In Search of the Dalai Lama | - By Duane Dahl, creator of EarthLab |
A search (or a quest) often involves either a figurative or actual journey, the accomplishment of a worthy goal, and the subordination of selfish aims in favor of benefiting the members of one's family, community, or country. In folklore this journey usually involved the accomplishment of some fantastic goal, such as seeking out and destroying an evil dragon, or a big green ogre travelling cross-country with a talking donkey to save a princess (oh wait, that's Shrek I'm thinking of). Having successfully contested with the dragon or having overcome a series of tests or obstacles, the searcher or hero recovers a treasure, or sacred object, or, simply, knowledge, then returns homes to share the good fortune with the community. Since I'm beginning to sound a lot like Joseph Campbell (or Jeffrey Katzenberg), let me leapfrog ahead and reveal that the dragon we have to deal with in modern times is climate crisis. EarthLab exists to provide maps and strategies for contesting with and subduing the oncoming dragon. Already a number of prominent figures in our society have come forward to call out for us to become heroes in this quest to best the climate crisis. These include Al Gore, Bobby Kennedy Jr., Leonardo DiCaprio, and the Dalai Lama, all providing powerful symbolic service as virtual "town criers" to alert all of humanity to an imminent environmental calamity.
Public figures aside, the ranks of concerned citizens are increasing a thousand fold each day. Over the past five weeks, over 600,000 potential environmental heroes have found a home on EarthLab.com. We are grateful for the thoughtful feedback of our members, and are especially pleased to read their stories of how their "green lights" were switched on. (We'll be posting these stories just after Labor Day!) Perhaps they were moved by the words and messages of Al Gore, or Bobby Kennedy, or Leonardo DiCaprio, or the Dalai Lama, all of them powerful symbols, powerful advocates for change. Each EarthLab member story is unique, each environmental adventure enlightening, some inspired by their kids, by a film, the birth of a child, or maybe 9,000,000 recalled Mattel toys (where will they all end up?). Other sources of inspiration have likely included hearing on television Bobby Kennedy's impassioned pleas for nurturing and preserving the environment, or the call to action might have derived from Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. If you still haven't heeded the call to action, Leonardo DiCaprio's new documentary, The 11th Hour, which I screened this past week, will certainly underscore the need to reconsider how you are adversely affecting the environment. The powerful documentary incorporates a direct plea for individual action, "The hope is you." This hope begins with each individual and is funneled upward, through the hierarchy of the family, the community, the State, the nation, and the international governing bodies. The fundamental fact of the film seems to be that we do not face just one environmental problem, we face a convergence of environmental problems, all bringing us to a position that is almost to the point where we have no hope of reversing the problem, to a point that is indeed The 11th Hour. The 11th hour is a point that cannot be crossed if there is any hope at all for any future benefit. So it is that we, as residents of Planet Earth, are in the late 11th hour of still being able to do something to rescue the environment, or, perhaps, to save ourselves, and create a sustainable Earth. Actually, as one of the experts related in DiCaprio's documentary, the time is actually closer to eleven fifty-nine. With this discussion of the little time remaining to reverse environmental degradation, we have dealt with all of the prominent environmental spokespersons previously mentioned in this article, all except for His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.
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In Search of the Dalai Lama
Since we are dealing here with the possible extinction of humanity and other life forms that inhabit our lovely blue planet, it is pertinent to mention the Dalai Lama. I was approached this past June by the group coordinating the visit of the Tibetan Oracle to the United States. I was told that the Oracle's intention was to share his and the Dalai Lama's global warming message with the masses. Now I have to tell you—when I received the email from the Tibetan Oracle—I initially wasn't quite sure what I had on my hands. The only Oracle I was familiar with was the cheerful old lady in the Matrix movies who had a penchant for smoking cigarettes and baking cookies. I googled the Tibetan Oracle, which ultimately led me to the Dalai Lama. Once I got past the aged resemblance to Kwai Chang Caine in the television show, Kung FU, I learned that the Dalai Lama's message has to do with compassion, peace, and love, especially with his love of humanity and the non-human species that inhabit our world. He has often spoken of the responsibility of human beings to love one another, and of their need to care for the environment because of the ecological interconnectedness of all life—and he has often spoken publicly about our responsibility to the environment. Although he is an engaging and profoundly important and messianic world religious figure, the Dalai Lama's value to us is essentially in the ideas he represents; in particular, the central idea that we have the personal responsibility for reversing our species' seemingly suicidal impulses.
Whether we are farmers, politicians, plumbers, nurses, or film stars, the responsibility for the care of the planet rests with each one of us. Regardless of our income or our standing in society, each one of us has a vested interest in salvaging a sustainable environment. Each one of has a vested interest in influencing the creation of green products, educating our acquaintances about the critical need of adopting a greener way of living, and in demanding that our elected representatives properly attend to the critical issues of climate crisis and global warming. Each one of us has a vested interest in seeing that children are as familiar with features of the natural world—the names of trees, birds, plants, and animals within our immediate areas—as they are with the make-believe characters of video games or a McDonald's logo. Each one of us has a vested interest in supporting with our spending those companies that have demonstrated an interest in implementing green business practices. Each one of us has a vested interest in lowering our carbon footprint, introducing low-impact, green products into our daily lives, and recycling expended products whenever possible.
Yes, we can look to the leadership of prominent spokespersons to guide us in adopting a cleaner way of living, however, the final responsibility for changing the world rests inside our individual skins. Each one of us must become an ambassador for nature, for the natural world. It's not about becoming a tree-hugging granola head (not that there is anything wrong with that), or about giving up your iPhone (bye-bye Blackberry!). Each one of us must decide what his or her personal vision is for the future of the natural world. What place or natural setting has value for us? What are we personally doing to preserve that place or setting for our children or those who will inherit our world? Together we can work, day by day, purchase by purchase, pledge by pledge, to create a garden on Earth, quite more to be preferred than a garbage dump on Earth. The hope for the future resides within each individual droplet of the vast ocean of humanity. Dalai is the Mongolian word for ocean, and Lama is the Tibetan version for the word guru, which, in Hinduism, means spiritual teacher. So, within each of us, within you, I believe resides the Dalai Lama potential. The hope for the future resides within each of us.
It is your time, Grasshopper—you are your own guru.
—Duane Dahl
August 15, 2007
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