My family calls me Pancho and you might think that I don't know you, but I'd like you to know that I love you all...
As the mic was approaching this Wednesday, I had flashes of the big picture and the local picture, think globally act locally, think locally act globally... and it all merged into think/actglocally/lobally. Is this a part of the same wholeness and oneness of life, only seen from a different perspective? Is this some sort of awareness of our worldwide interconnectedness? I think/feel so. Here are the 3 points I shared with you this week:
1. A Fractal of Courage, Compassion, Love and Wisdom.
2. Gandhi's Fractal.
3. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Fractal.
1. A Fractal of Courage, Compassion, Love and Wisdom.
The part is a model of the whole and the whole is reflected in their parts. Fractals are abundant in Nature. If we are surrounded by they beauty of the Cosmos and all those awe inspiring fractals, what if the Grand Human Family embodies a fractal of courage, compassion, love and wisdom for the survival of humanity?
2. Gandhi's Fractal.
"The very right to live is only afforded to us if we fulfill our duty as citizens of the World. Nationalism is not the highest concept. The highest concept is a World Community."
The Mahatma have a beautiful vision of living in harmony in a World community. Living as citizens of the World. And yet, swadeshi (localism, self-sufficiency) was one of the core values of the movement of his time. Swadeshi is a call to the consumer to be aware of the violence he/she is causing by supporting those industries that result in poverty and harm to workers and to humans and other creatures. It is localism and self-sufficiency but at the same time interdependence and, in Gandhi’s time, finally independence, as British control of India was rooted in control of her indigenous industries. From Gandhi’s perspective, swadeshi was the “center of the solar system” of the independence of India.
While he had the vision of creating a harmonious Earth Community, he hold at the same time the principle to focus on that spirit in us which restricts us to the use and service of our immediate surroundings to the exclusion of the more remote (if he only knew about Global Warming and how we ship avocados from the other hemisphere of the Planet when we can get them locally!). Why to focus on the local? Because it is empowerment at its best. No one is responsible for our happiness but ourselves. No one is responsible for the happiness of the community but the community itself. This is the ultimate empowerment.
Another guideline of Gandhi's fractal in both, small and large scale, is: hatred dissolves in the presence of love. He stressed the principle that our means are our ends in the making, knowing that our thoughts, words and deeds will ripple out all over the community. What are those means? Kindness, fearlessness, courage and love.
So, a single be-the-change person ripples out love into her/his family; then the family into the community; then the community into the region; and then the region into the Planet.
These are citizens of the World forming the Beloved Earth Community.
3. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Fractal.
Inspired by Gandhi's teachings, Martin Luther King Jr. followed his steps: "If we are able to have peace on Earth we need to develop a world perspective..."
For me, what is most incredible about this idea, is that he made it on December 24th 1967, right after the publication of the first color photograph of the whole Earth ever taken in November of that year, but before the photograph taken by the Apollo 8 astronauts on Christmas Eve of 1968 which had a special resonance in humanity's imagination. The contemporary poet Drew Dillinger explains the magic of the picture taken of that Christmas Eve:
"...perhaps because it was taken by human hands and not a satellite; perhaps because it included the edge of the moon in the foreground, providing the element of Earth as seen from the perspective of another celestial body."
The oneness of Martin Luther King Jr.'s fractal and his prophetic insights can be felt in here:
"As nations and individuals, we are interdependent. It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality. .. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
As Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. understood that our means are our ends. He was clear that in order to have a sustainable social change, a personal transformation needs to occur. What I call the inner revolution. Perhaps this is one of the most beautiful quotes I've ever understood from him:
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
If we want to bring harmony to our communities, it is indispensably to embody the changes we are advocating for. It is because of this fractal of courage, compassion, love and wisdom reflected all over the structures and reality, that our means must be our ends. To overcome falsehood with truth and hatred with love.
In the 1960's we didn't have the outer technology to spread these messages in a fast efficient way. Martin Luther King Jr. encouraged us to Planetize the Movement:
"Although it is obvious that nonviolent movements for social change must internationalize, because of the interlocking nature of the problems they all face, and because otherwise those problems will breed war, we have hardly begun to build the skills and the strategy, or even the commitment, to planetize our movement for social justice."
Now we have the tools to do it. We have the inner technology and the outer technology. In this moment, I'm writing a comment that will be available, at the speed of light, to anyone in the Planet who has access to a computer and/or a mobile device.
The kindness fractal of Wednesdays is spreading all over the World, one Wednesday at a time.
Let's Planetize the Movement of the Ahimsa (R)evolution to all corners of our round borderless country... the Beloved Earth Community. Let's start with our own heart and mind.
May all become compassionate, courageous and wise.
On Sep 21, 2009 Pancho wrote :
My family calls me Pancho and you might think that I don't know you, but I'd like you to know that I love you all...
As the mic was approaching this Wednesday, I had flashes of the big picture and the local picture, think globally act locally, think locally act globally... and it all merged into think/actglocally/lobally. Is this a part of the same wholeness and oneness of life, only seen from a different perspective? Is this some sort of awareness of our worldwide interconnectedness? I think/feel so. Here are the 3 points I shared with you this week:
1. A Fractal of Courage, Compassion, Love and Wisdom.
2. Gandhi's Fractal.
The Mahatma have a beautiful vision of living in harmony in a World community. Living as citizens of the World. And yet, swadeshi (localism, self-sufficiency) was one of the core values of the movement of his time. Swadeshi is a call to the consumer to be aware of the violence he/she is causing by supporting those industries that result in poverty and harm to workers and to humans and other creatures. It is localism and self-sufficiency but at the same time interdependence and, in Gandhi’s time, finally independence, as British control of India was rooted in control of her indigenous industries. From Gandhi’s perspective, swadeshi was the “center of the solar system” of the independence of India.
While he had the vision of creating a harmonious Earth Community, he hold at the same time the principle to focus on that spirit in us which restricts us to the use and service of our immediate surroundings to the exclusion of the more remote (if he only knew about Global Warming and how we ship avocados from the other hemisphere of the Planet when we can get them locally!). Why to focus on the local? Because it is empowerment at its best. No one is responsible for our happiness but ourselves. No one is responsible for the happiness of the community but the community itself. This is the ultimate empowerment.
Another guideline of Gandhi's fractal in both, small and large scale, is: hatred dissolves in the presence of love. He stressed the principle that our means are our ends in the making, knowing that our thoughts, words and deeds will ripple out all over the community. What are those means? Kindness, fearlessness, courage and love.
So, a single be-the-change person ripples out love into her/his family; then the family into the community; then the community into the region; and then the region into the Planet.
These are citizens of the World forming the Beloved Earth Community.
3. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Fractal.
Inspired by Gandhi's teachings, Martin Luther King Jr. followed his steps: "If we are able to have peace on Earth we need to develop a world perspective..."
The oneness of Martin Luther King Jr.'s fractal and his prophetic insights can be felt in here:
If we want to bring harmony to our communities, it is indispensably to embody the changes we are advocating for. It is because of this fractal of courage, compassion, love and wisdom reflected all over the structures and reality, that our means must be our ends. To overcome falsehood with truth and hatred with love.
In the 1960's we didn't have the outer technology to spread these messages in a fast efficient way. Martin Luther King Jr. encouraged us to Planetize the Movement:
Now we have the tools to do it. We have the inner technology and the outer technology. In this moment, I'm writing a comment that will be available, at the speed of light, to anyone in the Planet who has access to a computer and/or a mobile device.
The kindness fractal of Wednesdays is spreading all over the World, one Wednesday at a time.
Let's Planetize the Movement of the Ahimsa (R)evolution to all corners of our round borderless country... the Beloved Earth Community. Let's start with our own heart and mind.
May all become compassionate, courageous and wise.