Living Lightly on the Earth
Resistance to Change
June is a teacher. On a recent class trip, a child threw wastepaper on the ground. June commented and the girl replied, “Why not? everyone else does it.” Recently, several of us at the Center became aware of the quantity of trash that we were throwing on the ground. Whenever we gather as devotees to enjoy a meal, bags of trash are thrown on the ground—the Staten Island land fill—our Mother, Earth.
Changing our habits will not be easy. Baba says, “What are you giving to God for providing you with the facilities like the sun who illumines the whole world, the wind which refreshes all living beings with cool breeze, the torrential rain that not only cools the earth but also sustains life… Not to give thought to such things indicates… the Tamoguna—inertia—that is polluting his mind.”
Summer Showers, 1990
Our lack. of thought for the great environmental crisis that we are in, comes truly from both inertia and the basic resistance to change that we all experience frequently. Often, we feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem. Often, we are confused and truly do not know what actions to take. Baba teaches that everything starts with the individual. We must take responsibility to change our patterns, step by step.
Steppingstone: PAPER
- Reduce—Eliminate paper towels, napkins, caps and plates from home. These products come from trees cut down for our ‘convenience’.
- Reuse—use only cloth towels and napkins. Use only reusable, washable dinnerware.
- Recycle—all newspaper, magazines and cardboard.
Recently the Manhattan center purchased stainless steel plates, forks and spoons for 50 people. We love them and the clean energy that comes when we use them.
~Shiela Brown & June Reiber
Manhattan, New York, USA
