How To Believe The World Is Not Going To Shit (End)

Essay by Rebecca Rumpf

I wrote this just over a year ago at the request of two of my good friends who, like me, tend towards cynicism, but have a powerful desire to be hopeful, instead. After a discussion I had with my father tonight, I decided to share it with him, and now I’m sharing it with you. . .

Mahatma Gandhi famously said, "be the change you wish to see in the world."

And, Tom Robbins wrote this paragraph in a tribute to Leonard Cohen:
"There is evidence that the honoree might be privy to the secret of the universe, which, in case you’re wondering, is simply this: everything is connected. Everything. Many, if not most, of the links are difficult to determine. The instrument, the apparatus, the focused ray that can uncover and illuminate those connections is language. And just as a sudden infatuation often will light up a person’s biochemical atmosphere more pyrotechnically than any deep, abiding attachment, so an unlikely, unexpected burst of linguistic imagination will usually reveal greater truths than the most exacting scholarship. In fact, the poetic image may be the only device remotely capable of dissecting romantic passion, let alone disclosing the inherent mystical qualities of the material world."

And so -- in pondering the subject matter of this essay, I would think that first and foremost, one would need to believe that the changes they wish to see in the world are changes that they are capable of making in themselves. In fact, one could go out on a limb and decide that they have, in fact, already made those changes in themselves -- just by their unwavering commitment to do so (and a knowledge that time, as we know it, is somewhat of an illusion -- but I won’t go into the whole time-space continum thing here). Gandhi and Robbins were both acutely aware, one must assume, that everything really is connected. If you want to believe that the world is not going to shit, you must start by deciding and then believing that you are not going to shit. Care for yourself, love yourself, treat your environment and the living things in that environment with respect -- and take it a step further and treat those things with reverence. And, if you believe in the importance of language (as Robbins clearly does -- and hey, you are reading this essay, right?) then you could take up your pen, or your keyboard and write. Or at the very least, you could choose the words that you speak with care.

Thoughts are powerful. Our thoughts can take the form of images (of course), but there is narration in our minds that typically accompanies those images. Words are one of those things that make us human and distinguish us from other living creatures. As someone who believes that other forms of language not only exist, but deserve our utmost respect, I have chosen to say that it is words that make us human, and not just language.

Japanese researcher Dr. Masaru Emoto discovered that water crystals will appear quite differently depending on the concentrated thoughts that are directed at them. When he literally presented the water with written and spoken words, the water responded by taking on different shapes. If our thoughts and feelings, when communicated by words, can affect the shape of frozen water crystals -- imagine the impact they can have on the rest of our physical reality, the bodies that our spirits are residing in, as well as the physical earth that we are currently sharing with our fellow living creatures.

Let’s think about water now. . .

Science teaches us that the majority of our earth is comprised of water, as is the majority of our bodies. Considering Dr. Emoto’s research, I am led to wonder what the water in my body does when I make a conscious effort to keep my mind on the positive. My favorite yoga instructor says that one of the best things you can do for yourself is to fill your soul with gratefulness, and that if you are not capable of being grateful for yourself, then to start out with being grateful for something else -- but to work up to the point where you are actually grateful for yourself. Through the years that I have been practicing Bikram yoga, I have come to believe that a healthy connection between mind, body and spirit can, in fact, change a person from the inside out. After 90 minutes of intense yoga practice, when I am resting in Savasana (dead man’s pose), I will often focus my mind on gratefulness. As I do this, I can feel my entire body shift -- it starts to feel weightless, and I can actually sense the buoyancy in my mind and feel my spirit extending out beyond my flesh. So what are the changes I would like to see in the World? How can I make those changes in myself? I would like to see a healthy and thriving ecological environment. In that case, I should strive to keep my body (the environment of my mind and spirit) healthy and thriving as well. I would like to see people treat each other with reverence and respect. And so, I should treat myself with reverence and respect -- as well as the people and things that I come in contact with every day.

If you place two drops of water fairly close to each other, they will automatically merge. Water is drawn to itself, and once it mergers, you will not know where the one drop begins and the other ends. In much the same way, people are drawn to other people who reflect certain qualities that they themselves possess. If you take a look at your favorite people, at the people who you share an affinity with -- you will see parts of them that reflect back the person that you are, or would like to be. It is only natural then, that as you make positive changes in your life, you will draw in others who have made, or are making, similar changes. It is also possible that your positive changes will inspire the people in your life to make their own changes because of the very natural way in which we affect one another. When I am with my closest friends, we share thoughts (often simultaneously). At times, it can even become difficult to know where my thought ends and Belle’s begins and Jeannie’s ends, and mine begins, and so on.

What happens when a drop of water hits the smooth surface of a pool full of water? It ripples, and the effects of that one drop can be felt throughout the entire pool. Robbins says that the secret of the universe is that everything is connected. I happen to share that belief with him, which is why the Gandhi quote also rings so true for me. If you truly believe that everything is connected, you must then start to weigh the consequences of your own actions more carefully. You must consider that all of your actions might be like that drop of water hitting the surface of the pool. This should be an inspiring thought though, and not just a daunting one. The good that you do today can ripple out and have positive effects that you will never even know about.

When I was in college, I was drawn very instinctively to studying the big picture. My studies were focused on the large scale: countries, cultures, history, economies, geography, politics, etc. At the time, I would sometimes think that I liked the big picture better because the small picture was more painful for me to look at. Crunching the numbers related to poverty was easier than hearing the detailed story of a child who had starved to death, for example. As I have grown older though, I have started to change my mind a bit about just which picture is harder to look at. Now I believe that the big picture can be discouraging and induce feelings of hopelessness. The big picture can have the overwhelming effect of making you feel that you can do nothing to really make a difference in this world. While I still think that big picture studies are important, and I will always strive to keep myself informed of what is going on in world at large, I now believe that my own focus should be more on the small picture.

When I look at my own small picture, I cannot help but be over-whelmed by gratitude. I have been given so much. As a child, I never gave a second thought to whether I would have food on the table or a place to sleep. I was handed the luxury of a good education, and I am sitting on my couch right now typing this essay on my laptop computer with high speed internet access -- all the knowledge I care to have at my fingertips. Just the fact that I am able to spend this time pondering the state of the world is an indication of the aristocracy of my culture. My own small picture can also seem disgraceful because of those luxuries. As I sit here and type, the very real small pictures of people all over the world are pictures of suffering. I cannot know why I was blessed to be born here, and they were born into their situations. . . but I can resolve to try to make my own actions -- my own drops of water into that pool ripple out to the world in a positive light.

In the Bible, 1st Thessalonians 15:17 says to "Pray without ceasing," and Colassians 4:2 instructs to "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving." I read these verses as a child and wondered how in the hell anyone could pray continually, without ceasing. Did this mean that I was supposed to pray on the soccer field, in ballet class, while riding my bike, etc? How would that be possible? I had a teacher who explained that what the bible really meant is that I should do all of those things with an attitude of prayer. While I have let go of many of the things that organized religion taught me, prayer (meditation) is something that is still very important in my own brand of spirituality. I have learned a lot over the years about "continuing in prayer and watching the same with thanksgiving". The person that I want to be would humbly accept misfortune in my life with thanksgiving too. I include this in my essay because gratitude, in the form of prayer or meditation, is the foundation for me in the process of being the change I wish to see in the world. It’s the thing that keeps me grounded. It’s the thing that reminds me that I am NOT going to shit, regardless of what the world seems to be doing.