Words From Ken

Our concern for the well-being of Earth has expressed itself in two major ways. First, by the question, “What can I do?” What concrete action can I take that will contribute to the healing of ‘oikos’, our eco-system, our ‘household’ and its inhabitants?  And second, by the question, “How can I be?” How can I change myself in a qualitative way so that my whole being will resonate with and expand the positive forces of life? Pondering the first question leads us to an ecological awareness, and this has exposed and combated many destructive activities such as pollution, squandering of resources, desecration of natural beauty, and so on. Response to the second question impels us toward a spiritual awareness, and such practices as yoga and meditation in their many forms. If ecological thinking addresses mainly ‘what can I do?’, and has not always recognized the need for a spiritual base, it is also true that spirituality, in addressing ‘how can I be?’, has tended to ignore the link between contemplation and action. Ecology has somewhat neglected the healing of the human spirit, while spirituality has too often failed to grapple with the concrete problems of life.

With his concepts of Eco-Yoga and the participatory mind, Henryk Skolimowski has challenged us to bring together these two seemingly opposite approaches, the ecological and the spiritual, action and meditation, the practical and the ideal, and to find a unified answer to the two questions, “What can I do?” and “How can I be?” In the present article we will take up this challenge by considering one spiritual path, expressed by the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali(4th cent. B.C.?), and by attempting to correlate the psychological terms of this ancient discipline with modern ecological concerns. As an integrating factor we will call upon the image of Gaia, the cosmos as a living, feeling, as well as material Being. The goal of Raja-Yoga, as it is called, is enlightenment, or union of the self with Atman, the Universal Self. But, “It is not just the self”, writes Jungian psychologist James Hillman, “but the world which is having nightmares.” If we should not be satisfied with a strictly objective approach to ecological problems, neither can we abide with a purely subjective resolution of spiritual ones. We must find the ‘what can I do?’ in our meditation as well as the ‘how can I be?’ in our action.

“Yoga is restraining the mind from taking various forms”, wrote Patanjali, beginning significantly at the center of the Raja-Yoga path. In fact, pratyahara, or detachment of the mind from objects of the senses, is the fifth of the eight ‘limbs’ of Raja-Yoga, but by starting here we get a subtle reminder. The limbs are not meant merely to be climbed, one after another until the top, the final goal, Atman or enlightenment is reached. Yama and niyama, for example, the first two limbs which are moral injunctions and fixed observances, the do’s and don’ts of Raja-Yoga, are not just means to an end. Truthfulness, non-stealing, self study, etc. are more than just steps along the way; Atman (how can I be?) cannot exist apart from purity of action (what can I do?) This is also true as we formulate Eco-Yoga, but here the converse is even more significant: Right action cannot exist apart from deep realization, and ecological problems will not be solved using exclusively rational tools. Even more so as we begin to see Earth not as inert matter but as Gaia; the yamas and niyamas, our moral and ethical relationship to the world, become a natural expression of the participatory mind.

“Yoga is restraining the mind from taking various forms”, but the rational mind exists precisely in a world of forms. We see a tree, for example, by the mind molding the impulses of the tree into a certain form; the tree becomes a concept. But with the participatory mind, when the Earth is Gaia, when we practice yoga, or Eco-Yoga, we learn to ‘see’ the tree as a living, breathing personality. We see the spirit of the tree. Pratyahara is not shutting off the mind or blocking out the world. It is, however, ‘stopping the world’ in Don Juan’s language, which means checking the mental habit of continuously itemizing, categorizing and interpreting what we behold with our senses. It is the gateway to seeing a world of energy, not just dead form. It is, clearly, seeing not just objectively, seeing not only with our eyes but with another sense, the ‘third eye’, if you will. In terms of Eco-Yoga it is to admit that we as human beings do not have a corner on consciousness, that the cosmos is conscious to its deepest recesses. But how does this kind of vision come about?

In Patanjali’s view the final limbs of Raja-Yoga, concentration, meditation and absorption, can barely be thought of as separate practices. The three together, dharana, dhyana and samadhi, he calls samyana, and these might be felt as three facets of a certain mind-poise which is at once a cause and effect of enlightenment, or realization of Atman. In the context of Eco-Yoga it is con-centration which allows us to ‘be’ at the center; and this center is not our ego, which separates us as subject from object, throws us exactly off-center, but it is Gaia herself, the conscious universe. Meditation is the continuous experience of this center and can be called many things, including Love. Samadhi is beyond describable experience; the center disappears. It is that from which we awake to consciousness, Being and Love. It is that by which we understand and practice yoga, which is holistic, whether we call it yoga, Eco-Yoga or any other name. Wherever we begin, at whatever stage we enter, whether it be with moral injunctions, observances, correct posture, regulation of breath or with meditation itself, each ‘limb’ expands from and ultimately contracts to the ‘root’ which is nothing other than Atman, or Gaia, the total practice and experience of yoga.

How wrong it would be, for example, to think of pranayama, the fourth limb of Raja-Yoga, as merely controlling the breath. For Patanjali, pranayama means not only smoothing and regulating the outer breathing process but harmonizing the entire nervous system. Atman cannot be realized in a state of anxiety or neurosis! Nor can we behold Gaia without letting ourselves melt into her natural rhythms, and these frequencies and attenuations can be experienced in everything from our own heartbeats, our breathing, daily, monthly and even astrological cycles, to the whole span of physical existence. Needless to say, many modern occupations and pre-occupations do not have this soothing effect. Television may be crippling our nervous systems as well as blinding our third eye. Likewise, asana, or correct posture, which is the third limb, implies much more than a physical exercise. In Patanjali’s view, as well as in numerous other meditation practices, it is not possible to make a positive and lasting connection to Atman, or whatever, while the body is in a chronic state of tension (or sloth). In the case of Eco-Yoga it is equally clear. To really ‘see’ a mountain for instance, one must become a mountain, firm and still. This is the vision of Gaia, and it is no accident that most hatha-yoga postures (including tadasana, or the mountain pose) bear the names of natural elements and forces, and living creatures, as well as dieties.

Finally, as we have said before, the first two limbs of Raja-Yoga, the ethical and moral injunctions (what can I do?), do not exist apart from deep spiritual realization (how can I be?) And it should be quite obvious that the corresponding aspects of Eco-Yoga will coincide closely with those of Patanjali’s sutras. Although we could add non-strip-mining and no-deforestation to the traditional yamas, non-killing, non-stealing, etc., this is almost redundant. With the niyamas such as contentment, austerity, study and worship of God we should not have to specify voluntary simplicity, recycling and ecological awareness. And, once again, we remember that these concrete do’s and don’ts are not just the result of a rational decision. It would not be possible by merely calculating material consequences, or even aesthetic costs, of strip-mining or deforestation to fully comprehend the impact of breaking these, so to speak, eco-yamas. One has to actually ‘see’ the mountain or the tree as Gaia, which in this case means nothing less than feeling the very pain of the broken tree or carved mountain as one’s own. This is the true basis for correct (and adequate) ecological action. This is also the self-effacement of the yogi, as well as the agony of Christ and the compassion of the Bodhisattva. This is the Grace of Being as well as that of Action, the fruit as well as each limb of Eco-Yoga. It is at once the answer to both of our questions, “What can I do?” and “How can I be?”