Over at The Philosophy of Me, Tim penned a post today entitled, "The Social Evils of Complacency." It looked very familiar: I've written numerous times on the same general theme. The gist is that, if the people would pull together, WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!!!
Here's a portion of what I posted in the comments section:
We spend our time telling others how they should live, yet we don't follow our own precepts. It's not that we believe that other people should be like us; it's more that we want other people to be like the us that we can't seem to be!
Fundamental Christian evangelists rail against drug usage, pornography, homosexuality and promiscuity, while it turns out that far too many of them are drug addicts, porn lovers, closet queers and philanderers.
Environmentalists at conferences and confabs rage against our societal mantra of over consumption, yet they drove or flew (in vehicles that over consume) to the meeting.
American socialists (like me) decry the alienation and oppression of capitalist societies, while we possess rights and receive benefits from living in one.
The list goes on and on and on. Even in our ordinary lives, we love to bitch and moan about how so-and-so is doing this or that wrong, when, in truth, we behave in much the same way.
It's so much easier to point an accusatory finger at others. It doesn't take much of any effort and, once we're done flapping our lips, we can get back to doing whatever we do.
Looking in the mirror, however, can be damn scary. If we don't like everything we see, it takes hard work to change. We must roll up our sleeves and be willing to crawl amongst the rotting muck in our own character or personality. It often turns into a pitched battle between our ego and our internal selves. It can be very bruising and it can come close to breaking us.
Faced with a battle of epic proportions versus throwing barbs at others from afar, almost ALL of us take the easy way out. We choose the lazy option.
I'm just as guilty of this tack as anybody else. Over my lifetime, I've picked a number of bad habits or traits, ones that I KNOW bring disharmony to my life and the lives of others. But instead of taking the time right now to change the negatives into positives, I'm writing a blog post about it.
How lame is that!!!
If we want to change THE world, we must each transform OUR world first. As I wrote above, it is the epitome of arrogance to think that we can change others, if we can't even muster the ability to change ourselves.
Here's a portion of what I posted in the comments section:
...something very profound dawned on me within the past year or two. No one can change “the world” UNTIL they are willing to change themselves. It’s funny. People are willing to fight social injustice or economic oppression because it’s EASIER than looking in the mirror at the one life form a person can have the most impact on.I've come to realize that we are all massive hypocrites. It doesn't matter which side of the political aisle one hails from or what belief system a person holds to. We're all stinking hypocrites!!
So, I’ve decided to work on me first. If I can be successful in changing myself into the kind of person who embraces humility, justice, compassion and simplicity, then and only then, will I try to change the world.
I mean, really. If a person can’t transform themselves, how arrogant is it to think they can transform others?
We spend our time telling others how they should live, yet we don't follow our own precepts. It's not that we believe that other people should be like us; it's more that we want other people to be like the us that we can't seem to be!
Fundamental Christian evangelists rail against drug usage, pornography, homosexuality and promiscuity, while it turns out that far too many of them are drug addicts, porn lovers, closet queers and philanderers.
Environmentalists at conferences and confabs rage against our societal mantra of over consumption, yet they drove or flew (in vehicles that over consume) to the meeting.
American socialists (like me) decry the alienation and oppression of capitalist societies, while we possess rights and receive benefits from living in one.
The list goes on and on and on. Even in our ordinary lives, we love to bitch and moan about how so-and-so is doing this or that wrong, when, in truth, we behave in much the same way.
It's so much easier to point an accusatory finger at others. It doesn't take much of any effort and, once we're done flapping our lips, we can get back to doing whatever we do.
Looking in the mirror, however, can be damn scary. If we don't like everything we see, it takes hard work to change. We must roll up our sleeves and be willing to crawl amongst the rotting muck in our own character or personality. It often turns into a pitched battle between our ego and our internal selves. It can be very bruising and it can come close to breaking us.
Faced with a battle of epic proportions versus throwing barbs at others from afar, almost ALL of us take the easy way out. We choose the lazy option.
I'm just as guilty of this tack as anybody else. Over my lifetime, I've picked a number of bad habits or traits, ones that I KNOW bring disharmony to my life and the lives of others. But instead of taking the time right now to change the negatives into positives, I'm writing a blog post about it.
How lame is that!!!
If we want to change THE world, we must each transform OUR world first. As I wrote above, it is the epitome of arrogance to think that we can change others, if we can't even muster the ability to change ourselves.
World is changed every day, just not always how we want...
ReplyDeleteBe the change you want to see in the world - Gandhi
You are right, I've always believed in the whole "think globally act locally" theory of things. And of course, most local is one's self. But then again, as we are part of the world "out there" (such distinctions as "in here" and "out there" being illusions of the mind), change like that can and must include not only working on our own bad habits, but also on society's. In fact they are the same.
ReplyDeleteI'll cite Thoreau (because I'm really a big fan of his). I remember in Civil Disobedience he asks whether we should, in the face of an unjust law, go along until the majority vote it down, or disobey it immediately (he clearly was of the latter opinion). I like the immediacy of his thinking.
The key is seeing clearly. See one's bad habits, as well as the problems in the world, and go after them both at the same time. Let the outer world reflect the inner. I don't quite agree that we have to wait to transform the outer world until we have first transformed the inner. It is like the top and bottom of the foot-- they both take the step together.
RH,
ReplyDeleteTwinkle
Brandon,
One part of me DOES agree with you. On the other hand, as I pointed out, it's easier to spend the majority of our time working on external issues which leaves far less time and energy to work on the internal ones.