Be the Change You Wish to See in the World!

Mahatma Gandhi said, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

Let’s talk about that for a moment, shall we?

What the heck did he mean by that? Here’s what I think he meant:

I think Gandhi meant that it’s not enough to want injustice to end, we must strive for justice in our own hearts and lives. For instance, any time we judge others, we are placing our own set of values and life circumstances on top of their’s and saying our’s are the correct version of life. That’s unjust of us.

If we want racism to end, living a life free of racism ourselves is the change we wish to see in the world. Can we have the courage to root out our own prejudices, unconscious biases, fears of those who seem different from us, and be open to learning just who that person is instead? That would be living this change we wish to see.

If we believe war and violence are only one, very poor option to any situation, and we want war to stop, then can we look at our own patterns and see where violence and hatred, fear and retaliation come into our personal practices? Can we have the courage to stay open to awaremess of possibilities, rather than locked into dogmatic reactions to others, to other religious groups, to those who look or seem different than us? Can we live a life of non-violence, and from that stand begin to see others as the same as me?

That’s the change we wish to see in the world. Or rather, that’s the change I  wish to see in the world. It takes us BECOMING peace for peace to exist. It takes us BECOMING love for love to exist. The embodiment of these qualities, these movements and themes is what Gandhi was talking about. It takes us Loving Our Enemies in order for love to prevail over hatred and fear. If we don’t become this kind of change, then we are just substituting another villain for those who we say need to change their ways. We’re just becoming what we say we want changed by doing so.

It’s not enough to want change, especially not enough for us to ask others to change, paint them as inherently evil, to make others our version of the villain. That’s just the same pattern repeating itself.

We must love like all of life depends on us doing so. Because it does.

That’s the change I wish to see in the world. That’s who I want to show up as: Love. Absolute Love. That’s what I wish to evoke toward my opponents in life, toward those officials I don’t agree with, toward those who would stand in the way of peace. I wish to show up as Love, and as loving as I can possibly be.

That’s the change I wish to see in the world, and what and who I wish to be.

Be the change you wish to see, starting right now. It’s easy–but not simple. It takes work and practice to be that kind of change.

But we can all do it, and all do it together. If you get stuck, email me at donmcavinchey@comcast.net, and I’ll give you a hand.

Out of love.

Namaste’.