Cultivating courage to see the need/be the change
A group of us were chatting about social media this week. Everyone in the group expressed some concern about the detrimental impact of social media, on the younger generation in particular, how it feeds their insecurity and distracts them from being present, how lives are now lived on phones and how everyone wants to be someone, feeding this ‘me’ culture which merely fuels the “I’m not good enough” story on which big companies profiteer.
One of the ladies who works with teenagers shared how she has witnessed a negative shift in behaviour and insecurity levels of teenagers since social media became prevalent. Another lady shared how her teenage son is negatively affected by it. Another expressed concern about the addictive nature of social media and being online. Yet none of these ladies had considered that their being on social media was feeding into it. Or to put it another way, none of these ladies recognised that as an individual they have a powerful role to play in how life unfolds on this planet and how social media unfolds in the future.
I touched on this recently when I mentioned about the butterfly effect, how the flapping of a butterfly’s wing in one part of the world could cause a typhoon in another, or something like that. But it’s not even that, or at least not that alone, but includes the idea of our power, or feelings of powerlessness and how our relationship to the potency of our power as individuals plays out in the world, and linked to that is the notion that we are the micro of the macro, that we might be an individual but collectively we are the whole.
Thus, I found it fascinating that despite identifying the negative aspects of social media, not one of the ladies thought for one minute that they might come off social media. I don’t think it was even a possibility in their minds. Not because they hadn’t thought about it, or couldn’t do it, but because social media has become so embedded in the fabric of our life that it’s as normal to be on social media as it is to drive a car. We do it because others do it, because it’s the norm, because that’s how life works now; this to the extent that we can’t see life being any other way than the way it is currently being lived. Do you know what I mean?
The mind is incredibly shaped by society, and by societal expectations, which are driven, in the case of social media, by big corporations hoping to profiteer. Now that’s interesting isn’t it, that our minds have been shaped to feed the marketeers dream and we don’t even realise it, because as far as we are concerned, we’re just using social media like everyone else does, and if everyone else is using it, then it must be OK mustn’t it?
Well you’d think so wouldn’t you but, like my ladies, there is an acknowledgment that it isn’t all good. On some deeper level they know that social media brings with it a whole heap of potentially negative consequences. Imagine then, the many ways our mind is being shaped by the social media content if our minds have been shaped to the extent that we think being on social media is OK even when we know on some deeper level that it isn’t.
Take the example of my group of ladies, they all recognised the negative impact of social media yet they weren’t going to do anything about it. They were just going to keep feeding it. I found this interesting and it got me thinking how there is something else at play here, as if there is a disconnection between their individual actions and the bigger picture. This isn’t meant as a criticism, but it appeared to me that they were struggling to see how their individual actions are feeding the bigger picture. It’s the same for all of us on some level.
Everything we do individually has an impact collectively. We may think we’re powerless to make a difference, because we buy into the idea that we are not worthy, not good enough and couldn’t possibly make a difference in this world. Yet every single one of us is far more powerful than we could ever imagine. Look at what we have created – by buying into social media, by feeding it, look how social media has become so embedded in the fabric of our life that we cannot imagine our life without it. If we had not bought into it individually, there would be no collective! See!
I was talking to a friend recently who works for an American company where they have been having lots of discussions recently about racism on the back of #BlackLivesMatter. This to the extent that they are now being encouraged to pull up their colleagues if they say something or do something that could in any way be perceived as racist whether intentional or not. This all in the hope of changing the vocabulary and narrative around racism to make it absolutely unacceptable in any capacity.
My friend said that the discussions have gone further, to the extent that there have been questions around environmentalism and climatic change and at which point we are collectively able to pull people up about the actions they take that scientists believe negatively impact on the environment and climate. For example, when does it becomes unacceptable to run a huge motorboat that guzzles lots of fuel, or for one person to use a large car that requires lots of petrol and just takes up more resources in its manufacture.
Furthermore, at which point do we begin to recognise that our individual actions, the food we eat, the transport we use, the houses we live in, the clothes we wear, the stuff we buy, all has an impact on the collective and on the whole and therefore directly on the climate and the environment. We all know that the climate is suffering, yet we continue to live our lives in the same way that we always have, just like we continue to feed social media even though we know it is having a real negative impact on the world.
We all suffer with that disconnection to some extent, thinking it’s someone else’s problem, or waiting for someone else to make the change, or waiting for those in power to lead the way, or believing that our actions don’t really have much of an impact because it is just little old us. But a whole heap of little old us, the collective little old us, well that’s all of us isn’t it, that’s the population of the world. See, we each have a role to play in this. But first we have to recognise this and take responsibility for it before we can make a change, before we can be the change.
If a whole heap of us became the change, imagine what might happen! If we all came off social media, for example, withdrew ourselves from it, like the drug it is, numbing us from our reality, what then? If we all ditched our cars, what then? If we all started owning our mental and emotional landscape and took responsibility for healing ourselves and recognising our inherent goodness, what then?
I was reading from the Katha Upanishad the other day, part of the Krishna Yajur Veda, this the Upanishad of the Secret of Eternal Life in which a teenager coolly walks up to Death and has a long conversation with him. Part of this Upanishad talks of treading the razor’s edge:
Get up! Wake up! Pay attention.
To all the blessings you’ve received!
Sharp as the razor’s edge is the path, they say,
More arduous than can be conceived!
Roopa Pai, explains: “To believe implicitly in a world that you cannot experience with your sense, to choose always the good path over the pleasurable, to be so dedicated to your quest that no earthly temptation can divert you, even while everyone around you mocks at your ‘idealistic nonsense’ – all of it demands a rare form of courage”.
What does that courage translate to in the real world? Not feeding social media when you realise it’s detriment to you individually as well as society and humanity as a whole; thinking twice before using the car or travelling by air; picking up litter from the road even though your neighbours never stop to help; taking issue with your friend or family member, respectfully, when you believe they are being racist; not buying something that you really like the look of because you know that it’ll just end up in landfill one day.
It’s courage perhaps that will positively change the world for the better. Having courage to take responsibility for our individual actions as part of the collective. As Roopa Pai writes, “Do you see how displaying this sort of courage will eventually make you a better person, in your own estimations if not in anyone else’s? Sure. But is it something you’d rather avoid? Oh, most certainly! See how the sages were so on point when they declared that the path to self-realisation was as sharp as a razor’s edge?”
I’m continuously reminded of Mahatma Gandhi and his famous quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. This not only in changing ourselves, but in changing our actions and thus changing the world. We are powerful beyond our wildest dreams and the sooner we recognise and realise this, the better for all of humanity and the more courage we have to face the razor’s edge!
But what can we do to cultivate this courage, to awaken, to recognise more of our disconnection and to create greater connection? Well I’m biased right, but there are some pretty ancient texts which guide the way and direct us towards yoga and meditation. Then there’s Reiki, the most amazing gift in my life, that will help us too, connecting to our heart and to love. Anything that connects us to our heart and helps us to love ourselves a little more and love others too, and this planet and all of humanity – we can’t help but make more of the change then.