Look Within to Change World

 

Mahatma Gandhi is often attributed as saying we ought to be the change we wish to see in the world. Michael Jackson wrote a song about starting with the man in the mirror. These concepts have been around for ages. On the surface, they sound like simple lessons that tell us to focus on ourselves, but the truth is far more profound. These aren't messages of changing one person at a time nor are they messages of personal responsibility. They are saying something simpler: Look within to change the world.

There is a deeper truth at play: when we align with certain ways of being, it literally radiates around us and changes our bubbles of experience. Our lives will literally change around us as if by magic. In fact, this is the teaching Mahatma Gandhi actually wrote. The above attribution was more of a response to his teaching than the teaching itself and it lost its power in the conversion. What Gandhi taught was, "As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him." Science has plenty to offer in the ways of explaining this phenomenon, but I also have no problem claiming that science is describing fundamental spiritual principles. Emotional transference or vibrational energy fields is beyond the point. The fact is, we can and do radiate moods or energy that others pick up on and reflect back to us. It's quiet, it's subtle, but it's profound.

Looking within is not simply about improving ourselves. It's about learning to live in such a way that we are truly free and our expression naturally changes the expression of those around us without even trying. We can be decent people while lacking this energetic expression. This isn't about becoming a "better" person. This is about finding ourselves so deeply that we can't help but exude a force around others that helps them find themselves as well. The phenomenon is real. 

Have you ever been near a person who saps the energy out of the room? Someone you dread being around? Someone who takes the joy out of everything? Or how about the person that lights up the room? They make things far more tolerable. They make things fun. These are real things and they can be learned. You can be that depressed or anxious person who brings everyone down or you can be that spark of light that people feel safe beside. This energy you give off is far more important than any skill you may possess as it overrides those skills both in ability and in perception of value. Everyone has the option to choose—the trick is simply learning and growing in that choice. And it's easier than you might imagine.

It all starts with a spark of curiosity and a willingness to try. Looking within isn't about being better for others, it's about being entirely comfortable within our own skin. Don't think in terms of doing more—it's about being more by doing less. Less worry, less strife, less control, and more passive things like appreciation, wonder, and joy. One can work the soup kitchens all day and give everything to the homeless while entirely failing at looking within and becoming this beacon. It's easy and it's freeing—how else would we radiate if it were hard or miserable?

To investigate further—entirely free—begin with Your Mind is Made of Voices and learn to control the stories which control our alignment.