human being leans towards ideas of purpose and meaning to life.  “What is this all for?,”  “Why are we here?,”  “Where do we come from?,” “What is the meaning of life?,”  “What is my purpose in life, and how do I fulfill it?”  To me, before we can answer any of those questions, it important to observe…  Through this observation comes my first realization that so called “purpose,” is self-implied.  We are the only species on Earth that seeks purpose or meaning.  The Lion does not question its purpose while devouring prey, the plant does not question its purpose whilst creating thousands of seeds to preserve its species, the fungal food web or mycelium does not think of the meaning of life while spreading in soil underneath our feet to give life and nutrients to plant roots.  Therefore, if purpose is a human attribute, and self-implied, it must mean two things:  Purpose is subjective and individual and must be realized through a process of individual intention and action.  Utilizing deep reflection to find this purpose, one cannot start with these “why” questions.  First one must establish, “What are we?”  The only way to serve the question “why” is with the question “what” … In a modern world, with modern dilemma, we humans are looking to technology through our industrialized and colonized minds.  Within our current plight I can feel us being shaken to our senses.  Within a blink of an eye the industrialized world and colonized world can vanish.  The Vedic proverb is true, if you lose, don’t lose the lesson.  What is the lesson to be learned from this?  The lesson is my original question… What are we and Where did we come from?  When one comes to a mighty waterfall, or stands at the edge of the world along a vast coastal ocean, or bathes in a sacred river, what is the first organic response?  When this question is presented in our Yogic Workshops, 90% of the participants answer with not a word, they answer with a sound… “Aaaahhh.”  This ah sound of relief has the hidden answer to ALL human dilemma.  If we are mindful and connected with experiencing our present moment the “aaaahhh” sound is an “Ah Ha” moment.  The moment of awakening.  The deeper one goes into the topic the more questions arise.  What is the “Ah Ha” moment?  Spirituality in its purest sense is “remembrance.”  The reason why your faith or individual spirituality feels so right, pure and true to you is because it feels familiar - something you always thought and couldn’t quite put your finger on - like the moment when your hand opens the door to your own house - you feel at peace, safe and familiar with the surroundings.  The reason we have these moments of remembrance and peace in the vast expanse of nature (removed from metropolis, pollution, political/social turmoil, etc.) is because we came from nature.  We are the soil, we are earth, water, air and light… and something subtle, like the darkness of space, that makes up how we think and feel.  We are Mother Earth.  Upon having this subtle experience and connecting it with Sanskrit based heritage of who we are and why we are here, it took a matter of seconds for the remembrance to transform to realization.  We will not find the answers to the deeper questions of life through technology and AI (artificial intelligence.)  It is only intelligent because it has been programmed to be that way, yet the modern society of privileged humans that use those devices apply too much faith in them for their answers.  Mother Earth is our natural supercomputer that not only holds the mystery to our deepest yearning, SHE is quite literally designed to show us the WAY.  

Mother Earth has all the answers we seek and the way to find those answers is through what I have become to call Earth Integration or EI.  It is also common for the general population to become trapped within a colonized mind and looking toward political leaders or oppressors to solve these issues, and if they fall short, relinquish our energy in debating and blaming them.  We also cannot simply bounce between News and Netflix - stoking fear then running to entertainment to think we will learn from the mistakes we have made.  The reality is that we all have played our role in landing in this volatile and fragile moment, and disaster capitalism wants us to stay trapped between fear and consumption.  How will we progress further without deep reflection?  How will find deep reflection if not quietly and mindfully integrated with nature.  Mother Earth is not in imbalance, we humans are the imbalance and SHE is indiscriminately restoring that balance within single gusts of wind.  How many have turned away from their media to look to nature for the answers they seek?  The ones who have may realize it’s not an outside force that is the problem.  The issues are largely individual and until we wake up to our own contributions we cannot expect the world to move toward progressive solutions.  How much plastic waste did “I” contribute? How much gas, travel, and how large is my carbon footprint?  Mother Earth is screaming at us not to run to technology and entertainment to find the answers, HER prolonged yell is designed for us to stop (meditation or dhyana) and reflect (the process of viveka and vichara looking within through a process of discriminating realization and self application of everlasting principles.)  The answer is that our single role and duty as human beings is to integrate with nature and the solution is to design a world that is equanimous and sustainable for ALL living beings for thousands of years to come.  This means, localized food economy, less wasteful global transit, living as a minimalist, establishing urban food forests, building up and co-conspiring with disenfranchised communities, cultivating a lifestyle of right values, mindfulness and holistic treatment of our trauma, pain and suffering.  The previous list is the ideal of EI or Earth Integration and could be the deeper lesson we draw from this precious moment as one global community, and the only way we will reach this elevated consciousness is to integrate with nature, reflect and act with the realization of the true duty of the human soul… Service or Seva.