BRAHMA KUMARIS WORLD SPIRITUAL UNIVERSITY
Consciousness and Climate Change: The Heart of an Ethical Framework
Statement for theCOP 20 - Twentieth Session of the Conference of the Parties
United	  Nations	  Climate	  Change	  Conference	  	  1	  -­‐	  12	  December	  2014,	  Lima,	  Peru	  	  The World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST)
established by the United Nations Education and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) has
recently authored an Ethical Framework for Climate Change, which positions the human-nature
relationship at its core. We know from past deliberations that any ethical framework must
respect cultural values, be relevant to all, and act as a clear guide to all participants. This can bechallenging, particularly when ethical constructs such as Universal Values, Common but
Differentiated Responsibilities and the Precautionary Principle have slowed negotiations in thepast.
Indigenous cultures have long understood the delicate balance between human life and naturalsystems, which is now in a state of marked disharmony. Recently, discussions of this intricate
relationship have been finding their way into the political arena demonstrating the need for arevised ethical framework that addresses the relationship between humanity and the naturalworld.
To create a functional and inclusive framework, we recommend focusing on 'conditions' or'states of being’, which run deeper than values and principles. This requires a reframe of how
we approach ethics with regard to climate change. We suggest that beneath values and principles
lies a deeper layer, which we call 'spirituality'. In this paper, we discuss what this spirituality
looks like in a broad and non-religious sense. We also outline the spiritual technology that might
inform this new approach to an ethical framework for climate change.
The Human Environment Disconnect - the Seed of Climate Change
Climate Change is a complex phenomenon impacted by social development over time. Thedangers of climate change are bundled with the very structures of our societies. These structures
are formed by the attitudes of us - the people who are part of these societies. Somehow though,we still behave as if climate change is something that impacts us, but is independent of ourbehaviors.
This attitude of separation did not happen by itself, but is the result of a systematic change in ourawareness of the world around us. Predominantly, the change has been from an awareness thatvalued and understood beauty, complexity, integrity and resilience to an attitude that has
become focused on growth, profit, technology and industry. This shift has caused a nearcomplete disconnect that has pushed the world so out of balance, that every structure that
supports the common-wealth, every system that can provide a content and fruitful existence forall, is in collapse.

Page 1Each one of us bears some responsibility for this collapse. Our habit in the past has been toassign blame elsewhere, which has become a way to free ourselves from having to change.
However, creating a robust ethical framework asks each of us to consider the way in which welive and how we are in the world. In other words, asking ourselves how we travel, eat, breathe,produce and consume, while considering our deeper attitudes that inform of all these behaviors.
We also need to accept responsibility and stop creating artificial boundaries of accountability.
False Boundaries
We create boundaries in order to define rules, regulations, systems and customs, and laws that
support social protocols. These divisions help us to determine responsibility and accountability,
and this has been our approach to climate change. However, in terms of nature, all of us exist in
this world as a moveable population free of boundaries and borders. Birds, fish, air, ecosystems,people, even our bodies, do not have distinct boundaries. Our skin is protective yet porous, webreathe the same air as each other.
Spirituality also has mutable boundaries. Spirituality in the true sense of the word is living
sentient energy; life, breath and vigor. By definition these things are indistinct and without
defined borders, yet none of us can deny their presence. They are the very foundation ofexistence. Spirituality by its nature is integrative. So it makes sense that any ethical framework
we design in support of the environment and its inhabitants, should have similar characteristics.
Challenges to an Ethical Framework
There are a variety of challenges to creating an ethical framework. We look at the idealistic yet
problematic concept of universal values and offer an alternative based on spirituality.
Historically, we have considered universal values to be the cornerstone of any robust ethicalframework. However, universal values can bring cultural diversity into dispute and challenge
acceptance of cultural difference. An ethical framework must be situated within something
deeper and broader than the idea of universal values.
Spirituality seeks to find a common language based on conditions and states of being.
Spirituality asks all people to consider the foundation of their lives and the way in which they
exist in the world. Spirituality enables us to create a language around being as well as doing.
Spirituality is interested in what lies beneath cultural expression, at the level of awareness,intention and attitude. Importantly, the concept of spirituality acknowledges that there arecertain conditions and states of being commonly valued by the vast majority of people that may
be expressed through culture, but that are deeper than culture.
Conditions and States of Being
Nature has certain inherent conditions: beauty, complexity, integrity (in this sense integrity
means the state of being complete, sound and whole) and resilience. These four conditions havebeen cited over the decades by philosophers and religious leaders, artists and poets, physicists
and natural scientists as being core existential constructs that bind people and nature together inharmony. Now perhaps it is time for these conditions - that have broad relevance and value - tobe acknowledged in the political arena. We suggest that these four conditions can become apoint of common understanding, from which a more rigorous ethical discussion can spring.
Beauty. Complexity. Integrity. Resilience. None of these is simplistic or claimed by any culture;each is composite and sophisticated, adding value to all life and to all life forms. They are alsointerrelated and the boundaries between each, undefined. Together, these form a state of simple
purity unfettered by intrusion and manipulation, enabling each system to flourish in harmony

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with other systems. Each one of these four conditions can be applied to the physical world of thenatural environment and also to the inner world of the human spirit.
Natural Environment: A lake is beautiful. But in isolation, a lake will become fetid and dry.
However, when a lake is filled with aquamarine life that is complex and varied, it becomes anintegrated self-supporting eco-system. The integrity of the system makes it resilient to changes,enhancing its ability to adapt. Surrounded by trees - another distinct ecosystem - the lakes
foundation is strengthened by their root system and its water shaded from the drying effects ofthe sun. The lake then sustains land-life and birdlife creating a symbiotic relationship with otherecosystems.
Human Spirit: Take the example of an actor. What we usually enjoy is the complexity of thecharacter. The depth and range of the performance leaves us feeling satisfied and enriched. Theactor’s skill and complexity appears effortless and simple. Like a dancer leaving us feeling that
we too can fly. The complexity of the actor’s performance enhances the integrity, the fullness ofthe play. If the character was one-dimensional, had no nuance, no depth, no engagement withother characters or the plot, we would rapidly lose interest. The character would have nostrength, no 'body', no resilience. It would no longer captivate us. The overall beauty of the playwould quickly diminish.
Using the analogy of the actor, we can still disagree with each other about the values
demonstrated by the character. But, underneath different interpretations of values, lies a
common appreciation of the beauty, complexity, integrity and resilience of the character and sothe play. These four states are also the foundation of wellness in nature. It becomes easier touphold these states when we understand the spiritual trajectory and apply a simple spiritualtechnology.
Spiritual Trajectory
There is a spiritual trajectory everyone follows in their daily lives. Each of us holds a certain
awareness about how the world is and how we are within it. For instance, we may feel the worldis harmonious or fragmented, collective or individualistic, we may feel connected ordisconnected. Whatever our awareness is, forms the foundation of our attitude towards otherpeople, other life forms, and to the non-living world as well. Our attitude then shapes the way inwhich we see the world. If I see myself as part of a greater whole, I will use things withappreciation, gratitude and reverence. If I see myself as an isolated individual considering only
what I need, then I will use things, people and animals as commodities without regard forconsequence. This spirituality trajectory guides the most mundane aspects of our behavior consuming and producing - that has created our world as it currently stands. And it is a change
at this most fundamental level that will create a different world.
Spiritual Technology
Along with the spiritual trajectory, there is a simple spiritual technology that furthers ourperception of beauty, complexity, integrity and resilience. If we are to work with these fourconditions as an ethical guide, then it behooves us to resonate with them more deeply.
Spiritual technology follows a certain procedure. It begins by being quiet and becoming
physically settled. Secondly, when I have become still, I bring my attention to I, the conscious
sentient being within this body. I allow my mind to rest in this awareness. Then I practiceobserving the mind in a state of conscious acceptance, free of judgment. When the mind
wanders - and it will because that is its nature - I bring it back to a peaceful self-awareness.
Observe how the mind responds to thoughts of peace. This quiet observation results in aheightened awareness that is integrated, kind, certain and loving. The fourth stage is aPage 3

subsequent deepening of concentration. This cultivates a much more highly attuned sense of theworld around us and our place within it.
In this state of being, we more easily resonate with the states and conditions of beauty,complexity, integrity and resilience - the core constructs of our ethical framework. Using thisspiritual technology we also diminish our self-imposed thought-based boundaries that havedisconnected us from our deepest and eternal reality. Humanity en masse is currently so off
station, that we can no longer hear our deepest reverence for life: living souls, the material
world, and the energy of creation, are inextricable components of life. The fifth stage is to while in this state of awareness - connect the mind and heart to the abundant source of living
energy of love and creation.
Spiritual technology does not ask anyone to let go of their culture or beliefs, their religious or
secular practices or non-practices. Spiritual technology invites people to reconnect with the mostinner aspect of the self and, by association, the other. Spiritual technology encourages people toconnect with the energy of creation; some may understand this as a divine, loving and living
being, others as a state of pure creative energy. What is required is not a change of world-view,
but reflection, silence and inner observation of I, the living energy within this world of the fiveelements. Then I become more keenly aware of the conditions of beauty, complexity, integrity
and resilience within me, and so consequently support the same in the world around me.
In Conclusion
An ethical framework based in spirituality will stop our habit of finding moral grounds to stop
the mechanics of change. There are no quick fixes. There is no one-off technical solution. It isonly a change of inner attitude and awareness that will change the world externally. And it isunderstanding the spiritual trajectory and acknowledging the flow-on effects of our choices andbehaviors that will facilitate a better existence for all. And this is why understanding the spiritual
construct of ethics is so crucial.
_____________________________________________________	  	  Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual UniversityThe Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (BKWSU), with its spiritual headquarters in Mt. Abu, India,
comprises a worldwide network of centers in 110 countries and is an international non-governmental organization of the United
Nations accredited with General Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC);
Associate Status with the Department of Public Information (DPI);
Consultative Status with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF);
Observer Status to the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Observer Organization to UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC);
Flagship Member of Education for Rural People (ERP), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

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Author Contact: Tamasin Ramsay, PhD
projects@un.brahmakumaris.org©BKWSU, 2014; extracts may be reproduced on condition that the source is indicated and a copy of the publication in which theextract is used is sent to the above New York address.

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