InnerSelf.com - Teens To Change the World

Teens To Change the World

by Neale Donald Walsch

The events that occurred in the United States on September 11, 2001, have made it desperately obvious that our world must be changed. Yet despite the horrible events of that terrible day, I come here to tell you that this can be a more loving, peaceful world. Yours can be a more joyful experience. Ours can be a more fruitful life.

Millions of people around the globe, shocked at what happened on that September day, are now more motivated than ever to alter the way we live our lives on this planet. Yet, how can that be done? I believe I know of at least one very good way. Look to see, now, what it is you wish to experience -- in your own life, and in the world -- and then see if there is any way for you to be the source of that.

A central teaching of Conversations with God is: What you wish to experience, provide for another. So, if you wish to experience greater peace, love, and understanding, seek to provide greater peace, love, and understanding to all those whose lives you touch. If you wish to know that you are safe, cause another to know that he or she is safe. If you wish to better understand seemingly incomprehensible things, help others to better understand. If you wish to heal your own sadness or anger, seek to heal the sadness or anger of another.

I remember a young person asking, "Why do I always have to be the one to start?" I am reminded here of the wonderful soul-searching inquiry of the Jewish tradition: If not now, when? If not me, who?

It is you, it is our young people, who can bring us the change that can lead us away from the kind of insanities displayed on September 11, 2001. You can set the course for tomorrow, today.

There is much we can all do, but there is one thing we cannot do. We cannot continue to cocreate our lives together on this planet as we have in the past. You already know this. Most young people do. You've been telling the world this for years, in everything from protests to poems to songs. Some of you are angry because you have not been heard. And right now, at this critical turning point in humanity's history, anger may not be inappropriate. It may, in fact, be a blessing. If you use your anger to pinpoint, not where the blame falls, but where the cause lies, you can lead the way to healing.

To me the cause seems obvious. We are living in a world that operates on deep misunderstandings about life and how it is. Most humans have not learned the most basic lessons. Most humans have not remembered the most basic truths. Most have not understood the most basic spiritual wisdom. In short, most humans have not been listening to God, and because they have not, they watch themselves do ungodly things.

The message of Conversations with God is simple: We are all one. This is the message that the human race has largely ignored. Our separation mentality has underscored all of our human creations, and because our religions, our political structures, our economic systems, our educational institutions, and our whole approach to life have been based on the idea that we are separate from each other, we have inflicted all manner of injury upon each other. This injury has caused other injury, for like begets like, and negativity only breeds negativity.

Now the problem has reached planet-threatening proportions -- and we should make no mistake about that. The human race has the power to annihilate itself. We can end life as we know it on this planet in one afternoon.

This is the first time in human history that we are able to say this. Before, we could destroy a village, or a city, or even a nation, but never the entire world in one day. Now, we can. And so I am asking all young people everywhere to focus your attention on the questions that such power places before you.

I hope that you will answer them from a spiritual perspective, not a political perspective, and not an economic perspective, from which they have been answered in the past.

I hope that you will have your own conversation with God, for only the grandest wisdom and the grandest truth can address the greatest problems, and we are now facing the greatest problems and the greatest challenges in the history of our species.

If you want what beauty there is in this world -- and there is so much of it -- to be experienced by your children and your children's children, I believe that you will have to become spiritual activists right here, right now. You must choose to be at cause in the matter. That is the challenge that is placed before every thinking person today, young and old alike. But it is the young people who have the verve and the vigor, and the energy and the real motivation to meet this challenge. For the world of tomorrow will be the world that you experience -- and the world that you will create.

I am asking you: Please, please, don't recreate the world as you see it today.

Please, be no more cynical about life, if ever you were. Please, be no longer disinterested in life, if ever you were. Please, let not one more day pass without your active involvement, right now, right where you are, in your homes, in your schools, in your communities, and in your world, in the movement to bring greater unity, understanding, harmony, and love to the human experience.

Become activists in helping others to change, at last, the age-old beliefs that have created the cruel, selfish, unkind, and inhuman behaviors you see all around you. Become one of The Changers, no longer content with simply talking about what's not working, but choosing now to join in creating what will work. ReCreation, our nonprofit foundation, is forming an international alliance of young people making this choice. If you wish to connect with others around the globe who are joining together in activities and programs that could be world-altering, or are interested in bringing a local chapter to your community, please contact us today at:

The Changers c/o The ReCreation Foundation PMB #1150 - 1257 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520. Telephone: 541-201-0019. On the World Wide Web at thechangers.org e-mail address: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Now let me say good-bye to you, my young friends. I hope the conversation here has served you well, and will bring you to a greater willingness to live from your inner wisdom and your inner truth every day of your life. The world of tomorrow is yours. Create it as the best world there ever was. I send you love.

This article is excerpted from:

Conversation with God for Teens
by Neale Donald Walsch.

More books by this author.

About the Author

Neale Donald Walsch is the author of numerous books, including Conversations with God, Books 1, 2, and 3; Friendship with God; and Communion with God; all of which have been New York Times bestsellers. Book 1 occupied that list for more than two and a half years. Walsch lives with his wife, Nancy, in Ashland, Oregon. Together they operate ReCreation, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to help people reclaim their true selves. His work also involves an outreach to the world's teen population, including specifically produced teen retreats and this book.

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