Even One Is Enough
by Marie T. Russell
 We live in a world of extremes. Extreme wealth, extreme poverty.
Extreme hedonism and joy, and extreme fear and pain. Extreme religious devotion,
and extreme hatred. And as with everything, the microcosm and the macrocosm are
reflections of each other.
In each one of us these reside,
or at least a presence of these realities though maybe not in the extreme. With
one person we may be extravagant with our love and our attention, and with
another we are miserly. One day or one moment we may be exuberant, while the
next we may be feeling the deepest despair. We feel great love for someone,
while at the same time carry great hurts and resentments towards others (or
sometimes even the same person). What we see in the world "out there", if we
look closely, we can find within our own selves.
Yet, it is sometimes easier to point the finger at someone else's, or at the
world's, failings than at our own. It is easier to blame and judge others for
their "wrong doings" and character flaws, and somehow overlook our own. Ah, yes,
the world would be a better place if "______________________" (fill in the blanks). We look at
others' problems, at the problems of nations, or races, and it's easy for us at
times to see the solutions.
But it's not always so easy when we're embroiled in the mess ourselves. We
get caught up in our egos, our emotions, our needs and wants, our cravings, our
fears, our beliefs, our projections, our mind? As the saying goes, it's hard
to see the forest for the trees -- and sometimes it's hard to see the trees
for the forest. When we are caught up in paying the bills, making ends meet,
rushing to work, stressing out to get the job done on time, meeting the needs of
our children and friends, we sometimes can't see the whole picture.
Yet, we are part of the big picture. Whatever is taking place in our homes,
in our workplace, in our neighborhoods, cities, countries, and in the world is
part of the big picture, and we are a part of it too. I remember reading that
when a tree is hurt anywhere all trees feel the pain. In the same way, when
someone is hurt or in pain anywhere on the planet, their pain affects us -- not
consciously perhaps, but the energy that is released in the universe by their
cries reverberates and reaches the heart of each and every one of us. Our hearts
are all connected as part of the Oneness that is the Universe. We are all cells
in the body of life and when one part of our body hurts, all the others parts
are affected.
You may be familiar with the acronym, WWJD? "What would Jesus do?" I've seen
it on T-shirts and on bumper stickers. Perhaps, we need to start asking
ourselves that question but by using it's more universal meaning: What would
Love do? What would my heart want me to do? If I choose to act from Love, what
would I do? This is a question that we must ask ourselves not only each and
every day, but each and every moment. This question must be come our "mantra",
our daily meditation, our daily practice, our daily focus. What would my heart
do? What can I do?
Anytime we find ourselves with a choice (which is each and every moment) we
need to at least ask ourselves the question. We always have the choice to follow
that path or not, but at least we need to start asking. What would my loving
self suggest I do?
When you are at the grocery store and hear a child crying, what would your
heart do? Perhaps silently send the child a reassuring thought: "It's ok, you're
safe. Everything's ok." Perhaps smile at the child as you pass by, and send her
love. Or when you reach the check-out counter and the clerk seems tired and very
impatient: What would love do? Perhaps there again, a kind thought, a smile, a
gentle world, a soothing attitude.
Everything in our world "belongs" to us. Many of the world's religions believe that "man" was given "dominion" over the world. Now, without going into whether
that is true or not, let's simply look as what it could mean. The dictionary
defines dominion as "a sphere of influence". Then in that sense, yes we have
dominion. We have influence on the world around us. Sometimes a kind word and a
smile can change someone else's attitude and brighten up their day.
We do have influence. Not only on the people we touch directly, but we can
also have a greater influence worldwide by the actions we take and the actions
we let others take in our name.
Many of us have spent a lot of time complaining about "the system", about the
environment, global warming, pollution, child abuse, poverty, governmental
policies, exploitation, wars, etc. Yet, we complain and act as if it is all out
of our dominion, out of our control. Yet nothing is further from the truth. We
can make a difference -- with our actions, our words, and our goals. Many of us
gave up on our politicians a long time ago. We stopped voting, or if we did, we
did so with an attitude of hopelessness -- after all what difference can one
person make?
Every time I think of one person making a difference I remember the story of
the hundredth monkey. (When 100 monkeys on one island started washing their
potatoes, monkeys on neighboring islands, without any contact, also started
washing their potatoes.) In other words, when one of us, then another, then
another, start taking actions with a goal of making a difference, after a while
it can become an "epidemic" movement.
Someone who used to work as campaign manager for a politician remarked that
even when they received as few as 10 or fifteen letters or calls about an issue
they took it seriously. Why? Because they knew that if 10 or fifteen people took
the time to write or call, there were many others who felt the same who did not
take the time to contact them. Just imagine if we all started taking
responsibility for what we want to see in the world, and deluged our city
councils, our governmental officials, our congress and president, the United
Nations, world leaders, with calls and letters saying "this is what we want",
"this is what we see as the Highest good for all".
Politicians are human, and more than that, they are dependent on people
supporting their policies if they want to be re-elected. We must stop "bitching"
and start doing something. We are not powerless, unless we refuse to take up our
power of speech and action.
Now, if you're completely happy with the way things are going in the world
then you need do nothing. But, I'm sure there's at least one thing (just one?)
that you would like to be improved -- whether it's the status of education, or
the situation of the homeless, or abused children and women, or the desecration
of our national forests, or the pollution on our lovely planet, or the waste of
human and natural resources, or the senseless killing of humans to satisfy egos
and human greed, or, or, or?
It is our planet, it is our earth, it is our life. We are not "nothing". We
are not powerless. We need to let our voices be heard. We need to let everyone
know what we would like the future (and the present) to be. Sitting around our
TVs and complaining, or not even complaining because we've given up, is actually
contributing to the problem. If we know there is something wrong and do nothing,
we are as responsible as those who are doing the raping and pillaging of the
sacredness of life.
We are it. Nobody is going to come along on a white horse and rescue us. If
you're waiting for Jesus to come down (or aliens, or whoever) and rescue you,
then you've given up. Even Jesus said (and I paraphrase) "these things that I
do, you also can do". He did not say, hey, don't worry, if it gets real bad I'll
take care of it and fix it for you. No, he said, these things that I do, you
also can do. And he also said that if we had the faith of a mustard seed we
could move mountains.
Many of us have lost our faith -- in ourselves and in humankind. We hang our
head in despair and shake our heads at how bad it's become and have another beer
(or another diet soda), or switch to another TV channel. We look at the world and
ask ourselves, what it's all come to?
Well, it's come to what we (and I include myself in this as well) have let it
become. The greed, the hatred, the despair have increased because we have not
done anything to stop it. This is a harsh realization for us to all come to.
But, we must be willing to accept it, to face the fact that we are just as
responsible for the state of the world as the perpetrators of the crimes
(whether ecological, political, religious, etc.). We have let it happen because
we have not stood up and said "we want it done differently".
But this is not about placing blame or saying "mea culpa" (it's my fault).
It's simply about acknowledging that in the same way we have contributed to the
problem by our inaction, we can contribute to the solutions by our actions.
Marianne Williamson wrote (this is widely attributed to Nelson Mandela):
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that
we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most
frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened
about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are
all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory
of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our
presence automatically liberates others."
A Return To Love:
Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles
Harper Collins, 1992
(from Chapter 7, Section 3)
It's time to acknowledge that we are powerful, that we can make a difference.
We need to stop taking our imagined powerlessness as an excuse to sit back and
do nothing. If we want the world to change, for ourselves and for our children,
we have to stand up and be counted. We have to participate in this experiment
called Life on Earth, in whatever way we can best participate.
"It's time to be cynical about cynicism. Let's rise to this evolutionary
challenge to our creativity, and start to freshly imagine, and then build, a
society that works. We've spent millions of years getting to this point of
human evolution, and this is one of the most exciting and important times to
be alive on the planet. So let's embrace the challenge. Let's acknowledge
how difficult and depressing it can be -- and then move beyond that
depression and despair, into action."
Duane Elgin,
author of "Voluntary Simplicity" and "Promise Ahead"
 RECOMMENDED BOOK::
The Power Path
by José Stevens, Ph.D. with Lena
Stevens.
Publisher: New World Library.
Info/Order this book.
 About The Author
Marie
T. Russell is the founder of InnerSelf Magazine (founded 1985). She also
produced and hosted a weekly South Florida radio broadcast, Inner Power, from
1992-1995 which focused on themes such as self-esteem, personal growth, and
well-being. Her articles focus on transformation and reconnecting with our own
inner source of joy and creativity.
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