744:
Everything the human race has so far achieved has
grown out of ‘ideas’ that have fallen into our heads, exploded into our
imagination and been implemented to see if they work. Sometimes they really do
work and we benefit from them always. Sometimes ideas work only for a time and
end up doing more harm than good. In that case, hopefully, we see the error and
fix it.
But who is this ‘we’? On a personal level I
can dream up ideas and fix them. I can do all this on my own account but I
can’t change a collective or global trend. There are certain dangerous,
entrenched, global habits, and if I scream about them they won’t necessarily
get fixed. I can try to be useful, however.
How
to be useful? Not take part in the habit, boycott, go towards an alternative?
Take the internal combustion engine, for
example. It was such an asset at first but, a century down the track, it’s
contributing to the death of our planet. The car is a big problem, but it’s
unlikely that you’re going to give it up. It’s so useful. It’s so ‘essential’.
And if you give it up (for the greater good) I won’t necessarily give mine up.
Our modern day lifestyle includes many of
these damaging habits, damaging for myself, for the planet, for the future, and
these ‘out-of-control’ problems worry us, make us afraid and pessimistic, and
make the future look grim. And it’s all the more depressing to know that most
of us haven’t even started shedding these habits; our own daily lifestyle is
still cranking up the machine. We are either too obstinate or too impotent to
change.
And don’t we say to ourselves, “I’m
reluctant to take the lead if I don’t think you will join me”. We don’t act
together. I can’t see how I, acting alone, will be making anything more than a
self-sacrificing gesture. Sell the car, use less electricity, give up meat –
all very brave and noble, but will you be so impressed that you will follow
suit? And if you don’t then could my own efforts make me feel resentful? Why
should I give up things on principle, only to end up making my own living
conditions more uncomfortable than they already are? Perhaps I figure that I’ll
wait for you to change first. Then I’ll follow suit! So, it seems that most of
us follow fashions, we don’t lead them. Perhaps this is the most dangerous
habit we have.
Imagine then, instead, that I don’t care
what you or anybody else does. Imagine then, that I act from conscience only,
no longer acting on the assumption that what most people do is what I should
do. Imagine then my taking a bold step, and thinking that if you decide to come
along that would be good, but if you don’t, so be it - the norm no longer
affects my decision to do what I think is right.
This
isn’t as unrealistic as it might seem, because it brings us to the possibility
of enjoying the process of change and experimenting with finding new ways to
self motivate; the trick being not to keep looking around to see what others
are doing, or looking for their approval for what we are doing.
Coming
back to these damaging habits and our need to shed them and work towards
finding better ones; by connecting personal fulfillment with practical repair
work, change becomes less painful. We can actually enjoy the hard work
involved.
It’s like that when you decide to become
vegan. Even though others aren’t doing it, the rightness of doing it is
obvious. Even though there’s a fear of failure, satisfaction comes with each
step taken. So, this particular change of daily habit (no longer using meat and
products taken from animals’ bodies) gradually shows results. There’s an
improvement in health and energy, and the big bonus is that we are helping to
get animals off death row. These three features of veganism boost self esteem,
if nothing else. It’s rather as if we have taken the first steps in regaining
control of our own lives AND our own world. These three ‘results’ are
ultimately satisfying because what I do is the magnetic pull to what ‘we’ will
eventually all do.
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