THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

Many spiritual teachers I've read say that we create our own reality - we create the world we live in by the way we view and react to it.  The book of Proverbs says, "As a man thinketh, so is he.  Jesus cautioned that if a man lusts after a woman in his heart, he has committed adultery.  I think that's because if a person dwells on a thought, they will eventually actually perform the action, making it into a reality.  So, saying we create our own reality is true - to a certain extent. 

I was stumped for a long time over this, because certainly a person living in a war-torn region did not create the war by their thoughts.  Starving people do not create famines.  Unemployed people do not create a lack of jobs. Domestic abuse victims do not create their situations.  Sick people do not create their diseases. I think we do create the world, the society, we live in - but collectively.  The action of one person does not create their whole world, because there are many other forces at work. But is is true that collectively we have created the world, the society, that we live in.

I so long for a world that works for everyone, where everyone is treated with respect, kindness, and compassion.  We have created the structures, the institutions, the systems, and the situations we have, and only we can change them.  But what can one person do?  The words and actions of one person CAN begin to change ideas and taken-for-granted ways of doing things!  One person's ideas and fresh ways of looking at situations can put a crack in the foundation of long established structures!  And, for me, that's a very exciting and empowering thought!