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Links to relevant blogs are coming soon.  In the mean time, read this interesting article from an American student and visionary, Sam Rosen.

 

A Radical Distinction: “Being the Change” vs. “Doing the Change”
by Sam Rosen, Philadelphia, PA, USA
 
As Gandhi wisely intuited, “who” one is—values, beliefs, character, integrity, vision—matters a great deal in the process of change. Indeed, unless one has reached a certain level of internal development, authentic change rarely occurs; put differently, structural transformation always begins from within. Yet most of us miss the true point of Gandhi’s words: Doing means nothing without being, and being means nothing without doing. We discover, explore, and enhance our inner maps through action, and the results of our actions provide a gauge for how we must change internally. This virtuous cycle becomes a self-perpetuating feedback loop in which being and doing facilitate positive evolution, both within and without.
 
If one accepts that the world does indeed need change, then the challenge becomes how to enact change in the face of great adversity and conflict. If one says “I care about the world,” or “The future matters,” then one must not only create the internal belief systems that align with such statements, but also take consistent, applied action steps to bring about that change. Many feel uncomfortable with this concept. The objection one hears most often is, “But most people do think that they’re doing the change the world needs done. Hitler thought he was doing the change the world needed done.”
 
This is where one must inject some degree of “objective truth,” or common principles that all humans hold dear. One can derive these truths scientifically. For instance, Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, has said that democracy is a “universal value.” That is, if the given the option, the great majority of individuals—and nearly all of those whose everyday actions reflect values of cooperation, mutual respect, and compassion—would choose democracy over totalitarianism or feudalism. Similarly, most would choose environment sustainability over destruction, education over ignorance, material wealth over abject poverty, health over sickness, and cooperation over conflict.
 
Thus, in this context, a natural moral hierarchy does emerge, based on shared values of human emergence and sustainability. One must “be” a force for good—an absolute, not relative, good—by “doing” what matters most to the world. Contrary to what some might think, conflict does not subside; in some cases, it may intensify markedly. Indeed, the battle over abortion will likely continue for decades, if not eternity. Yet on issues such as racism, equity of opportunity, and freedom, most Americans can find consensus on outcomes, even if they dispute the means.
 
America is no stranger to engaged activism. The Civil Rights movement was about action. Some opposed the movement, others died for it, but everyone was involved. Yet today, in a world of relative values and choices, where conservatives see poverty as a lack of agency, and liberals strip agency away from the poor, we have no Civil Rights movement—and if a group does decide to challenge a status quo, their efforts are usually mocked. How can one take change seriously if a decision to buy a pair of jeans parallels that of solving malnutrition? In this spirit, “Do the Change” calls for a new Civil Rights movement, only now without fighting “the man” anymore, but rather going deeply within ourselves and finding the strength to take integral action.
 
The challenge, then, is to avoid getting stuck in “being” the change. “Doing” the change requires immeasurable personal responsibility, accountability to our entire country, not to mention the global community, and an unwavering commitment to personal and cultural development. Hardest of all, doing the change requires that we transcend our postmodern values in pursuit of the next great Truth, the next Enlightenment. Voltaire cried, “Remember the cruelties!”
Yet the divine ordination and mythic gods against which Voltaire fought have merely taken the form of a more subtle postmodern relativism. Indeed, our era has been cruel to many. Our apathy, our relativism, our self-absorption—they have left us in a mess.
 
We are in a chaos state. Partisanship and terrorism threaten domestic and global stability. This is, in short, a time of evolutionary change. And the only way to transition from chaos to reorganization is through activity. “Being” is not enough. Perhaps we know that societal change often entails revolutionary social upheaval, so we would rather practice Yoga superficially, experience nervous breakdowns about whether to buy Prada or Gucci, and live “the good life” than create the next paradigm. It’s easier that way. Yet some of us, those who care deeply about the world, must overcome the apathy present in today’s world and co-create the transformation necessary to restore America as a beacon of hope. When British monarchy oppressed the world, America revolted. “No taxation without representation!” we shouted. When the world accepted slavery as a justifiable and necessary institution, Abraham Lincoln said, “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.” When the apartheid clause of “separate but equal” violently oppressed minorities, we sang, “We shall overcome.”
 
We have lost faith in what we must overcome. We must find that faith once again and come together as a nation, not to celebrate the unblemished success of democracy, but because our future is at risk. We must rediscover our moral values and stand for them. And this, above all, requires both deep contemplation and evolutionary action—a marriage of being and doing. As Martin Luther King, Jr., famously said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” The challenge, the controversy stares us in the eye daily, yet we cling desperately to comfort and convenience. It is time for a new revolution, one based on hope and democracy. It is time to join hands and make America shine once again.