Carbon Yoga: The Vegan Metamorphosis We are in the midst of a monumental transformation in human civilization, akin to a metamorphosis. Just as in Nature where the caterpillar gorges itself before forcibly undergoing a metamorphosis in the chrysalis, we over-consuming humans are reaching a point of being forcibly transformed within the cocoon of our finite planet into compassionate, life-affirming butterflies. Vegan life-affirming butterflies. Carbon Yoga weaves a narrative through the events of the past to show that such a vegan metamorphosis is inexorable and that this system change will occur within the next decade, both from a scientific perspective and from a religious and spiritual perspective. The narrative proposes an evolutionary purpose for humanity and for Western civilization. During the Caterpillar phase, humans unintentionally built all the tools and technologies needed to regulate the Earth’s climate and organize an equitable global human society. But as a consequence, the Earth is marinating in ever accumulating toxic pollution even as ecosystems are degraded and the climate is changing. Now, we have no choice but to treat all Life as sacred in order to preserve that on which we depend for our own survival. Such a revolutionary change in human outlook has the added benefit of inducing spiritual awakening, resolving social justice issues, elevating our connection with all Life and improving human health and well being. It is only such a quest for “moral singularity” that will heal the Earth, regenerate Life and lead us to true global sustainability. Carbon Yoga is the second in a series that began with the 2011 book, Carbon Dharma: The Occupation of Butterflies. While Carbon Dharma was mainly about what we need to do, as a species, to reach sustainability, Carbon Yoga takes this understanding of ethical and environmental righteousness (Dharma) and suggests how we can go about doing it (Yoga). A Climate Healers Publication ISBN-13: 978-1533019295 ISBN-10: 1533019290 CopyLeft, Sailesh Rao, 2016. No rights reserved. Any part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the publisher. Email: [email protected] Publisher Website: http://www.climatehealers.org Book Website: http://www.carbonyoga.org Front Cover Photo: Illustration of the “Moral Singularity” by the mouth painting artist, Srilekha Mandalapalli. The flute represents the “Kundalini” with the seven holes corresponding to the seven chakras that have to be opened to reach a state of enlightenment, The peacock feather symbolizes freedom from worldly attachments. More such amazing paintings by Foot and Mouth artists can be found at http://www.imfpa.org Foreword: Courtesy Dr. Will Tuttle. Carbon Yoga: The Vegan Metamorphosis Sailesh Rao with Foreword by Dr. Will Tuttle A Climate Healers Publication All proceeds from the sale of this book goes to support the work of Climate Healers. Sailesh Rao is the Founder and Executive Director of Climate Healers, a non-profit dedicated towards healing the Earth’s climate. A systems specialist with a Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA, conferred in 1986, Sailesh worked on the Internet communications infrastructure for twenty years after graduation. In 2006, he switched careers and became deeply immersed, full-time, in the spiritual and environmental crises affecting humanity. He is the author of the 2011 book, Carbon Dharma: The Occupation of Butterflies. Foreword by Dr. Will Tuttle, author of the best-selling The World Peace Diet, a healthy, enthusiastic, and profoundly happy vegan since 1980, and Dharma Master in the Zen Buddhist tradition. Will sees his mission as one of bringing the message of radical inclusion to our wounded and fragmented culture. For this reason, he lectures, teaches, and performs throughout North America and worldwide. Because of this, he’s a recipient of The Peace Abbey’s “Courage of Conscience Award,” as well as the “Empty Cages Award” and the “Shining World Hero Award.” Table of Contents Foreword ---------------------------------------------------- 1 Preface ------------------------------------------------------- 4 1. Our Stories Are Failing Us --------------------------11 1.1 The Story of Endless Growth ------------------- 12 1.2 The Story of Technology ------------------------ 16 1.3 The Story of Inequality -------------------------- 19 1.4 The Story of Consumption ----------------------- 22 1.5 The Story of Separation -------------------------- 27 1.6 The Four Storylines ------------------------------- 29 2. Separation Is A Delusion! ----------------------------33 2.1 The Perfection of Nature ------------------------- 35 2.2 The Caterpillar and the Butterfly --------------- 40 2.3 The Indian Ending -------------------------------- 46 3. Everything is Perfect --------------------------------- 49 3.1 The Purpose of Life ------------------------------- 51 3.2 Compassion for All Creation --------------------- 53 3.3 The Paradox of Perfection ------------------------ 55 3.4 Connecting the Dots ------------------------------- 63 4. Who Are We? ------------------------------------------ 67 4.1 Our Disconnected Lives ------------------------ 68 4.2 Our Ecological Niche ---------------------------- 70 4.3 Our Vegan Conundrum ------------------------- 77 4.4 My Vegan Conversion -------------------------- 81 4.5 The Symbolism of Rituals ---------------------- 90 4.6 Our Rapid Awakening --------------------------- 93 5. What is Our Relationship with the World? ------ 97 5.1 The Question of Free Will ---------------------- 98 5.2 The Evolution of Needs ----------------------- 102 5.3 The Early Anthropocene Theory (EAT) ----- 106 5.4 Human Impact in the Industrial Era ---------- 110 5.5 The Earth Doctor’s Diagnosis ----------------- 115 5.6 Modern Animal Husbandry ------------------- 127 5.7 Taking Off Our Blinders ----------------------- 131 5.8 Re-imagining Our Relationship --------------- 134 6. Why Are We Here? ----------------------------------- 137 6.1 The Earth’s Story -------------------------------- 137 6.2 The Human Story -------------------------------- 142 6.3 The Sun’s Story --------------------------------- 148 7. Everything Will Change ------------------------------ 153 7.1 The Signs of the Metamorphosis -------------- 156 7.2 The How of Change ----------------------------- 164 7.3 The Greatest Transformation ------------------- 173 7.4 The Vegan Metamorphosis --------------------- 178 7.5 Gandhi in the 21st Century --------------------- 188 7.6 The AhimsaCoin Economy --------------------- 190 7.7 The Half-Earth Solution ------------------------ 197 8. The Mewar Angithi ------------------------------------ 201 8.1 Understanding the Problem ------------------- 202 8.2 Stumbling on a Breakthrough ---------------- 206 8.3 The Field Deployments ----------------------- 208 8.4 The Future Opportunities --------------------- 211 9. Towards Moral Singularity -------------------------- 213 9.1 The Vegan Metamorphosis --------------------- 214 9.2 Learning from Experience ---------------------- 217 9.3 The Sacred Lifeline Project -------------------- 219 9.4 The Moral Singularity -------------------------- 221 Acknowledgments ---------------------------------------- 225 Bibliography ----------------------------------------------- 231 Index -------------------------------------------------------- 262 For Kimaya and the children of the Miglets. “There are two most important days in your life: the day you were born and the day you discover why you were born” - Boniface Mwangi. Foreword It is becoming increasingly obvious that a new cultural narrative is required if we are going to be successful in our human quest for wisdom, meaning, and harmony in our rapidly changing world. Understanding how the deep structure of our culture confines us to the shallows of consciousness provides keys to this new narrative, and to authentic personal and planetary transformation. Learning to connect the dots between our culturally mandated mistreatment of animals and the environmental, cultural, psychological, and health challenges we face is an essential key to evolving new perspectives that provide the foundation and inspiration for lasting positive change. Our confinement to the shallows of living is due primarily to the enormous power of the food program that is injected into all of us from infancy through our culture's meal rituals of disconnectedness that require us to participate in the abuse and commodification of living beings. The beckoning frontier of authentic positive change lies in understanding the consequences of these food actions and attitudes, and in bringing our lives into alignment with this understanding, at both the individual and collective levels. Veganism is thus increasingly recognized as the cutting edge of engaged and empowered social and environmental healing in our world. The ideas in this book can guide and inspire us on this adventure of transformation. It’s dawning on us all that fundamental changes in our orientation to our Earth, to animals, and to each other are required. We can see that continuing to function primarily as consumers is ravaging our beautiful and abundant planet in ways that destroy the viability of the living web that supports all life here. In this book’s metaphor of the Caterpillar, we can see that there is nothing in the Caterpillar’s existence or approach to life that would predict his sudden cessation of destructive consumerism and subsequent