Be The Change

Some time ago I came across a quotation from Mahatma Gandhi that challenged me more than anything has in many years.  It was, “We must be the change we want to see in the world.”  Gradually, I have discovered that the true depth of this statement tends to be obscured by its simplicity and that to truly comprehend it requires more than a casual acknowledgement.  As I was pondering this concept, I encountered a statement by Martin Luther King who was a devout admirer of Gandhi and modeled his civil rights efforts upon Gandhi’s concept of non-violent civil disobedience.   As part of King's acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize which he received in 1964, he said, “I refuse to accept that the isness of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal oughtness that forever confronts him.”

Suddenly I found myself confronted by two outstanding martyrs staring me in the face and lovingly but firmly saying, “Pick up a glove and get in the game. Change is possible, and you need to be part of it.”  This is not something I wanted to hear.  I like sitting in the bleachers, yelling at the umpires, deriding the players, and commiserating with my fellow cynics about how the game is being played.  I don’t want to have to work out and get in shape or play the game in a way that I might be observed and thereby judged by others.  Can’t I just sit on the sideline and critique everybody else?  Well, the answer to that was a deafening, “NO!”

This sounds like an overwhelming task.  The world is so big and there is so much that needs to be changed, and on the grand scheme of things, I am quite insignificant.   Yet upon further examination, the call is not to change the world.  It is to be the change I want to see in the world.  What does that mean?  To me, there are three aspects involved.  First, I had to ask myself what kind of people would I like to see inhabiting this planet.  Second, how would those characteristics influence their behavior?  Finally, what changes need to take place in my life in order to manifest those characteristics and behaviors?

So, I began my list.  I would like people to be honest, kind, compassionate, loving, generous, hard working, content to live simply with no need for accumulating wealth, tolerant of diverse opinions, having a deep sense of connection with others and a willingness to sacrifice for the common good.  These traits would be evident in their daily lives.  They would work cooperatively, care for the weak, act lovingly towards one another and find ways to contribute to their communities.

It doesn’t take too long thinking along these lines before these lists start to sound familiar.  These are the kind of virtues we find extolled in the scriptures of almost all of the major religions of the world.  What I find fascinating is that these prescriptions for harmonious human interaction have been presented as preparation for spiritual objectives and not as a means of improving our existence here on earth.

In fact, much of traditional religious teachings have more to do with avoiding spiritual consequences than effecting change.  In Judaism, the focus is on obtaining God’s blessing and avoiding His punishments in this present world.  In Hinduism the primary effort is to become enlightened in order to avoid being reincarnated.  Similarly, Buddhists seek enlightenment in order to avoid both rebirth and suffering in this present world.  Meanwhile, Christians and Muslims are trying to reach heaven and avoid hell.

With all of this focus on getting out of here, it is a wonder that religion has contributed anything to this present world, but it has.  Thankfully, in more recent years adherents seem to be increasingly aware of the obvious:  if we become more God-like, then the kingdom of God will become increasingly evident here and now.  What if that was the original intention of the inspirations, but the message has been misconstrued over the years?  What if Jesus meant exactly what he said when he said, “The kingdom of God is within you”?  What if we merely need to begin living it?

Certainly Gautama Buddha and Jesus are two of the primary archetypes for leading the way to selfless service.  In their shadow we find people like Anthony Benezet, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Thich Nhat Hanh and countless others.  However, recently a friend shared an account of an event that occurred in a local hospice facility.  It reaffirmed my conviction that, although we need inspired leaders to promote positive social change, true change will occur among the masses as we embrace the message on a broad scale and interact one-on-one.

In the local hospice house, a Muslim man was nearing death.  There was no Muslim cleric available to minister to him.  So, the female Jewish Chaplin took an English translation of Muslim prayers, sat by his bed and began to read them to him.  In response, he lifted his hands toward heaven and began repeating the prayers in Arabic.  This is truly what it means to become the change we want to see in the world.

I would love to think that I am at the forefront of this approach, but that would be pure fantasy.  As I began working on this posting, I googled “be the change,” and to my amazement and delight I discovered that there is an organization called Be The Change, Inc.  Its mission is to promote policy development that will bring about significant social changes on a global scale.  One of its campaigns has been Service Nation, which is federal legislation that was enacted in April, 2009.  Its focus is to promote citizen involvement in problem-solving social issues at the grassroots level.  One of its extremely ambitious goals is to make service an integral part of American culture.  It is hard for me to place a great deal of confidence in anything that the government initiates; however, this certainly seems to be headed in a positive direction.

I find theology, philosophy and science fascinating, but I would hate to discover one day that while I was pondering the eternal and speculating on theories of cosmic origin, others were busy nurturing an environment that would promote our progression towards the omega point.  I have identified what I need to become.  I just need to seek ways to manifest it in my life.  Being the change instead of waiting for the change to occur is how the present isness of my nature will become the eternal oughtness that ever confronts me.

Evolution All Around

In the past when I thought about evolution it seemed like something that happened a long time ago and merely affected the origin of life, dinosaurs, and the initial emergence of mankind.  It just didn’t seem relevant to our current experience.  However, more recently I have realized that nothing could be further from the truth.  Evolution is an ongoing process all around us, but in order to perceive it, it often needs to be observed from a more distant historical perspective. 

Evolution’s primary mechanism prior to the appearance of humans was “natural selection/survival of the fittest” which was accomplished through physical mutation and adaptation.  However, the emergence of human consciousness meant that we were no longer compelled to physically adapt to our environment in order to progress because we had developed the ability to reason and invent.  For example, even the most elementary cutting tools eliminated the need to grow claws for self defense or obtaining and preparing food. 

Consequently, there have only been limited physiological changes in human beings over the last 20,000 years.  Instead, our evolution has occurred mentally, socially, technologically, and spiritually.  Because these factors are not dependent on the extremely slow process of physical adaptation, human evolution is occurring at an ever accelerating pace.  Furthermore, the various aspects of our development are interdependent.  This is most clearly evident when considering the influence of technology.  The development of fire, the wheel, metallurgy, gun powder, the telescope, the printing press, steam power, the telephone, radio, flight, computers and Velcro have all had their impact on human progression.  Well, maybe not Velcro.

As we review history, it is easy to observe the benefits of technological progress, but social changes often appear more ambiguous.  Mere consideration of the Roman Empire reveals enormous growth in our development.  In our current world, it is almost impossible to imagine government-sponsored mortal combat and the mutilation of animals and prisoners as a form of entertainment, and yet that is exactly what was taking place then.  We would like to think that we are far more enlightened now; however, simply looking at the history of the United States reveals that the worldwide interest in human rights is a relatively new concept.  The international ban on slave trade was implemented less than 200 years ago, and it has only been 150 years since Abraham Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation that freed the slaves.  Believe it or not, in the United States of America it has only about 75 years since women have been allowed to vote and married women have been able to own property in their own names.  Furthermore, the Civil Rights Act that sought to eliminate segregation was passed less than 50 years ago. 

Although I have been unable to confirm it, someone once told me that in the 1970s the president of the American Psychological Association (APA) made a rather profound comment while addressing a conference.  He informed the gathering that the link between primates and civilized man had been discovered.  Understandably, the audience became quite excited at this news.  After the murmur subsided somewhat, he continued, “It is us.”  If this did not actually occur, it certainly should have because it conveys such an incredible truth.  Mankind tends to be over-impressed with the fact that we are on the cutting edge of evolution.  When contrasted to the hundreds of millions of years that life has existed on this planet, it is irrefutable that mankind has made some amazing advances in a relatively short time.  Nevertheless, we need to accomplish much more.  So, it is not time for self exaltation.  It is time to clarify our direction and focus our efforts towards true progress.

At times, it may be hard to accept the possibility that there is a divine hand in all of this.  We seem to take two steps forward and one step back, groping clumsily for direction.  It would be more encouraging if we could see a straight line of progression, but unfortunately, that is apparently not how evolution works.  It is loaded with stops and starts, charging ahead, and then meandering in circles.  However, in the midst of all of this apparent uncertainty are the voices of the spiritual sages telling us to acknowledge the source of everything, to recognize that relationships are more important than accumulating material wealth, to preserve our mental, physical and spiritual health, to love one another and to care for the needs of the weak.  These are messages that ring true in our hearts and seem to lie behind every positive step along the way.

If the evolutionary process occurring in the universe is being influenced at all by a cosmic consciousness, and the ancient scriptures provide us with a view of our ultimate destiny, then it is very possible that in the future, our descendants will possess a keen awareness of that consciousness.  Their perception of individuality will be tempered by a deep sense of universal connectivity, and their primary joy will be in sharing the unity of existence with one another.

In 5,000 years, future generations may look back at our time in history and wonder why war was still so prevalent and we had not reached a point where differences could be settled peacefully.  In 10,000 years, the concept of wealth may be completely foreign to them.  They may wonder why a small minority of the population horded such a large quantity of the resources while multitudes suffered from a lack of shelter, food, clothing, clean water and much more of life’s basic necessities.  However, as those future anthropologists analyze the actions of this generation, let’s hope that there will be a record of those who chose to pursue the universal truths and they will recognize that we were attempting to find and follow the evolutionary path that has led to where they are at that moment.

“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” 

                           Mathew 6:10

Intelligent Evolution

Evolution is one of those topics, like right-to-life, politics and religion, which cause many to go onto autopilot when mentioned.  The staunch members of the various factions immediately retreat to their respective corners, lace up their gloves, and prepare to duke it out.  Opinions on this subject run the gamut from traditional creationists who believe that God absolutely created the entire heavens and earth in six literal days to evolutionists who are strict materialists who believe that the entire process is the result of the random interaction of inert elements.  However, I think that many people, including myself, fall somewhere in the middle and lean towards a theory that envisions an evolutionary process directed to some degree by a cosmic creative force. 

If we accept that evolution is still in process, and we accept the possibility that it has been directed in some way by a cosmic intelligence, then shouldn’t we assume that that direction is still occurring?  The answer to this question really depends on one’s opinion regarding the degree of involvement that has been present.  Some believe that the universe was merely set in motion and there has been no other participation from a divine source.  From a traditional religious perspective, many believe that God (however they may conceive of Him) is intimately involved in every aspect of our existence.  Personally, I tend to view the cosmic involvement as an underlying progression towards order and unity.

The concept of a directed evolution is conveyed in a marvelous book written by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin entitled The Phenomenon of Man.*  Teilhard was a Jesuit priest and paleontologist who died in 1955.  He was involved in several notable discoveries of prehistoric human fossils.  His book, published in 1950, puts forth a remarkable thesis that the entire universe is undergoing a process of “cosmogenesis,” (the progressive guided development of the universe) which is occurring through the mechanism of “complexification.”  This latter term perfectly conveys the process that has been going on since the beginning. 

According to current cosmological theory, at the instant of the formation of the universe, it was comprised exclusively of sub-atomic particles.  These coalesced into hydrogen atoms, which in turn were compressed into more dense atoms through fusion reaction within stars.  Eventually these elements were incorporated into our planet and finally combined into complex DNA molecules which are the building blocks of life and contained millions of atoms in a single molecule.  This is precisely the opposite of what one would expect to observe.  Over time, matter tends to degrade, not increase in complexity.  Nevertheless, it was through complexification that life emerged, thus suggesting the influence of a creative force directing the progression of this phenomenon.

Teilhard presents a somewhat technical but still understandable description of evolution as it has unfolded from the “big bang” through its current manifestation in the earth.  He believed that we are currently experiencing one of the primary objectives of the evolutionary process, consciousness.  He further believed that the ultimate objective is the “Omega point,” which is God-consciousness.  This thesis is especially interesting because it not only provides a link between creation and evolution, but it sets forth an interesting rationale for the process.

Is Teilhard right?  Naturally, it is impossible for us to know to what degree this theory reflects reality, but for me it is an idea that definitely resonates with my truth meter.  We have no way of knowing why a purely energetic cosmic consciousness would have generated matter, but it is certainly conceivable that if that is what took place, that that entity could also convey an awareness of its existence within the resulting life forms.  Perhaps the common aspects of so many of the world religions are due to a progressive awakening that is unfolding in our collective human awareness.  If this is what is truly taking place, then we are engaged in a dual evolutionary process, both physical and energetic/spiritual.

Unfortunately, evolution occurs over an extremely long period of time.  Therefore, none of us will be able to observe the complete fulfillment of any awakening that may be in progress.  Nevertheless, we can attempt to develop a sensitivity that will enable us to perceive the direction of this progression and fulfill whatever role we may have in it.

* For a more thorough understanding of Teilhard’s theory, I would recommend obtaining a copy of his book.