Ram Dass:
"I think [we] are learning how to listen. We're training ourselves to listen more and more deeply. When you listen more and more deeply you hear the totality of what the situation is.
"You begin to see what it is that's clouding your ability to hear clearly, and you work on those things, so that you can hear more and more clearly 'just what is' - and 'just what is' includes what your needs are, what your capacities are, and what your uniqueness is. It also includes what the situation is, what the opportunities are, what the culture is, what the expectations are, and what your old models are.
"It's not done linearly and analytically, where you say, 'I'll make this list - it's all this and this.' Instead, there's a quietness in which you experience the Gestalt of the whole ball game, and your mind is, for the most part, quite empty while this is going on. It's not like you're thinking your way through it...
**
"The answer is" like when you ask me a question, you'll notice that I'm silent for a moment. During that time, I'm not thinking up the answer" although most people think I must be thinking up the answer. In fact, what I'm doing is going back into my breath and emptying, because in the emptiness, I can hear more clearly what the total situation is and out of that will come a response that will be more appropriate than if I try to think my way out of it."
**
According to Kathy McMahon, a clinical psychologist who posts stories of environmental trauma, we are limiting our study to the wrong people: those traumatized by war, violence, and environmental destruction.
"We should study those who aren't suffering these symptoms, the so-called 'normals,' who haven't allowed these horrible experiences to impact their daily lives. What sort of individual feels none of these things? Those who can't or don't feel the loss or who don't know why they are drinking and drugging themselves; that is the true tragedy."
We also need to study the "enablers." Enablers are complacently invested in the status-quo power structure and economic system which is responsible for reckless consumption and ecological overshoot on our planet. In their ignorance they will defend and protect the abusers. As legislators, their proposals and laws will make a few very wealthy people wealthier and stimulate consumption.
We know that abusers, addicts, and enablers often attempt to intimidate their victims into silence and are themselves enticed into support by hoping for a share of power's rewards. They typically deny their actions, and make promises about changing, while rewarding perpetrators.
A person whose awareness remains alive and awakened will cry out and try to fix the dysfunction. However, some people may suffer the trauma unconsciously, and work in a technological environment for 50 weeks each year, and then flee into nature, where they can feel alive again, for a two-week holiday.
Status-quo oriented individuals and organizations resist change by marginalizing and ridiculing whistle-blowers.
"Thus, the media stereotypes of people concerned about ecological issues," explains McMahon, "calling them names such as 'gloom and doomers,' creating a phony disorder in people" [who are] witness[ing] the abuse of the earth."
According to Kathy McMahon: "We live in an insane culture. Rather than marginalize the cries for reform, we need to normalize the pain. Protest and [vital] concern are healthy reactions to loss and grief."
What we can do
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