Calling Forth a Spiritual Dimension on Climate
And thinking about Eckhart Tolle
Two weeks ago, my perception of where the world is headed changed in a radical way. Here in the US, it seemed we were finally doing our part on climate, even if there remained a long way to go. It seemed that a new President Harris would likely take us further in that positive direction. And then, all of a sudden, not. My fellow citizens elected Trump. Certainly from a climate perspective, only dark days seem to lie ahead.
For those of us interested in living an abundant life in the midst of climate change, this situation brings about a radical shift. We know that policy will go in the wrong direction. We know that the small things we do aren’t enough, yet are necessary. Many of us who live closer to the land observe the changes as they unfold. We’ve been warned that the 1.5 C° will be terrible, and we are closer than ever to that point. Hope has been replaced by fear, and in many ways, that is precisely the point—the radical shift is in our minds, and the solution we need is also in our minds.
In this mindspace, I came to Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now. Tolle extols the importance of being in the present moment and not living in the drama of the past or any desire or fear of the future. Most of us who are understandably worried about the future are, in fact, living in future mind. We worry about what will come. We dread what the new administration will do. And this dread leaves us frozen. Many people in my communities are reminding us to stay in love, stay in beauty, and to not let fear overtake us. Good reminders, but how? Tolle gives the answer: It is in the Now.
The problem is that most of us are not in the present moment. Our concern for the future tends to consume our current moments, thereby making the present miserable. We suffocate in our own worry. Tolle’s message is consistent, “Come back to now. Come back to now.”
Effective action cannot come from dread or fear. Nor can it come from wallowing in the past—our wounds, our sins, or our mistakes. Rather, it must always emanate from the Now. Future and past are what Tolle calls “psychological time,” and only when we are free of psychological time can we take effective action.
“Being free of psychological time, you no longer pursue your goals with grim determination, driven by fear, discontent, or the need to become someone. Nor will you remain inactive through fear of failure….” (p69)
When we live in the Now, Tolle explains, neither our happiness nor our sense of self depends on any outcome. Rather, all of that comes from the moment; it is in the Now.
This is not to say that we should not be alarmed. We should. But to do anything effective and worthwhile, we need to quiet the alarm. We need to let the fear go. We need to find, live in, and act from the Now.
As a skeptic of contemplative practice, I have said in the past, “We are in a crisis! I haven’t got time for navel gazing!” While this feels true, sitting locked in fear is no way to take action or have an impact. In many ways, that is the navel gazing that is most destructive. Wallowing in my own fear will get me nowhere. But, how do I get out of fear? First, you have to recognize it, and Tolle’s book helps me see that my worry is me living in the future, not the present moment. My fear shows that I am locked in the future, and it is time to bring my awareness back to the Now. Indeed, returning to the Now is the only real answer. That is still where we have to go.
While Tolle talks about the Now, Lenedra Carroll, author of The Architecture of All Abundance, gives a great example. She is at one of the lowest points of her life. Praying and meditating, she enters a conversation with her inner guide. It starts with the inner guide speaking to her.
“Dear one, pray for what you need now.”
“I am!” I squeak dismally.
Again, “Pray for what you need now.”
“I am! I have been!” At this point my frustration and fears culminate. I feel like shrieking at God. I quiet myself. I stop to fully experience my feelings—I have a crushing sense of responsibility for my children and my debts. I feel trapped without options. I fear I am abandoned and alone in the universe, afraid there is no help out there. Am I dying? Will I be okay? I breathe raggedly, allowing myself to be aware of the extent of these feelings. As I settle into them, owning myself as I am in this moment, the voice of my prayers urges me again, “Pray for what you need now.”
“I must be missing the point,” I say after contemplation. “I think I have been doing this. What am I missing, overlooking, not getting? I’ve been praying for next month’s rent, for my car payment, due in just two weeks…” I begin to feel desperate again.
“Shh. Still yourself. Pray for what you need. Now.”
“But I am.” I pause. “I need my rent for next month, my car payment.”
“Now.”
“What? I…”
“Now.”
I pause. Now. “You mean, now. Right this very now while we are talking?”
“Yes. In this now.”
“This very minute only?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I don’t need anything right now, this very minute.”
“Indeed.”
Do you see? Her fears were about rent, car payment, and food. Our fears are about the impacts of climate change—even more in the future than rent. But in the Now, all is fine. In the Now, we can find the calm center to act.
The point is not to escape reality. Rather, it is to give myself and all of us a better basis for action than fear. As I have practiced Tolle’s guidance in this moment, it has made me more calm, more centered, more immovable, and more determined. But I am not scared. Indeed, each time I begin to dread the future, I return to the Now. For there, and only there, is the pure essence of me. From there, I have endless energy and I can trust that I am doing the right thing in the world.
Anthony Signorelli
OTHER PUBLICATIONS by Anthony
Write On! a newsletter for writers and the writing life.
Lancelot’s Tears, a newsletter on grief after loss.