essays
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"Critical Mass"

In a few days there will be another political election. Everybody’s talking about it. All those rude TV ads are not really helping us decide; they are just confusing and annoying. I can understand why some folks are tired of the whole thing. “Nothing ever really changes” they say. Actually, they are correct about that, in a way. Nothing really changes until we change. We the people, not as a group, but as an individual, one by one. Then everything changes.

The world we live in, for better or for worse, is the one we’ve chosen, the one we’ve created, ourselves. When will we ever “Get it”? - that we can, at any moment in time (including this one, right now) choose something else, and in that moment the world will begin to change. If enough of us change our minds, change our thoughts and expectations, the manifest physical world will change to match them, just as it has always done, and is doing now.

Critical Mass:

"In order to change the world into a better one, we first have to transform ourselves. As the perennist Trevelyan states, 'Change man and you change society. Try to change society without changing the inner man, and confusion will be the sole result.'

According to the Critical Mass Theory, if enough* people believe strongly in something, suddenly the idea will be true for everyone. This theory assumes a reciprocity between one's individual consciousness and the collective consciousness or Higher Consciousness ... If a number of people - enough to form a critical mass - concentrate on something, we may pass a threshold. Passing this threshold will have a spiritual and then a social impact on the whole world."

*(The number required for a critical mass with the strength to transform a society is far less than a majority of the society, and has been estimated at about 2 to 3 percent of the total number.) For more about Critical Mass, with case studies, read: In Search of New Age Spiritualities, by Alan Possamai, ISBN: 07544652130

When we hold beliefs and thoughts of fear, we will act out of fear, and we so can only have a fearful and fearsome world where we never feel safe. When we, as a society or as an individual, think of dishonesty and irresponsibility as a natural and necessary part of human life, we are creating and perpetuating a dishonest and uncaring world, which we must live in. When we accept the idea that killing each other is okay as long as there’s “a good reason” then we are cultivating the fertile ground for endless killing.

Even though thousands of years of killing have never solved anything, and we know, every man woman and child of us, that wars never end war, the human race still has wars. Why? Because so many of us still believe they are necessary. Or unavoidable. Or Right. Every soldier believes he or she is fighting for what is right, and for the country and the faith that they love. Because of this, there are areas of the world that are perpetually devastated by wars and bombs and deaths, for countless generations; places that have been without peace for thousands of years. You know them; they are “in your face” every day, and at your dinner table on the evening News.

I am astonished, absolutely, that nobody seems to notice that this is utterly insane. Or if they notice, they try to accept it as something they cannot change. And yet, the simple truth beneath it all is that Your belief in it is what perpetuates it. You cannot change it until you stop creating it with your belief that you can’t change it. You CAN change it, if you choose to. Please, Choose to. Change your thoughts and you have begun to change the world.

The world is getting smaller. What happens on the other side of the earth profoundly and directly affects your own life. And what happens anywhere in the world can be known everywhere in the world in a matter of minutes. We are living in a conscious universe that responds unfailingly to our consciousness. What you believe must manifest in your life experience, because that is the universal law - that’s how our universe works. God gives us what we ask for with our consciousness.

It’s decision time, not just for elections, but for the human race. It is urgent for each of us to rethink all of our old assumptions. It is crucial for each and all of us to take an honest look at our world and our soul’s purpose in it. If this world is not really what you wanted, choose to change it.

Whatever you vote for, please let it be from your own secret heart this time. Not from your wallet, not from the TV commercials. And if you think that not-voting is a neutral vote, you’re wrong. Not-voting just lets the most money, or the most clever speech writers, or the loudest voices, rule the choice you’ve made. Whether you vote or don’t vote, you are still making a choice.

What you think and believe, that is the only thing that is more powerful than politics and money, more powerful than bombs. It does not take a numerical majority of us, it only requires a critical mass, to change things deeply. It only takes a few more people like you.

Your vote costs nothing, and hurts no one. Vote from your heart, and speak your mind with the quiet power that you are blessed with. Remember this, and know it as the sacred promise that it truly is: What you hold in your heart and your mind, shapes your life and your world. Take care to be aware of what you are holding there.

You can make a difference. You can change the world. But if you believe you can’t, you won’t.
You have the ultimate choice.
What will you Choose to believe?

this Month's New Thought Essay, Poetry, and Blog. Darkhorse Press New Poets