This week, NASA released incredible, as-if-you-were-there images of Mars. The landscape above titled, “Greeley Panorama,” is from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, during its fifth Martian winter. It consists of 817 images taken by the panoramic camera (Pancam) on board Opportunity.

Also, this week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that the first half of 2012 was the warmest of any year on record for the contiguous United States. National temperatures averaged 52.9 degrees, which is 4.5 degrees above the long-term average.

Looking at the Mars panorama and considering the spectacle of climate change, I can’t help but wonder if earth might soon take a similar form if humanity continues its frenzy of growth, insatiable consumption, environmental degradation, nuclear inventions and war, which, when you think about it, simply boils down to selfishness, greed and anger —psychological conditions of the mind.

There lived a man of Indian descent, a gifted spiritual philosopher, who spoke often of bringing about positive change in society through a change, a revolution, in the individual psyche —change from within. His name was Jiddu Krishnamurti, and he walked among us from 1895 until 1986. He held that each one of us is accountable for the state of this world because the actions formed of beauty or ugliness are rooted in and demonstrated by each of us.

Krishnamurti’s revelation provides a simple, yet profound message that if we wish positive change, it must take place within the core of each of us —from the inside out —as within, so without. There is only you, and only you can bring about change within yourself —which is the change that will change the world.

Mitakuye Oyasin!

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• The Way to a Better World