What Can I Do To Help Solve the Crises Facing Humanity in Today's World?

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Namaste.
Today's subject is integrating

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the inner awareness and
consciousness with one's outer

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actions.
We find that trying to change

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things from the mental
standpoint, from the vital

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standpoint, fails.
Humanity is stuck in a crisis of

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paralysis, a paralysis of
gridlock.

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We have conflicting and
competing mental ideas.

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We have conflicting and
competing economic theories,

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political ideas, solutions based
on the fragmentation method of

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the mental consciousness,
solutions influenced by the

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vital forces of desire and self
dealing and self aggrandizement.

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None of these approaches have
worked in the past.

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We find that if we replace one
political system with another,

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or one economic system with
another, we wind up with a very

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similar situation at the end,
just different people in charge.

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And so we tend to get
discouraged.

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But there's no need to be
discouraged.

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As we've been discussing in our
recent programs, the first

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change that's needed is an inner
change, a change in human

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awareness and consciousness, a
linking of our inner growth and

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aspiration to the evolutionary
force that is bringing out a new

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level of consciousness that is
beginning to act worldwide in

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all fields of human interaction.
So the first step is be the

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change that you want to see.
Begin to examine as a witness

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where are your thoughts come
from, Where are your emotions

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come from, Where are your vital
desires and impulses come from,

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Where are your physical
sensations come from?

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And begin to align them around
the deeper aspiration, what we

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might call the psychic
aspiration, the aspiration that

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looks towards something nobler,
something greater, something

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truthful, something beautiful,
something harmonious.

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And that aspiration acts more or
less as the conductor of the

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orchestra, with each of our
different faculties playing a

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different instrument and somehow
needing to find a way to

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harmonize together.
The real problem is the

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disharmony of all these clashing
and conflicting ideas, views and

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opportunities, people going in
all different directions without

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any real sense or purpose of
where they're going or why or

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how they want to get there.
Once we start to do that, the

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question then becomes, well, OK,
I can sit in meditation, I can

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change my attitude about things,
but that doesn't really change

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anything in the world.
What?

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What is it?
What are we accomplishing?

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Well, the first thing is that
every attempt to develop human

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consciousness, even if done in
isolation, secretly, without

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anybody else knowing about it or
interacting with you, has its

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impact in the overall texture of
consciousness on the planet.

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Now, we've all heard about the
butterfly effect, and that's

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basically that a butterfly
fluttering its wings in

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Indonesia is going to have some
impact somewhere on the opposite

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side of the world.
And I'm sure everybody has

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considered it and laughed about
it and joked and said, well, I

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don't see it.
We're skeptical, and that's

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understandable, but let's
reframe the question a little

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bit.
When there's an earthquake in

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Japan or Alaska or anywhere
else, at a particular point on

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this enormous world of ours, we
see a ripple effect.

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And then in some cases a tsunami
occurs and where it starts, it

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may only be a one inch wave, but
by the time it hits another

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coast on another part of the
world, it can be a 30 foot

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deluge inundating that part of
the world.

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So the ripple effect, the
tsunami effect we may call it,

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proves that one point of action,
however minor it looks in the

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grand scope of things in the
world, can have outsize impacts.

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We see a similar effect with
what we might call the avalanche

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effect, A snowball rolling down
a hill, A small rock rolling

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down a hill in the mountains may
start an avalanche and bury

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villages.
Once again, a small impact at

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the point of action, a large
impact down line.

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What I frequently discuss with
people is what I call the 1%

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solution.
If we can change human actions

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collectively, even just 1%.
In other words, not a world

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shaking revolutionary change,
but a 1% change in human action.

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We see that the trajectory over
several 100 years yields a

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dramatically different result
than if we do nothing.

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That 1% effect is the action of
evolutionary forces through

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time, and it's important for us
to remember that.

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So another issue that comes up
frequently is there are so many

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problems, how do we know what to
do, what to tackle, how to

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tackle it?
One of the geniuses of the

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spiritual history of India was
the seeking for what being

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known.
All is known.

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In other words, what is the core
essential element that we need

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to realize in order to have a
complete knowledge?

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If we apply that to all of the
human crises that we're facing,

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the water crisis, the food
crisis, the income inequality

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crisis, the pollution crisis,
the climate crisis, we can go on

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and on and on with all these
crises.

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What we find is that at its
core, there are certain key

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elements that represent the
blockages created by the vital

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mental consciousness from which
we act that are the essence,

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that being known.
All is known.

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And so we come to a concept used
in the logging industry called

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the key log.
And what that basically is when

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loggers clear a forest and they
roll the logs into a river to

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send them downstream to the
mill, eventually so many logs

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get clogged up that they can't
move forward.

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They're blocked and they send in
somebody who becomes an expert

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to identify where the key log
is, what the one log that being

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moved will allow all the other
logs to move.

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Yes, it sounds very much like
Indian spiritual philosophy

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being applied to a very mundane,
external Western industrial

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pursuit of logging.
And so if we look at all these

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problems, we see essentially
it's a problem of limitation of

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consciousness and the
corresponding disharmony that

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arises as a result of that.
That disharmony needs to be

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reconciled.
And it can only be done if we

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each individually and then
collectively change the way we

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see things, the way we respond
and react to things, and the way

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we project our influence greater
or smaller into the world.

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So when we do this, we take up a
practice of observation, a

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practice of examination of the
motive forces, the springs

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behind our actions, and we begin
to adjust them.

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Now, people have done this for
many years.

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When they look back on their
lives as they have gone through

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all their life changes, they can
actually identify that they

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respond differently than they
used to.

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They respond in many cases with
new understanding, new

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compassion, new empathy, a
feeling of peace, a feeling of

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helpfulness, a feeling of
goodwill.

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Those things represent actions
of a new consciousness that have

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taken hold within us almost
invisibly through time.

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What we also can notice is that
as we change and we interact

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with others around us, that they
also change, that the whole

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atmosphere changes.
There are many stories of

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Rishi's who had an ashram
somewhere in the forest and wild

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beasts would lie down with lambs
and there would be harmony in

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that environment and they
wouldn't be aggressive towards

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one another.
Well, whether real stories or

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anecdotal stories, the concept
does work when we create within

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ourselves and in our
surroundings and atmosphere of

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peace and goodwill and
understanding and harmony.

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It begins to what we might say
rub off and helps others to grow

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into a new understanding and
consciousness on their own,

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without a teaching or a
proselytization or a religion or

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a philosophy.
Just by being the change.

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And that brings us to the 100th
monkey phenomenon.

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Now, the 100th monkey phenomenon
is one where a monkey was

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observed washing its fruit, a
new behavior among that tribe of

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monkeys somewhere in Southeast
Asia, I believe it was.

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And after a while, other monkeys
in that group started washing

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their fruit before eating it,
and eventually the whole group

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was washing their fruit before
eating it.

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What was interesting was that
when a certain number of monkeys

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adopted that behavior in that
one tribe, in that one place, in

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that one group, over time they
saw that the same behavior

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quickly disseminated itself
worldwide in the monkey

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population.
And so people came up with the

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idea that when there are a
certain number of individuals

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who carry out a similar
behaviour, a similar force of

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action, that that goes into the
vital or the mental atmosphere

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of the world and impacts those
who are receptive to it anywhere

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they are in the world.
And change can occur.

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And that is, in our sense, how a
change of human nature can begin

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one person at a time.
Which of us might be the 100th

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monkey in the human race to
change consciousness, to bring

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about a new understanding, to
align ourselves with the new

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consciousness that is
developing?

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One of the things we find that
occurs is that as we change our

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inner life, we also change our
outer actions and our focus.

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And while many people have jobs
and they have to earn their

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livings and they take whatever
job they can get, if you do it

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with the right spirit and
attitude, that too is part of

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the change.
But if you have the capacity, if

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you have the training, if you
have the education, if you have

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the motivation and focus to
address and tackle some of the

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larger issues that we all face
as humanity and you begin to

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apply that energy and focus to
that issue, it will have an

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effect.
We have a friend who is a an

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attorney and she works pro bono
mean she does it for free for

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nonprofits working with
governments to try to codify and

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find enforcement mechanisms for
the law of the sea.

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Because we are polluting the
oceans, we are killing off the

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ocean fisheries.
We are creating a toxic soup

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that needs to be addressed and
can only be addressed by all of

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humanity working together.
Well, she has the background and

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the capacity.
She's not a rich person, but

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she's decided to dedicate her
experience and talents to this

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issue and however difficult and
long the road is, she stuck with

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it for many years and none of us
can actually see the long term

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benefit or impact.
But over time, if we look back

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at history, we can see that such
activity does in fact have an

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outsize influence.
We can look at examples all

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through history.
We look at someone like here in

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the United States, we have a
legendary figure called Johnny

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Appleseed.
And this was a real man.

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He was a pastor, and he also ran
a nursery, and he went from

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state to state in a number of
areas and arranged to have many

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thousands of apple trees
planted.

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And he made a difference.
America has an abundance of

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apples.
People love apples.

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And as they say, an apple a day
keeps the doctor away.

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That's the proverb.
Well, we have Johnny Appleseed

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to thank for thank for his
efforts, but we have others that

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we can identify through history
because they stood out as

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outside influence in their own
field.

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Leonardo da Vinci, Mahatma
Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln,

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Beethoven, who knows?
There are many, many, many such

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examples.
But even those that we can't

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identify on the world stage can
have an outsize influence in

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their own circles.
And we find back in the 1960s,

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some work was done in sociology
to identify a concept called

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opinion makers.
And these people were

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individuals in their field or
community who, for one reason or

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another, wielded an outsized
influence on the opinions and

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actions of others around them.
Maybe it was their or maybe it

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was their ability to
communicate.

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Maybe it was their passion and
dedication.

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Maybe it was just their
essential being relating to

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people in a way that really
struck people.

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And those people, those opinion
makers, wield a much larger

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influence than being just one of
8 billion people.

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Now, this was actually put into
practice some years ago when Al

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Gore set up his climate project.
He decided that to bring climate

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change awareness to people, it
was not going to work to try to

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retail it one-on-one to 8
billion people.

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So he reached out for
influential people, people who

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had positions that would allow
them to interface with large

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numbers of people, and he showed
them the facts and the science,

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and they, in turn wielded their
influence.

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And today, humanity is finally
beginning to address the fact

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that climate change is real and
that it needs to be dealt with

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if we're going to survive.
If you can't change.

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Something on a big scale and you
do your daily work.

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There's still things you can do.
If you're not educated in

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climate change, if you're not
educated in agriculture or

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energy production or freshwater
development or any of these

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other fields where the crises
exist, you can at least identify

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and locate those individuals,
groups, and projects that are

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trying to address any one of
these numerous problems.

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Find the one or ones that
attract you and align yourself

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to them.
Help them promulgate their

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ideas.
If you have money, help them by

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giving them money and support.
Help them by your goodwill, just

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your conscious willingness to
stand for the principle that

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that organization or group is
working towards.

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And there are numerous such
groups, thousands of them around

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the world, working at smaller or
larger aspects of the global

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crisis.
So follow your heart and do what

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you know to be right.
Make it real.

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Be the change.
And that brings us actually to

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the to an interesting project
called Oroville, where people

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from all over the world, from
many different cultures,

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backgrounds, religions,
philosophies and languages,

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education, whatever have come
together.

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And they've started working as a
laboratory to tackle a large

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number of the crisis leverage
points that humanity is facing.

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How to waste less resources, how
to create desalina tion for

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freshwater, how to create green
energy and distributed

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effectively, How to create
buildings and architecture that

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are more environmentally sound
and more energy efficient.

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Numerous, numerous things.
But also, they're trying to

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figure out how to live together,
how to bring all these

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conflicting ideas and
philosophies and mindsets

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together and find a way to work
their way through it, starting

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from a basic essential goodwill,
but having all of the

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limitations and problems that
humanity is facing everywhere

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else.
Now, you can say, well, are they

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a success at that?
Well, not yet.

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The success comes through a lot
of tests, experiments, and

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opportunities.
Humanity's been trying to solve

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these problems for many
thousands of years.

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We've tried capitalism, we've
tried communism, we've tried

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democracy, we've tried
dictatorship, we've tried

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religious theocracies, we've
tried uniformity, and none of

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those things have solved the
problem.

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We can't expect Oroville in just
a few years to solve the

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problem.
But what we can see is they are

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working actively on this problem
and when they find a solution

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that doesn't work, they move and
try to find a better way.

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Now there's an apocryphal story
about the invention of the light

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bulb by Thomas Edison that when
he said at one point that he

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tried 1000 different experiments
to create a light bulb and every

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one of them failed until one
succeeded.

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Sri Aurobindo points out that
failure is the stepping stone to

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success.
As long as we don't give up the

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basic aspiration, the basic
interest in solving the crisis.

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All of the experiments, all of
the trials, all of the failures

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are part of our road to success.
Robert Oppenheimer, known as the

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father of the atomic bomb, after
he saw the dramatic impacts of

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that, he said the people of this
world must unite or they will

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perish.
And I leave you with that

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thought.
We must unite or we will perish,

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the Mother said.
Truth or the abyss.

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We are at the tipping point
where these crises can either

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destroy humanity entirely, or
where we make that evolutionary

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leap into the new consciousness
that is trying to manifest.

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Namaste.