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How do we bring about real change?
What really needs to change? Is it "the system" that needs
to change? Many systems have been tried and none has brought peace to
humanity. We often think, "if only all the good people I know were
in power, things would be different." But what happens when even
the "best" people do in fact get into power? The people who
behave so nobly when they are opposing a system, change their character
when they obtain power. In fact, resisting oppression often requires a
certain type of ego strength that serves very poorly when it attains power.
Revolutionary change too often carries the seed of its own destruction.
After all, when the system has been changed, the same people will still
be around, and we will still have to live with each other. What will we
do about the people we resisted? New systems have used all sorts of inhuman
pressures to enforce the new way. Any change on the order of what is necessary
that does not include in some way every person, in other words, if it
is not a change that we all make, then someone is going to be left out,
feel oppressed, and will plant seeds of destruction. New systems will
develop to contain these new troublemakers. Nothing will have changed,
except faces and names and ideologies.
Change that occurs very slowly, over generations, is not as likely to
create opponents. A mountain could be dismantled stone by stone over 500
years without fear of resistance from the local population, not like what
would happen if you tried to take it apart in a week with giant earth
movers. There is a level of change we simply do not perceive, and a huge
change made up of many small incremental changes will go unnoticed. There
is the added fact that what one generation considers change, the next
takes for granted. Great changes can be wrought this way without violence
and resistance. But to bring about change in this way requires inhuman
patience and a good deal of indoctrination of following generations to
carry on the work. Besides, do we have so much time?
Yet we must change. It is hard not to feel that we are walking a very
thin line, especially environmentally. We are straining the Earth's life
support systems. Even though humans will survive the next 100 years, many
other species will not. It is estimated that we are killing off from 14
to 400 species every day! And we have no idea what role these creatures
play in the health and well being of the whole. In the human sphere, the
brutality we are capable of inflicting upon each other is almost beyond
comprehension.
I am led inescapably to the conclusion that what needs to change is not
"the system" or the party in power, or the ideology currently
in vogue, but the human being. Invariably I find that I must change. What
I despise in "the system" or in other people, exists also in
me, although usually in a different form. So I must change. When I start
looking at the illness of civilization, I cannot help but see that I am
in part a product of that civilization, and therefore have a lot of sickness
to heal. For me, the first step in healing is admitting that you are sick.
It takes a lot of strength to face up to your weaknesses. It is the height
of health to admit that you are ill.
Changing our own attitudes, luckily, can be instantaneous, and non-coercive.
As soon as we see in no uncertain terms that we must change, we do. It
is that simple. What takes time is bringing ourselves to the point of
seeing things so clearly.
However, the same caution applies to trying to change myself as applies
to changing the system. Am I destructively bent on perfecting myself to
the point that I can't accept any of my imperfections? Am I so infatuated
with some ideal image of myself that I brutalize myself with self-condemnation
for not living up to my ideal? If I hate my imperfections, then I am consumed
by hate. If, on the other hand, I cling to my imperfections, then I do
not grow. But if I take a good look at myself and can see what is going
on, then when I act I am really doing something useful. The spontaneous
act in view of the whole mess can really make a difference. Sometimes
the situation requires an act of deep tenderness, like holding a frightened
child. Sometimes it demands real fortitude and toughness, like ending
an abusive relationship. The crucial thing is to act in a way appropriate
to the circumstance, and that means being clear about what is going on,
and that means being very awake and alert.
So how is this fundamentally necessary change, which must occur throughout
all the people and within each person and in the fabric of society, to
come about? This whole process of deep change must occur at all levels.
The human world is the way it is because of the way humans are, so any
change in a person has ripples through society and any change in society
changes people. If change is brought by force it will not be healthy.
At a basic level, I think fundamental change is beyond our power to create
it. Our human knowledge is too limited and too willful to be of lasting
value. So I think we must forget about trying to change the world. When
we try to change it, we invariably create a new hell. Does that mean we
sit back and let the Presidents and the CEO's shape the world for us?
Absolutely not. I will not play their game at all. I will neither accept
what they hand me, nor will I get trapped in trying to replace their world
with mine, tempting though that might be.
Instead, I will live my life the best I know how, examining it constantly.
When I live according to, for lack of a better word, the values that I
know serve my deepest needs as a human being, then I frequently come into
confrontation with the established order of society. I am not setting
out to change the world, but what is whole and healthy is so at odds with
the status quo that there are ample opportunities for standing firmly
for what is right in the face of a society that wants me to conform to
its values. But because the genesis of my action is not to be found in
a reaction to the status quo, but in my own sense of what is living truthfully,
those occasions when witness is necessary can be extremely powerful.
A few years ago I had a very emotional dream in which I was talking to
a group of US church people about Nicaragua. In my address I expressed
a desire to return to Nicaragua to work among the people there. One of
the audience spoke angrily to me saying, "That's just plain stupid.
Why would anyone want to go work someplace where they know they will probably
be killed?" I responded, "I think you ask the wrong question.
I think the right question is, 'how can you live here, in this society
which is death?"
That dream has changed its meaning for me with reflection. At the time
I thought it voiced my desire to live somewhere more real, more alive,
which is how I experienced Nicaragua in 1986. Later, after reflecting
on the charge from the Nicaraguans I met to "go home and change what
needs to be changed in the US", I felt that the dream called for
something tremendously difficult; to find a way to be fully alive in the
midst of a thoroughly deadly society. That question is now operative in
my daily life: how can I live here, how can I be fully alive, despite
all that surrounds me that is so deadly? For me, this task must be accomplished
in the context of a very normal life. I do not want to be in a separate
community. I do not want to associate only with people I agree with. I
do not want to be defined by my politics. But I want to live a fully human
life, not the sick mockery of life that is offered by the mainstream of
U.S. culture.
Yet, you will find that most of the time I am not succeeding. Not only
is my life very normal looking - I pay taxes, I work 40 hours a week,
I own a car, and now a computer, I hope to find some land and build a
house; but much of the time I am every bit as greedy, protective, cynical
and apathetic as my fellow citizens. By not refusing to be all these things,
I feel I have opportunities to observe and understand what it is that
is going on in this society. And I am learning to have compassion for
all the other people who formerly I looked down on because they weren't
living radically. And I am learning how much good there really is among
all the bad. There are excellent people everywhere. And the world is a
phenomenally beautiful place. Despite the abuse heaped on it by humans,
the world continues to give to us freely from its bounty and beauty. If
only we could see with clear vision how completely blessed we are, what
reason would we have for defending our individual little portions of the
pie?
Is it enough? Enough? It is a greater challenge than most are willing
to take. How many people are willing to open their eyes and face the world
fully, with all of its awesome beauty and enormous pain? How many people
are willing to devote themselves totally to love, to living for the sake
of living? Not I. Not anyone I know. But we have our moments. Does political
activism have a place? Yes. Is there a situation that can be most effectively
addressed by the community together? Political structures are useful then.
One of the most troubling facts facing the inhabitants of the United
States is our disproportionate consumption of the world's resources. As
an example, the US, which is about 5% of the world's population, uses
about 28% of the world's fuel. Looked at another way, for all the world
to live like we do in the US, the world would have to consume 6 times
its current energy use. Finally, in stark terms, The average US citizen
uses 35 times the energy of the average inhabitant of India.
This bloated resource appetite can be blamed for a great deal of the
injustice in the world. As consumer of so much of the world's resources,
the US has a strong interest in being militarily powerful. We have to
maintain our access to these resources through force. We clearly have
no basic right to such a large slice of the pie.
Also, by revelling in such splendid wealth, we set up the expectation
for the rest of the world that they too can live the good life. There
are plenty of people who want what we have. So development continues at
a rapid pace.
Meanwhile, this excessive consumption is spoiling the Earth. If we could
live with less, if we could manage to consume 5% of the world's resources,
our fair share(an imponderable 82% reduction), and be happy with that,
what kind of difference would that make in the world?
For one thing, it would send the message that we recognize that a consumptive
life is an unsustainable life. Second, we would have fewer "interests"
to defend, so we would need fewer military resources. Third, we would
not be so hated by those who see us as the scourge of the planet. We would
have fewer enemies. We would have a cleaner planet to live on and enjoy.
We would be putting less money into cleaning up our messes. We would be
able to direct what resources we do use toward the things that give us
the greatest pleasure.
Even though it seems impossible, because we have come to equate expanding
consumption with "growth," in fact it seems that to reduce our
level of consumption might be to create an upward spiral of cost savings
and freeing up of time. On the other hand, the endless pursuit of ever
greater consumption creates a downward economic spiral because of the
resources that must be spent on defending our access to resources and
to accumulating more, and to cleaning up our messes.
What makes it so tremendously difficult to turn back, to reduce our consumption
of nonrenewable resources? Why do we not want to do it? I am convinced
that we can and will do anything that we really want to do or that we
know we must do. Is it just that we now equate life with economic accumulation?
Is it just habit? Is it that we have become lazy, we just don't want to
have to think or work? Is it that we have come to equate freedom with
being able to do whatever we want whenever we want? Or is it a deeper
spiritual problem, a matter of such deep inner poverty and fear that we
endlessly pursue more and more external wealth in order to avoid the profound
"less", the aching loneliness that we feel inside?
In many ways it does not matter why we consume so much. What matters
is that we do so, and that doing so is destructive to the planet, to the
other people of the world, and ultimately to ourselves. We need no altruism.
We need not even have concern for our progeny, although you would think
we would have that. We only need self-preservation, as basic an instinct
as we possess, and the turning of our intelligence to look at what we
are doing, to see that we must reduce our energy and resource appetites.
Seeing that we must, we will.
It will be hard at first. We will not like the change. We will feel like
we are moving backward, perhaps even like we are dying, because we have
been so conditioned to believe that life equals getting more and more.
But the benefits are incalculably large.
Are you reading this and saying, "well, that's nice, but it's not
going to happen." All that means is that you have not looked at the
situation seriously. The road we are on leads to disaster. If nothing
else, then at least the other people of the world will one day demand
their fair share, and then we will have to defend our unfair share with
massive, brutal force. Is that what we want? Is it not the intelligent
thing to start making changes now before they are forced on us by an unforgiving
planet and demanding neighbors?
I believe essential change is possible. I believe we have the answers
to our most vexing problems if we would only stop running away from them.
I believe that you do not need anyone to tell you what you need to do
to live a sustainable, creative life. I believe you know what you need
to do. I believe we all need to stop listening to the conventional wisdom
that we are fed, that says real change is impossible, real change for
the better. I believe we need to shut up, to turn off the experts in our
heads, and the experts on the TV and Radio, long enough to rekindle the
natural wisdom within which we live, and which lives within us. There
may not be much time. We do not know where lies the point of no return.
Don't wait. Do it now.
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