The Environmental Issue That I Am

by Alan Ismond

Global warming. Energy crisis. Poisoned water. Water shortages. Toxic food. Food shortages. What to do? Who to believe? Where do we get the truth? How do we tackle these issues without creating new issues? Humankind has been busy doing all kinds of things in the last 100 years that have had a big impact on the environment. Are science and engineering the source of the problem or the solution? What do we need to do to fix the problems and the environment?

Thanks to globalization and communication technology, we live in a world of easy access to millions of videos, pictures, blogs, tweets, and Facebook pages full of conflicting information. You could easily spend your whole life mining the Internet looking for the answers. But is the answer to be found in knowing?

I was fortunate to be at the CI in New Mexico last year and experienced one of the divination postures. I focused my mind at the start of the posture on “show me what I need to know at this time”. After the posture I wrote down the thoughts and impressions that I experienced during the posture. One of them was “not what I need to know but what I need to be”. In essence worry less about knowing the answers and be more concerned with “be-ing” the answer. This reminded me of the words of Rudolf Steiner, a philosopher and founder of biodynamic farming: “He who would know the world, seek first within his being’s depths; he who would truly know himself, develop interest in the world”.

Because we live in the information era, we think that we need to find the truth somewhere out there. After all that’s what the smart phone and tablets are designed to do: keep us plugged in to what’s happening and what we think we need to know. Of course, thanks to the electronic data highway, you are able to read this article. But civilization has existed for a lot longer than the Internet, so where did humankind go to get information in the past? Some would suggest that past civilizations lived in ignorance because they did not have access to modern technologies. Others would suggest that past civilizations were more adept at maximizing their potential with the tools that they had, namely themselves.

What if the human body could be used like a smart phone or tablet to tap into inner and outer knowing and be-ing? What if the human body smart phone could be activated by properly adjusting the antenna (the postures) and providing the right frequency (the rattling or drumming)? In my opinion, the postures allow us to tap into universal truths, some that may be very personal and some that may transcend time and space.

There is an interesting paradox associated with the posture experience. The conscious mind witnesses and documents the posture journey. Our beliefs can color our understanding of the experience, however the experience is unaffected by our beliefs. I believe that the postures are another tool to help us plug into who we need to be. Swami Satchitananda was once asked what he would recommend that we should do to fix the world. His answer was to continue to do daily practices: yoga postures, breathing practices, and a good diet.

My answer to those who want to know what they can do to “fix” the environmental problems is to find a practice that makes you a better being. Try the CI postures. They don’t require any prior learning or physical ability. They just help you be what you have forgotten. We are the problem and the environmental issues are the symptom. When we tap into our true potential within our selves, the outer world will follow suit.

About Alan Ismond:

Alan Ismond serves on the Board of Directors of the Cuyamungue Institute. Alan has a Chemical Engineering degree with a minor in Food Technology. He is an environmental consultant with over 35 years experience in the food, water, and wastewater industries. Alan has also studied alternative methods of food production, health maintenance, and ecology and is convinced that, for every problem that we are now faced with, there is solution.