Do you really want to change the world?

You might think it an obvious question. Doesn’t everyone want to change the world?

If I asked you today, “what would you do if you could change the world”? Would you feel able to guide the world towards the way you think it should be?

Politicians and others who seek power and control determine to do just that; change the world, or as they might say, “make the world a better place”.

Now, one would think that with such a rich history of modifying and changing (for the better apparently), the world would be becoming a better place.
Meaning that year on year there would be less suffering, less injustice, less corruption, greed, disease, and war.
There would be cleaner water for more, food for all, hope, human rights and values of tolerance etc.

And it is expected that change would be clearly achievable in a matter of decades as we don’t really have a hundred years to save the rainforest, the flora, and fauna, the climate, our civilization.

The truth is, the world is as bad as or even worse than ever. Wars are more numerous and devastating than ever, social order, human rights, and justice are diminishing. Poverty, suffering and the addiction to wealth accumulation are the dominant features of our civilization. We as a species are charging blindly towards our own demise and taking many of the plants and animals with us.

With just enough talk, just enough rhetoric and feigned concern from those who pretend to care while those who do actually care have no control.

No policy, no accord, no protocol or convention will save us. No one voice, no second coming of any Messiah will turn us into a fair wind.

For things to improve, the whole world has to change together, with one long slow wave, one long breath, through many generations.

That’s how we can change the world. By being one beat in the pulse of life,
one word in the song of change, one note in the symphony of awakening.

Because it is not what we do in our lives that will save our kind, it is what we teach, what we pass on that sets the sails for the journey of mankind.

We can spend our short lives trying to change everything that we see is wrong and attempt to be the whole song, the whole symphony, and demand that it all become right, right now.
Or we can accept that in terms of our lives we are a blink of an eye and really, all we can actually influence is the next blink. To help make it more in tune with conscious behaviour, so that the next blink moves us closer to an existence more in harmony with our Earth and fellow beings. Blink by blink, generation by generation.

We can make the world better and better but none of us alive today will get to see the utopia we all covet. That is for our children’s children.

A world living in peace and balance, with free awake people that don’t kill each other, who share the Earth’s recourses fairly and justly and intelligently.

That, unfortunately, is not for us.
But, without us, without our contribution, it won’t happen.

Without us teaching the next generation to teach the next and reach a critical mass of consciousness, we as a civilization, as a people are heading into darkness.

Without any asteroid or a super volcano, without even a nuclear holocaust, we are currently destined to simply devour ourselves.

So whether we like it or not, the new man will have to live in a simpler and smaller way with completely different priorities and lifestyles.
A more natural, human existence in smaller communities with less consumption and less greed.

James Lovelock, the author of the Gaia hypothesis put it very clearly by stating “the very idea of ‘sustainable development’ is an oxymoron and that the only option facing us is a sustainable retreat”.

A balancing and stabilization of human life on Earth over many generations.

So we can play that small but critical part in creating that future. We can raise our children to be more conscious. We can assist them to have a deeper experience of what is really important about being human and what is needed to make the world that better place.
We cannot teach our children how to change the world but we can show them how to be even more accomplished and intelligent parents than we have been.

They, in turn, will teach their children to grow again in understanding, in love and respect of their fellow travellers and the Earth.

That is the responsibility of all generations. To be the brightest blink, the most empowering force we can be. Through example and mutual respect, through benevolent authority and trust, we can seed the fields and nurture baby trees and in the years, decades and centuries to come, the trees will mature and mankind will live in a new garden.

So now, let’s change the world!