Begin The Change You Wish To See In The World
Now, the time is ripe for change. And Now. And Now. And Now.
Many, if not all of us are familiar with Gandhi’s inspiring words:
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
The simple elegance + oceanic power of this quote resound with the paradoxical harmonic tone all deep Truth strikes.
“Be” can be an action. As our consciousness expands, we grow to experience just how active of a term the idea of Be-ing can be.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. Embody it. Be ‘that thing’ you think the world needs in order to fix it. Do more than notice the problem. Be the solution.
No ‘buts’. Instead: ‘Yes, and…’
There is no ‘but’ coming to this concept. No diminishment of the Cosmic Truth Gandhi touches upon with his inspiring advisement.
Instead, this article seeks to offer an additional way of experiencing the Truth of Gandhi’s concept; an entry-point, for those on their path who may benefit from hearing the same idea from a slightly side-stepped angle:
Begin the change you wish to see in the world.
Years ago, I began writing a protopian1/utopian high fantasy novel. At the time, Game of Thrones was at the peak of its popularity. I love GoT — the books and the (first 5 seasons of the) show. I love the world, I love the feel, I love the music. I set out to create a world that “felt like Westeros, but hopeful.”
As much as I love GoT, I was keenly aware of how bleak and dystopian it is. Millions of people — millions of people — spent countless hours consuming that world, thinking about it, envisioning themselves in it, feeling what it might feel like to live in it — or counting their lucky stars they don’t.
I found myself asking the question: How is that^ valuable? How is any of that making our world a better place?
There was one overt answer to that question that is true: By knowing what we don’t want our world to be like, we can identify more clearly what we do want our world to be like.
Yep. Cool. Acknowledged. But what about beyond that? Beyond that very simple, easy-to-assimilate springboard concept of shifting from ‘clearly bad’ to ‘clearly good’; how was any of this obsession with a bleak, violent, vengeful, venomous, distrusting, malevolent world doing anything positive for the millions of people who were continually thinking about it, theorizing about it, arguing with strangers on reddit about it, etc. all day for years on end. How was that helpful?
And then it hit me:
It wasn’t.
It isn’t.
Years-now-removed from the end of GoT, I find myself able to take in much less of it — from the show itself to even just the music — before I feel heavy, lethargic, and lower-vibration. If my day was amazing and my thoughts humming in a constructive place, I could turn on GoT to bring it down a measurable 3-10 notches.
At first, this made me a little sad. GoT will always hold a special place in my heart for finding me during a violent, transformative time of upheaval in my life. For that, I am grateful always.
But I outgrew it. And isn’t that what all good teachers and parents can hope for? Isn’t that the best possible outcome? That those-who-come-after may stand on the shoulders of those-who-came-before and reach even greater heights?
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
— Sir Isaac Newton, letter to Robert Hooke, 1675
Once I realized I had outgrown it, I found myself looking around for reading/viewing/gaming content that spoke to the ‘healed’ part of me, just as GoT had spoken to the healing part of me a dozen years before.
There isn’t much. At least, not in comparison to the mountainous floating trash pile of dystopian content that is available today.
I recognized this as a problem for a moment, then almost immediately: an opportunity.
What if I began to write about a utopian society? What if I told a story that took place in a world where society is well-run by leaders who are trying to help (rather than dominate), people are kind to one another as their genuine default setting, and the name of the game is thriving, abundance management, and innovation?2
What if the biggest struggles are: How do we ensure everyone has access to this bountiful food the earth freely provides?
^That’s interesting. How do we do that? Not a scientific research paper on it. What would that process look like if we actually got together as a planet and tried to do this?
Or: Free energy is now a thing; what are all the ways in which this changes our world?
^That is riveting content! Who wouldn’t want to see a writer/showrunner/open world video game designer take a swing at what that might look like? I would sit in a world like that for hours — whether in a book, show, or game. Think of how much there would be to discover! It would be like we’re suddenly all beginners again, as a planet, all at once, growing into our new world together.
I sat down to write.
I wrote. And wrote. And wrote and wrote and wrote. As I wrote, I enjoyed myself immensely, but I couldn’t help but feel this small, quiet voice in the back of my head, softly asking something.
It wasn’t the voice of guilt or self-doubt, I know what those voices sound like. When either one speaks, they are neither small nor quiet. This was something else. Something easier to miss.
I made it 180 pages into the first book of what was planned to be eight. As I reached the close of a certain act in the unfolding of the story, I could no longer ignore the small, quiet voice:
Why does this have to be a story?
Is there any reason why I can’t just begin building this irl?
Begin the change you wish to see in the world.
In many ways, that novel was and is me beginning the change I wish to see in the world, and I do intend to continue writing/telling it. But I could feel in my heart then — and I still feel it now — that there was even more direct action I could take in our real-life world now, and the novel can come as it comes.
Over time, I’ve learned to trust Life on these subtle recommendations. More than likely, what Life diverting me away from writing and into real-life will probably result in is: better writing. Along with any real-life results and benefits.
Standing here, in the middle of it, it’s easy to (mis)take Life’s guidance as pulling me ‘away’ from writing and pulling me ‘toward’ something else. 20 years from now, with the powerful lenses of hindsight firmly affixed to my brow, the view of this moment may look simply like Life attempting to put me in a more-advantageous place so I could learn what I need to learn in order to be ready to let-it-flow, when the stream of inspiration rushes over me. Check back on this article in 20 years and we’ll see what happened, maybe share a good laugh.
Begin the change you wish to see in the world.
My wife and I recently moved to a biophilic community in Georgia called Serenbe. ‘Biophilic’ means: life-loving; bio-philia. In short: Serenbe is a community designed to flow with the principles that cultivate and encourage life and humanity’s innate affinity for all things living.
Another way of saying it would be: Upward spiral. As a process progresses, it improves upon itself as a matter of course.
This was the first step (for us) to begin the change we wished to see in the world:
Step 1: Support people who are already doing it. Yogananda once stated a powerful, simple Truth: “Environment is stronger than will power.” He’s right. Just ask anyone who has been dropped into the middle of an ocean with no survival gear. Doesn’t matter how strong the will is, environment is stronger.
We moved to a place that was already ‘be-ing’ that change in some ways. We moved to a place where we could leverage the Truth of Yogananda’s quote, rather than fight against it.
When you see living examples of the change you wish to see in the world, climb on board. Jump in and contribute in whatever way you’re inspired to.
Shortly before moving to Serenbe, an idea began to take shape for a store we might want to open. A small, brick-and-mortar business selling low/non-toxic household and personal care products to people who care about that sort of thing. My wife and I both have backgrounds in healing, and we’ve both done tens of thousands of hours of research and study in the arena of healthy living. We felt (and feel) we could help people just by letting them know they have options for their household and personal care products beyond the options presented by the four umbrella corporations who stock the bulk of those products at Target or Walmart.3
Out of this idea, Allchemy: A Biophilic Farmacy &
was born: a reimagined ‘farmacy’ store that carries all the same product types as a conventional pharmacy store4, but replaces the toxin-laced conventional brands’ products with low-tox or toxin-free versions of those same product types, made by small businesses who are committed to transparency, products that work, and healthy living.This revealed to us:
Step 2: Align as many of your waking hours as possible with the making of a better world.
We work a lot in our world. In America, we work even more. Imagine if the work output of our nation/world was directed at building a better world. Imagine if every company was chiefly concerned with that aim, and the only “bottom line” we ever heard about was in regard to whether a corporate choice made our world better.
Our planet would transform overnight.
If every individual (or even a critical mass / portion of individuals) designed their lives so as many hours as possible of their waking life actively made the world a better place… just imagine the changes we would see in our world.
When a better world is a matter-of-course, rather than something we have to strive for, our world improves as each new day dawns.
^ This is the position in which we need to place ourselves as a society.
One of the most common criticisms of an idea like this is: “Changing policy takes too long,” or, “The government/system is too corrupted by lobbyists and corporate interests.”
Both of the above statements are 100% true. And this is where the key 3rd Step comes into play. Rather than trying to fix a broken system…
Step 3: Side-step the broken game and begin a new one.
Who says the government is the only entity that can help the people?
Why can’t the people help the people?
When it comes to household and personal care products — and this is pulled directly from the FDA’s website — the FDA only regulates a narrow assortment of products (such as food and cosmetics) and, even when a consumer product (such as shampoo or baby powder) is found to contain a harmful chemical, all the FDA can do is recommend the company recall that product.
The FDA does not regulate household cleaning products as well as many of the chemicals (such as flame retardants) that are sprayed on furniture and clothing before those items are sold (to you and your children) in stores.
The FDA regulates a specific set of products and, outside of the narrow parameters it has set for itself (with the help of corporate lobbyists), the FDA cannot and does not protect you.
In other words: If the governmental entity designed to regulate the safety of consumer products is not regulating these products to a degree of safety the people need, why not just start regulating these products ourselves as consumers?
Be the solution, remember? There are 10,000 words we could write about what a travesty and a failure the FDA is. No matter how accurate they are, would they bring us any closer to a solution? Not really. Because, at the end of the day, we would still be waiting on that broken system to fix itself before we can move forward into a solution.
Begin the change you wish to see in the world.
We don’t need them — the government in its current form — in order to build a better world.
We don’t need permission from them, either.
We can simply begin.
Allchemy is designed to be not only a store but a resource; a place where life-conscious consumers can get the products and the education they need that will put them and their loved ones in that upward spiral where life improves as a matter of course.
The transparency levels of the brands we are working with are beyond FDA requirements. Far beyond, in many cases.
Our government is broken. Our country is run by lobbyists and corporations.
Rather than try to fight those deep-pocketed entities at their game, we feel it makes more sense to simply play a different game. A game that exists beyond their twisted, greed-centered rules that always somehow manage to end in the corporations winning at the expense of the people and the planet.
We believe in a world where corporations exist for the people and the planet. Corporations have tremendous power in their resources and influence.
What if someone wrote a book opened a store that became a corporation that used its power, resources, and influence to help make the world a better place?
Now ^ that’s good television.
By opening a store that has even higher standards than the FDA, the FDA can either get on board and catch up, or be confirmed as the corporate/government marketing mouthpiece they currently appear to be to the more attentive members of our society.
By opening a store that has even higher standards than the FDA, our world is made better. For right now, Allchemy is a brick-and-mortar store that is about to open its doors in a small community outside of Atlanta, but we have to start somewhere. Who knows what this may grow into as more people begin the change they wish to see in the world.
Check back on this article in 20 years and we’ll see what happened, maybe share a good laugh.
At its most essential core, a ‘protopia’ is simply the road we take from our current dystopia to a utopia. A proptopia is less a ‘state’ and more a vehicle. It’s the action that drives us from dystopia to utopia. By living out a protopia, we arrive at a utopia. From that utopia, we realize the protopia was the utopia all along… just in its early childhood stages.
A utopia is not a pie-in-the-sky / head-in-the-clouds woo-woo concept or idea. It’s a very real, simple thing: A world in which everyone strives do their best, driven by an inner desire to do so.
This^ is a far cry from our current dystopian world where only a portion of people strive to do their best, and only a portion of those are driven by an inner desire to do so. For those individuals, utopia is a simple, obvious eventuality. For everyone else, the idea sounds woo-woo and ‘unrealistic’.
The use of the word ‘protopia’ in this instance is to link the two terms (protopia and utopia) to one another. They are essentially the same thing, referenced during different states of maturity. An unripe tomato is still a tomato. A ripe tomato is also a tomato.
For the ‘unrealistic’-type individuals referenced above, protopia is the most comfortable term their still-(subconsciously-)self-limiting mindset can allow. This individual cannot change how they feel just by wishful thinking, nor would it be constructive to do so. They should continue expanding in every way they are drawn to, until the day the concept of a utopia becomes organically obvious to them, just as it has to all others who have experienced it before them. On that day, the truth of this footnote will become crystal clear to them as well.
There is no ‘late to the party’ on this or any other spirituo-philosophical concept. One simply ‘is where one is’. Acceptance of where one is is the key to continued expansion if that is desired.
This is slightly different from the ‘cozy’ phenomenon developing in the sci-fi/fantasy genre at present. Cozy is sort of an element within utopian writing, but neither is a guarantee with the other and it feels like an oversimplification of both approaches to call them synonymous. Much utopian content may have a cozy feel to at least parts of it. Not all cozy content will be utopian in structure.
In Target/Walmart, the vast majority of personal care and household products are all made by four parent companies: Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, and Target/Walmart. These companies call their products by different brand names, but ultimately the illusion of ‘choice’ in these stores is just that: an illusion. All of those ‘different’ brands are made by the same four companies.
You can sometimes see this in these stores by looking for the U (for Unilever), J&J, or P&G badge logo on many of these companies’ products. Sometimes, however — and this is almost always the case with Target/Walmart products — a quick internet search is required to reveal the parent company of the brand of product you’re holding.
Other times, a very thorough internet search is required to reveal the parent company of the brand of product you’re holding. But at the end of the line, the owner of the brand is often one of these entities or the private equity firm that owns them.
i.e. CVS, Walgreens, etc. or the household and personal care sections of Target, Walmart, etc.