Our topic is “Climate Change, Ultimate Concern,” so you might expect there to be some politics today. However, I may surprise you with what I have to say today. It shouldn't come as a surprise that I would tackle what might be the most important political question of our times. It also shouldn't surprise you that I have no intention of giving a political address today.

Wow! Now this is a topic. I am excited in one of my favorite ways, the kind of excitement that is not frenetic but peaceful, rich and meaningful. It's an excitement mixed with awe, tempered with humility. My feeling comes from an attitude that I've spent years preparing to be of service, and now its time to put it into use. This is the real deal.

I suspect that our president has this sense of excitement, awe tempered by humility. I suspect that he has a spiritual awareness. Some look to his confidence and willingness to offer far reaching proposals and accuse him of arrogance. It's true that the temptations of ego are always present to any leader. One form of this ego danger is to take yourself too seriously, to believe that it's all up to you. The other ego danger is to fail to take yourself seriously enough to do what is given you to do.

In this time of dire economics and concern of growing environmental calamity, President Obama has expressed a deep sense of acceptance of the responsibilities of his leadership post. Equally important, he is reaching out to us asking us to accept leadership, to accept the challenges of the time we are facing. Shortly before the election when the economic crisis made obvious the challenges before him, Barrack said something close to “well if you are going to lead, you might as well lead in a time that it matters.”

Now I am not making him out to be superman. I've already heard him say things that I disagree with, most specifically his soft stance on nuclear power. It concerned me during the campaign, and the effects were soon felt here in San Antonio. On the day Obama was inaugurated, CPS voted to move ahead with plans to bring nuclear power online here. Mayor Hardberger, who supported this move, cited President Obama's words as evidence that there would be federal support for this move. I am not at all pleased with this decision. I choose to mention it right off the top here, because it demonstrates the importance of leadership, and makes clear that I'm not saying Obama will be perfect.

I do believe, however, that we now have a leader when we need one most. If you don't agree with me, with my political opinion, I'll hope you'll hang with me. This is not a political organization, it is a religious one, and I suspect you may still find some value, some encouragement, some challenge in my words today regardless of your political affiliation.

Something I live by is the notion that there is a spiritual solution to every problem we face. This means discussing and applying spirituality to matters not generally associated with church. Spirituality must prove itself in the physical realities of our lives. If our religion or spirituality can not address a matter such as environmental degradation, then it's worse than worthless.

Issues of consequence are where your theology proves its metal. This is where we get to see what we really believe, what we really value. There is a spiritual solution to every problem. But what' s more spirituality is not only the means, it is also the end. What kind of conscious do we need to survive this crisis? What kind of consciousness will develop as a result of our actions? Facing great challenges is where we get to experience the great mysteries of life, the great richness of soul or where we will lose ourselves in confusion and misery.

Many people agree that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. If we are to be leaders, we need to be informed. Toward that end, I'll present a few physical realities that suggest the need for changes to be made. I encourage you to avoid panic thinking. Don't freak out. Before I finish I will address some things which will enable us to face the challenges and discover greatness inside us.

An ABC news reporter Bill Blakemore wrote; “The vast majority of credible climate scientists -- well over 95 percent, according to specialists in assessing scientists' opinions -- agree that the average temperatures of the oceans, the land surface of the planet and the lower atmosphere have been climbing at an accelerating rate. The same specialists say that nearly as many scientists agree that man made greenhouse gas emissions are a significant factor -- and a good many say the only significant factor -- in the dangerous global warming now under way.”

According to NASA, the hottest year on record was 2005, which matched 1998. Twice in the last ten years, we've had the hottest temperatures on average ever recorded in our planet's history. The past nine years have all been among the 25 warmest years on record, a streak which is unprecedented in the historical record. According to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, 400,000 square miles of Arctic sea ice have melted.

California has surpassed and Texas will likely soon surpass record levels of drought. Climate Change patterns of concern include cycles of drought becoming longer and stronger, alternated by periods of torrential downpours that wash away soil and land. Concerns re: climate change include water shortages and flooding, food production, disease and deaths related to dangerous conditions.

NASA's Dr. James Hansen, told 11,000 Earth systems scientists at their annual meeting that mankind has at most 10 more years within which significant emissions cuts must get well under way or else the planet's temperatures will, within the next 30 to 40 years, climb to levels higher than at any time in the last 500,000 years.

Nuff said. It is not my primary intention to give facts, figures, or evidence to incite action. Lack of evidence is not our problem. We have all heard enough reports to alert us to the reality that humanity's behavior, specifically our emission of carbon into the atmosphere is causing rapid and profound changes to the environment. Increasingly people have a sense that we had better do something and do it fast. But that hasn't been enough to change behavior to a degree that will avert calamity.

Mystery novelist Rita Mae Brown wrote that the definition of insanity is repeating the same behavior and expecting different results. It is one of the basic pieces of evidence I submit for the the premise that humanity is and always has been insane. We are not in touch with reality.

Similarly, you've heard me suggest the universality of addiction. The phenomena of addiction is not limited to alcohol, drugs, sex, or gambling. Continuing behavior despite increasingly deleterious effects is the definition of addiction, who hasn't done that? Of course when we are in the throes of an addiction, we tend to practice a denial that keeps from recognizing our problem. It's a crucial aspect of the addiction. Some suggest that the most common addiction, the most common destructive habit is the habit of thinking the same limiting thoughts over and over again. These thoughts appear to us to be reality, all the while keeping us from self awareness.

Actually great religious writers throughout history have stated that the majority of human beings go through life in with a very limited degree of consciousness. The purpose of many religious and spiritual practices is precisely to raise consciousness. Some practices orient toward God. Other practices set a goal of awakening to what is actually going on. These seek to break rigid patterns of thought in order to cultivate an ability to focus attention into the present moment. Some practices increase our ability to flexibly compare and contrast situations occurring in the present with information stored from previous experience. Others suggest that consciousness is beyond rational thought but involves a direct encounter with life without the filter of past experience. Some say that consciousness involves an awareness of the interconnected nature of life. All these definitions imply a degree of mental freedom that may be rare in the human condition.

Slaves are not free to make changes. Could it be that humanity has not been free and able to make the changes necessary to adapt to rapidly arising environmental challenges? If we were truly free to make necessary changes why would we fail to make them? What, if anything might be enslaving humanity and keeping it from being able to adapt?

Many believe that religion enslaves people's minds in order to achieve mind control and social control. Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses. Others, including many religious folk, have suggested that people can be slaves to their own vices; greed, lust, and avarice. Buddhists assert that people generally lack freedom due to a mis-perception of the basic nature of existence. The Buddha suggested that we mistakenly see things as having a separate and independent nature. We look and expect to find permanence within that which is impermanent.

Native American and other indigenous cultures address humanity's need for liberation as needing correction to a mindfulness or awareness of the community, ancestors and seven generations forward. To act without this mindfulness is seen as a form of insanity or evil.

Dominant versions of Christianity suggest that Jesus came to free humanity from enslavement to its sinful nature. In this view, our sinful nature is our inability to follow and accept God's will. Therefore Jesus demonstrated the way, and also came to bridge the gap from the mortal mind of death to permit entry into eternity.

Could it be that we need to be freed from our death based minds in order for us to survive? Global warming has caused many people to think not just their own mortality but of the likely mortality of the human species. Could it be that our denial of our mortality would hasten or bring about our death?

My mentor, Arthur Mocygmba has explained to me that denial of our mortality is a God-given instinct that when taken in moderation or balance supports our survival. He passed on to me knowledge that addicts abuse the instincts of body, mind, and spirit. He says that the instinct of the body is the drive to feel good. The instinct of the mind is to seek power. The instinct of the spirit is to tell us not to worry about death. The problem of addiction occurs when we abuse these instincts. We insist upon feeling good, ignore negative feedback and become dependent on substances that alter the way we feel. We abuse our need for power and fail to recognize the need for humility. Similarly, we take too far that inner assurance that we need not fear death. Without a healthy dose of this inner assurance, we would never leave our homes or take the risks associated with going out into the world. We abuse this sense of the immortal, assert our willfulness and our desire to feel good. When we do this we no longer feel good, we bump up against the will of that which is greater than ourselves and discover our mortality.

My own lessons of abuse, destruction and redemption taught me something that can be found in all of the world's great religious traditions. I've learned that things are never quite what they appear to be, that there exists a world infinitely more real, than the world of our perceptions. I've learned that physical reality is the 1%, the tip of the iceberg, and that the 99% of what's more important is the iceberg below the surface.

That below the surface reality is the world of spirit, infinite or eternal consciousness. I came to value it when I smacked up against the limitations of my will, when directed by a false consciousness of ego or self as separate from the web of life. It took me accepting the limits of my understanding, the limits of my ability to manage my own life, to begin to seek to be directed by infinite wisdom of the intelligence and the order that called and calls the universe into existence. Some speak of this as the Tao, the way. Some as awakening to the interdependence of the web of life, some address this as God. No matter what you call it or how you understand it, life requires being opened to a flow that is much greater than our personalities.

If I sound as if I am speaking as one who has been enlightened, this is only partially true. I have gained an awareness of the painfulness of living without consciousness. I have awakened to the reality in humanity of a paradox of excessive willfulness combined with a lack of consciousness that causes us to live in something of a zombie like state. Although many Uus eschew woo-woo to a flawed extend, I believe we are here because we have some recognition of the lack of consciousness of humanity. We do not wish to live as sheep, and we have chose independent thinking.

My journey leads me to an appreciation of the mystery and the miracle of consciousness, a conscious greater than human deductive reasoning. I have come to admit that rarely do I maintain a mindfulness of the grandeur of how much bigger reality is than my imagination. I am still a sleepwalker, but occasionally I have moments of awakening. These lead and have led me to a sense of trust of the source of life, and a desire to grow in consciousness; to a live an awakened life.

For those who value spiritual growth toward awakening, there grows a desire to take our minds off of autopilot, off being driven with unconsciousness by the mind and body, and awaken to the freedom that can only exist when we choose consciousness and life.

Then we are still driven by a desire to maintain our bodies and the body of humanity, but we also grow in awareness and acceptance of the inevitability of death. It is ordained that each of us will die. In all likelihood, even the human species will die eventually. Living with this awareness does not remove fear or grief from us. In fact, we become far less likely to run from these. We become increasingly tuned to an awareness of something that transcends the mortality of our body and the environment that we see.

This sense of transcendence does not cause us to cease efforts to sustain life. Quite the contrary, we gain an greater sense of the magnificence and beauty of life, despite the pain. We begin to be motivated by joy and appreciation, less a slave to our fears. We become more willing to face the situations of our life, even when they are of the magnitude of global environmental crises. We seek to learn not only to overcome physical challenges, but to grow in our awareness of the consciousness that brings us to life. Our desire to contribute then comes not so much from our ego, not from a sense of needing to find our importance in separateness, but from love, from gratitude, from seeing how we can participate in the miracle and mystery of life.

So be it. Blessings of acceptance and awakening be upon us.

¹- Bill Blakemore ABC News, 12/8/07