Seed Post #4: Change

So far so good
You try to sing along to the radio
but it's not your language not your song
it's from some other time ago

And you're thinking about how someone died that day
the you that was so carefully planned
But then again maybe this life is like a sleeping mountain
waking up to shape the land

~ Vienna Teng, "Shasta (Carrie's Song)"

Sometimes life can turn on a dime.  Turn left instead of right, have one drink too many, say yes when you meant no, pick up the phone call that wipes someone from your world...it takes so little, sometimes.

That's why when I hear people saying "What can one person do to change the world?" I can't help but laugh.  I imagine karma, sometimes, as the convection currents that move the Earth's crust beneath our feet.  It's always moving, always shifting and bending even if we can't feel it--sometimes it takes millions of years to move a few inches, but then, the pressure builds up and all of a sudden the ground is pitching and yawning beneath our feet.  All those tiny shifts are like the actions of individuals, each one pushing with the power of a single life against what seems impossible to move--and then, first with a tremor and then with a mighty shake, the mountain wakes, and the Earth changes shape forever.

As with the Earth, as with society, so with our own evolution.  We can work for years trying to change our lives, making tiny shifts and wondering if they're ever going to amount to anything, when suddenly that one small change, a nudge in the right direction, tips the scale.  It might not even be something obvious, just the one seemingly errant comment or tiny decision that causes all those little changes to crystallize into a massive epiphany or a full life overhaul that's been a decade in coming. 

Or, perhaps, it's not a small thing--it could be a huge event like a birth or death or accomplishment that, once realized, causes realizations to tumble into place one right after another.  Sometimes initiatory experiences slip in like a thief in the night, and sometimes they feel more like undergoing reincarnation without even changing your skin.  There are moments when you look around and it occurs to you that everything is different.  Maybe you can pinpoint the exact moment, the tiny shift that would shake the world, and sometimes it's less an eruption than an erosion.  Mountain building takes millennia or mere minutes. 

Act as though it will always take millennia...but be open to the tumble. 


Related Post:  The Three Catalysts

Comments

[Jay Schryer]

This is very thought-provoking. I've been thinking about this for a while now, but I love how you've presented it here. Lots of little steps, tiny motions set the stage, and then there's a little commotion, a little stirring in the cosmic pond, and then suddenly, the whole world shifts.

[Jennifer]

Heh. Sounds like my fortune cookie this weekend. I'm still waiting on making that overdue decision....

[Jaka Merriman]

I struggle with believing in myself in such a fashion. I'm very much the person that says, "I can't do anything; I'm just one person." But I'm trying to move past it and reach out to do something big. It's very difficult for me, but I'm taking steps. (Thanks for all the help, by the way!)

[Kjesta]

Thank you so much for writing this! I've been vegan for almost two months now, vegetarian for four, and I've been told so often that I can't change anything that I almost started to believe it. This has given me so much courage and inspiration! Not that I would've stopped on my path, but it's helping me see the flowers along the way.

Please know that all your posts (and books!) are loved and appreciated here in Germany, at least by me. And please keep being such a great inspiration.