There I’ve said it: I don’t accept the way things are.
Call me unenlightened if you will, but before you do I’d like to mention some things that happen in our world.
- Women and children are ‘collateral damage’ in our wars.
- The most dangerous place is home: domestic violence is far and away the most common form of violence.
- The ‘developed’ nations (such as Australia where I live) consume a very high proportion of the world’s resources, while people die for lack of access to clean water.
I don’t find this acceptable at all, I wish it were different.
Acceptance and Change
To begin to change these things means dealing with the situation as it is, in this sense (and in this sense only) I agree that we need to accept how things are. Feeling bad and wishing it were different doesn’t help – me feeling bad doesn’t necessarily help anyone. What is usually needed is a viable way to make a difference – a way to feel good by doing something about what I want to change. What is needed is a way for people to see that they can change what is.
Our Desire Is
I think it was Ram Dass who said: the world is OK the way it is, including my desire to change it.
The ‘accept the world the way it is’ line often misses this point it seems to me. “The world” that we are encouraged to accept is a world that doesn’t include me – or at least not (some of) my desires. “Accept the world the way it is” seems to mean – judge your desires (negatively).
To Be Alive Means Changing Our Situation
Eating food changes the food and ourselves. Likewise with breathing, speaking to another, shaking hands, voting one way or the other or not voting at all, buying one product and not another. What we do shapes our experience to some extent. Our action changes the world to some extent (unless we have some public office this will usually be our small part of it – our friends, family, workplace and so on).
Please Change the World
I think the world needs changing. My guess is that you do too.
The place we can have the greatest impact is with those closest to us – which is usually where it is hardest. Loving those closest to us is not always easy. Working out a way to avoid the same fight over and over again can take work. The payoff is that we experience the benefits quite directly.
We can make our own (usually small) contribution to larger changes too.
Purchasing (genuinely) organic products from the supermarket makes a small contribution to stopping the degradation of soils.
Shopping at the local farmers market will often contribute to people being more fairly rewarded for their labours.
There are many charities doing excellent work that will be glad to receive our donation.
Let me know how you have changed your part of the world for the better. I think we all have. Let me know in the comments.
If you liked this post you might also like:
Take Action on Climate Change
Change the World (one bite at a time)
Ending Poverty
Would you like to feel less stressed?
Could you do with more joy in your life?
The answer is living authentically. Buy the book or sign up for the course now from my Living Authentically website.
Thanks for this Evan. I think the point of the Ram Dass quote is that getting outraged about how the world is right now doesn’t actually accomplish anything. The fact that I’m really upset about the situation in some other country doesn’t save anyone there — or on a larger scale, politicians and pundits (and bloggers) ridiculing and attacking each other about some issue may create a lot of righteous and angry feelings but solves nothing. And when I am not using up energy getting outraged and blaming others for the situation, I actually free up energy I can use to work for the changes I want.
Hi Chris, it sounds like we agree that the world should be different (you talk of solving current situations). I am glad that we agree about this. It also sounds like you value feelings – on the basis of whether they contibute to desired outcomes (or actions?). For me a feeling is at least a partial evaluation (though no more (or less) reliable an evaluation than our thoughts). There’s lots to tease out here I think.