So much depends upon us believing in our worth

The other night I watched the simulcast global premiere of the new film, The Age of Stupid. The film’s narrator, Peter Postelthwaite, looks back from 2055 when human civilization as we know it has ceased to exist and the earth has been virtually destroyed. From his post-apocalyptic vantage point, he reviews the evidence of climate change that could have served as a warning if only we’d paid attention. Toward the end of the film, he asks, why didn’t we save ourselves when we had the chance? “Is the answer that,” he posits, “at some level we didn’t think we were worth saving?”

This struck me, not just as a poignant question, but as the fundamental issue at stake. Our belief in our essential worth, is not just a feel-good idea, a luxury to dismiss as new age or ‘fluffy.’ The fate of the planet truly depends on our ability — as individuals and as a species — to connect with and believe in our own value.

It makes sense that, as psychological research has found, when we do not believe in our own worth, when we do not value our own essential nature, we are more susceptible to self-destructive behaviors such as alcohol abuse, accident proneness, drug abuse, eating disorders, cutting, compulsive exercise, and more. When self-destructive behavior is extended beyond the individual to the earth, which supports and sustains our lives, then littering, pollution, clear-cutting, hyper-consumerism, and more must be included, too. As Guardian op-ed columnist Terence Blacker wrote (referring to Britain), “Litter is the nation’s favourite form of self-harm.”

However, believing in our essential goodness is not an easy thing to do. We, especially in the United States, are surrounded by media and cultural messages that tell us that we are not good enough as we are. We are told that we must achieve more, earn more, buy more, look better, etc. in order to be valuable. The core message of our consumer-driven culture is that we are defined by what we own — that products give us our value.

And, yet, scientists tell us that the planet simply cannot survive our current rate of consumption. (A 2008 World Wildlife Fund survey found that, “given the current rate of global consumption, and taking into account the capacity of the Earth to regenerate its own resources, the human species will need an entirely new planet by mid-2030 to keep up with our demand for resources and waste disposal.”)

We must do the work — the hard work — of turning inward, of finding meaning that is not connected to material possessions, of discovering for ourselves that we are, as so many spiritual traditions teach us, worthy just because we are alive. Our essential goodness is intrinsic and is not dependant on doing or having. It just is.

I have heard more than one yoga teacher say that yoga is not the path for the faint of heart. Yoga is not, as mainstream representations will frequently tell you, all about bliss. Yoga asks you to come present to your body and yourself. And yoga grounded in tantric philosophy, as Anusara is, asks that we sit with, and face, our shadows and discomforts. This takes tremendous courage and faith. Courage to stay when fear or unease arises, and faith in the process, faith in the greater purpose of the practice.

This is the kind of courage that is required of us. This is what these times need from us. (We have, scientists tell us, a very small window of time before we can no longer reverse the trajectory toward a major global-warming catastrophe.) The earth needs for us to have the courage to sit and breathe and come to know that we are worthy just as we are. Yoga is certainly not the only, nor necessarily the best, path to touching our own worth. In my own journey, I have also journaled, practiced daily affirmations, run marathons, read books, gone to therapy, meditated, and more. But, however, we get there, so much depends upon us believing that we — as individuals and as a collective — are worthy of saving.

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