The Change is Here

^{In the spirit of the title and the new Gregorian year, this post has changed. Updated 01/01/22.}

The change we want and need. It’s already here for those that choose it. All that remains is to act consciously with inherent perfection.

If you are aware and uneasy about the state of things in the world, just know that it is meant to be this way, and no amount of worrying, denying or avoiding will make any of it go away or change. Nor will the manipulation of others bring about anything truly worthwhile either.

What will bring meaningful change is by first changing yourself. Breaking the loop and healing your heart.

For example, if the amount of trash you see in the natural world bothers you, make much less of it at home yourself, pick some up when you see it outdoors, educate yourself and those that may show interest. If the quantity of injustice makes your blood boil, be fairer yourself, boycott, raise awareness and help those that want it in whatever way you can… Get the idea?

We always have choice. We have a choice where we spend our money, on what we watch, what we do, think and say, what we put on and in our bodies, on who or what we spend our time on, where we live and work and how we go about our daily lives. Some choices may not be easy or even pleasant to make, but they are generally available to us. The energy we cultivate and where we direct it is our choice and it means everything. Yet many are still completely unaware of their inner workings, let alone the power they hold within them to create.

Put simply, once we become conscious, we can create much as we choose to.

We always have choice, at least when it comes to our perceptions and responses, to deny that aspect of our free will is to give away our personal power. When we say we do not have a choice about something, we rob ourselves of opportunity.

We can get back the power we have dispersed by becoming aware of what we do, owning it and experimenting with changes where necessary. Simple in theory, right? Admittedly, in practice, it can prove somewhat more complicated. Nevertheless, those embarking on this often perilous voyage are far from alone and even though it may feel that way, or be extremely trying at times, the only way out is in and right through it all anyway.

Thankfully, more and more people are choosing to question their inner realities and play an active part in the change that is operating all around us constantly. To really shine a light on the inner worlds, all the shadows and contradictions that create resistance within. A resistance that then discharges into a collectively-created outer world, only to be reflected and looped back to us again.

This process can make clear what has been distorted within us if we choose it in spite of what is happening around us. More and more are working on freeing themselves from the twisted back and forth of manipulated illusions and in turn, they help others do the same until our shared world is indistinguishable from when the perception first began.

Initially, I had finished this post with the phrase, “Perfection doesn’t exist, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t explore new avenues of thinking, being, doing. Join the journey, all you have to do is look within.”

Since then, a conversation I had with my mum got me thinking; she referenced The Fifth Agreement by Don Miguel Ruiz, a book I still need to read. The points she raised around the concept of perfection were interesting, even if I protested initially, saying that “nobody is perfect” and yada, yada, yada, as I’m sure many of you reading this might well do too.

After some reflection, I finally came round to this perspective… Perfection just is, you are it, so am I, we all are.

Here is what Don Miguel Ruiz had to say about it during an interview:

The more I thought about it, the idea that “perfection doesn’t exist” or that it’s hard to grasp, or that it cannot be attained whatsoever is a major cop-out. We are cheating ourselves every time we say these kinds of things internally or aloud. Often unconsciously, we are programming ourselves to play small. Who decides what perfection is anyway? Do we trust and respect them? Even more than ourselves? Why would we want to hold ourselves back in such a way? What if we all decided to own our actions, to truly be the perfection that we are, as we are, right now?

Sure, we can all work on aspects of ourselves if we want, create different actions, experience another way of being, if we have the capacity and conscience to. We can become another expression of perfect but we will always be perfect either way, even with all our perceived “imperfections” because we are, as we are and that in itself is perfection, n’est-ce pas?

Even if I can hear the inner ruminating that this and that isn’t perfect, how can one say everything is perfect when it isn’t?! In reality, it is all a question of perspective.

To remain in this perpetual search for some elusive form of perfection that is dictated by others’ ideals, the whims of commercial markets, religious leaders and political agendas or assimilated false beliefs about life and ourselves is a waste of precious energy. It is time and effort that could be invested in things like actually living the experiences we came here for.

For many, there will come a time in the future where the past is reflected upon in a different light. A changed perception becomes available on things that were considered imperfect at the time, things that we thought to be the total opposite of perfect; catastrophes, crises, dramas and the like. The final realisation, for those who choose not to play victim and have embraced the journey of discovery into the inner workings of the soul at least, will be that these very “imperfect” things ended up being exactly what was needed at the time and so could actually be considered perfect indeed!

Now that doesn’t mean we rest there, perfection has been attained, stop the press, final curtain, we can all go home, no. This is the problem of a society conditioned to compete, obsessed with the achievement of trivial, often manipulated goals and desires of winning all the things, above all and everyone else. Amassing stuff to appear valuable and claiming ownership over everything we can, just because we can.

We are currently a collective with an incessant need to hide and deny the negative, the bad and the ugly, as if these things somehow mean failure. Like a problem was ever remedied through maintained ignorance and growth never sprouted from desolation and destruction. Rather than seeing the duality that permits potential, the positive, the good and the beautiful that we are capable of when we choose to close certain loops ourselves. What we really have is an opportunity to bring things into balance and harmony through conscious choice.

We live in a society that has mostly forgotten to appreciate what truly is, what makes us human, the process of pondering questions, the art of learning from mistakes, the trough of deception after a peak of jubilation, death and illness, the highs and the lows, to share, to witness the journey and all of its participants for all their perfection and the lessons contained therein.

I guess what I mean to say, in complete contrast to what was said before, is that perfection does exist, I am it and so are you, even if we don’t fully grasp how or why in the moment. Even if we don’t believe it. Perfection isn’t a destination or a thing to be attained, like life, it just is, much like we just are. We can and should definitely still explore new avenues of thinking, being and doing independently of this state of perfection. Maybe even reconsider flippantly saying such things as, “perfection doesn’t exist” or “nobody’s perfect” in the future.

How do we participate further in this evolving perfection and make it perceptible for ourselves now? We start to truly be as we are under all the illusions we may have adopted. By cultivating curiosity into what made us, the masks we wear and why? What got us here and where we want to go with it?

Shedding the layers of lies we inherited and the mechanisms of hurt we may have embodied before, whatever it is that keeps us looping in misery when we could be contributing to paradise. That means taking a conscious position in willingly stripping ourselves bare, facing it all, being truly honest and open with ourselves. With love and compassion, looking within and cultivating a deep comprehension for the way we are, personally and collectively, perfectly.

Understandably, not everyone is capable or willing right now, some may even see it of no use whatsoever, and I suppose that is perfect too. A journey of such colossal importance for the development of a soul, and ultimately the larger human experience, certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted and unprepared.

_{Updated 01/01/22}