Save the cheerleader, Save the world

I’ve always been haunted by that line from the tv series “Heroes”.

“Is it possible for an ordinary person to really change the world?”, I often ask myself.

BK Jayanti Kirpalani, UE-Middle East Director of Brahma Kumaris explains in this interview at COP21, Paris that it is indeed possible.

video from Climate Home

She asserts that everything starts with the individual.  She links what’s happening in the world to an internal dissonance in human beings.  

At the moment, the consumerism we are seeing even in the developing world sometimes is really as if there’s hundreds of planets that we can take from and we can’t- there’s a limit.  And so when you turn inwards and connect with the happiness and joy that’s within,  then your lifestyle becomes a very simple one and so you don’t need so much from outside but there’s a spirit of generosity and care which you share with others.

The interviewer, surprise with Kirpalani’s stand asks, “Is that the message that you bring to COP21 which is actually a negotiation between governments of states. So, you are trying to give a novel message which is more about personal evolution right?"

Definitely, because we believe that everything starts with the individual and if even a minority group has a powerful voice then they are able to impact the leaders and the majority and so there can then be worldwide change.

"You are speaking about the personal development and the personal action on our self.  In just one sentence, what would you recommend to any human being on earth?"

“Make a conscious choice knowing that your decision about what you buy, what you eat, what you wear, what you do is going to have an impact on your carbon footprint and is going to set a trend and an example for others to follow also.”     

If you want to hear more from BK Jayanti, you are warmly invited to this event.