How self-transformation changes the whole world

by Ron Farmer June 29, 2013

As you could see in my first blog one of my great passions is to engage in radical self-transformation mostly for my own sake, but also for the whole world.

Last night I Googled, ‘How can I change myself so as to change the world?’ Near the top of the list was a blog, “30 things you can do to change the world in 30 seconds”, at lorelle.wordpress.com. It was the first offering in a sharing of ideas on self-transformation so as to make the world a better place.

There were heaps of familiar suggestions, such as ‘Smile at a stranger’ and ‘Use your car blinker’, along with new ones (for me) like: ‘Paint that old fence so it looks nice. One that’s not yours’. Some of the ideas would require quite radical levels of self-transformation in order to put them into action, such as: ‘Accept yourself. You can’t love anyone else until you do.’

But Sara wrote: “Most of these things are good ideas, but by no means can change the world. I hate this title.” Sara is probably not aware of the scientific advances made by such people as the renowned brain researcher Karl Pribram; the biologist Rupert Sheldrake, who demonstrated how humans and plants and even crystals influence each other at a distance through morphic resonance; the theoretical physicist David Bohm, who pioneered the theory of implicate and explicate order in quantum physics; and the electrical engineer and physicist Dennis Gabor, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for inventing holography. The work of these eminent researchers all suggest that everything everywhere is interconnected and that each part (of the brain, the hologram, the world, the universe) is encoded in some way to produce the information on the whole.

If indeed these cutting-edge scientists are correct in their surmising, then the case for self-transformation is quite strong. If I can change the world by changing myself, why wouldn’t I want to try?

The mystics have always advised that any real self-transformation can only take place in the context of a sense of unity. They speak of a oneness underlying all of creation, like the unseen thread running through the beads of a necklace. Now it seems that science is edging in that direction also.

The artist/poet William Blake wrote his immortal lines well before the age of exponential scientific discoveries:

To see the world in a grain of sand,
and to see heaven in a wild flower,
hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour.

Intuitively Blake and the rishis of ancient India knew what science would later begin to demonstrate: that I am in the All, and the All is in me.

This is surely one of the most powerful motivations we can have for committing ourselves with a passion to an ongoing self-transformation

The time for self-transformation is now. A sense of urgency pervades, even though we mostly block out from conscious awareness the untold suffering of humanity, the poisoning of land and water, and so much more. If we don’t change, who will?

Who changes?

As I change,
the whole world changes.
Throughout it all
there I am.
I am the dancing Krishna,
the rampaging child soldier,
and the deathless saint in a cave.
I am the mangy dog in a Delhi slum,
the soaring rainforest giant,
and the dew on the petal of a rose.
As I change,
the whole world changes,
for I am in you
and you are in me.