Change, to what, from what, and why? It seems to him that change, by the very nature of the word cannot happen in the future, because it is always present in the moment.
For a number of years now we have been told about the moral decline of our culture, and we did little to alter its course. It is becoming commonplace presently to hear or read about our fat and over consumptive American ways. Although some are still clinging to ideological divisions in debate, the overall consensus, at least after a couple glasses of red wine, is that our culture has run aground and needs a new direction.
We know now intuitively that this is true, but wonder how will it happen?
He remembers the days and weeks following September 11, 2001. There was a ‘real’ feeling that our lives had changed. Later people would respond disappointedly that the ‘change’ did not last, that soon we were all back to our normal ways.
The current talk and written words regarding change seem to imply policy or legislative action, as if it will occur because of a political decision, or a current crisis requiring it. However, change is a cultural phenomenon, which is based on the evolution of the collective consciousnesses’ of a group, society, or even the world’s citizenry.
But how? Do we continue to follow sheep-like the next over the cliff, to the Wal-Mart? Do we have a choice? In War and Peace, Tolstoy suggests, “each man lives for himself, uses his freedom to achieve his personal goals, and feels with his whole being that right now he can or cannot do such-and-such an action; but as soon as he does it, this action, committed at a certain moment in time, becomes irreversible, and makes itself the property of history, in which it has not a free but a predestined significance.”
So, perhaps the ‘change’, that we all seem to agree is needed, occur each moment we make free-will decisions, and manifests itself collectively. The individual may have more influence than we thought.
