What’s Missing in Being the Change

Its often said that we’re preaching to the choir.

There are millions of people who ‘get’ the urgency of the current situation and want a change, they see it ad believe it is possible, and still there is one question that nags away in my thinking -

What will it take to turn the good intentions of so many people around the world into a positive and unstoppable force for change?

Perhaps the adage lies in the most used and most appropriate quote for these time, from the Mahatma Gandhi, “you must be the change you wish to see in the world” and in the way we hold “being the change”.  You see I think we’re still holding this as an option, a nice thing to do, an awareness I usually have when I go to the supermarket or a dinner party conversation.

Its as if we advocate change but want to continue to enjoy the benefits of the unchanged world, our comforts and choices, the 5-planet lifestyle, its just too hard to give these up.  So to assuage the guilt we cloak it all with a veil of progressive thought. We’ve got all the opinions ready to roll off our tongues, we can discuss the good, the bad and the horribly ugly of the world we live in with the best of them, showing appropriate amounts of outrage or distaste.  We even recycle and use cloth bags, can’t you see how green I am?

Being the change isn’t an option any longer, its has to become the necessary, ever-present companion to what is otherwise just verbal posturing and an empty promise.  Its uncomfortable but nonetheless true that if we’re not part of the solution we are part of the problem; and this is in every choice and every purchase and every action.  Being the change is disengaging from the world that doesn’t work, not just following who’s doing what for climate change but getting to grips with not flying, not driving, turning the heat and the air-con off.  Being the change is disengaging from all of the patterns of oppression which we are tied into, with our purchases or our habits and our speech and our own nasty prejudices (hands up if you’re free of these), being the change is disavowing violence in our own lives as well as the policies of our governments.  Being the change is stopping consumption, not merely refocusing the urge toward ‘good’ purchases.

Being the change is now a question of integrity.  You see 5 years ago when this thinking was new it was OK to play with these opinions but today, as experts tell us the time we have to turn this around is ticking down real fast if you are indulging in any of this thinking there is an imperative to “do something”

So let’s advocate people start their own active disengagement from the old dream, let’s up the ante on this.  And of course, to take this stand we need to be committed to our own active disengagement, being the exemplars of all we say.

Most of all being the change is not discretionary, its a pre-requisite and an ever more urgent response

The Great Recycle

When Sand and I moved to the USA we set ourselves a Challenge: to equip our new home without using the transaction of money and for ALL ‘gifts’ to be given to us with intention and love.

Could it be done?

The answer was – for sure

We built a wonderful new home together in our rented apartment, a haven of love and peace, a grand experiment in recycling and all for $0.00. We proved that there is enough spare and unwanted “stuff” out there already to equip a home, many times over, and enough love and generosity to supply everything we needed.  What’s more we learned invaluable lessons about simplicity, the differnce between our wants and our needs, and about what really counts in a home, and in a life.

As we left the  UK  to move to the States we  were  able to  recycle the largest part of all our worldy goods (2 homes full of ’stuff’ which had been collected for over 40 years) to a variety of good causes;
Oxfam got around 1000 books to sell, the Salvation Army were able to help a bunch of families with hundreds of items of kitchen equipment and household goods – they even got a beautiful full range of office furniture – for their new offices! A lovely young family down on their luck got a pair of bunk beds, bedding and boxes of ’stuff’, Save the Children are selling pictures, dozens of ornaments, lamps, clothes, coats, jackets, jewellery, 60 neckties no longer required and a dozen or more pairs of shoes which were hardly worn, the Shelter for the Homeless received duvets, bedding, sheets, towels and a whole pile of coats, shirts and trousers to keep their customers warm through the winter.  Our local Youth Club received a garden table and benches and a dozen boxes of household ’stuff’ to sell and raise funds for the wonderful work they do for their young people. The family that moved into our UK home even got a new vacuum – it was the very last thing we had to give away – and theirs had broken that very morning!

And then according to the universal law of flow we acquired beds and sheets, dishes and pots and pans, bikes and books and rugs and tables and chairs – everything we needed and more.  The Great Recycle Experiment was a complete success, a great joy and a deep learning.