Nothing truly happens outside of us
Nothing that happens outside of us truly happens outside of us. Everything we encounter, we create. That's true in every domain. We can use this principle to make far-reaching transformations.
One morning, a few years ago, I entered the train to commute to the city and sat down at a table. Opposite me sat a young man with large headphones on his head. He was listening to music loudly enough for everyone around him to hear. Soon, we engaged in an unpleasant and tense conversation about the volume and my request for him to turn it down. We didn't reach a conclusion, and I sat there feeling angry and exasperated.
After a few moments, I decided to drop my anger, relax, and leave the situation behind. I even smiled. At the same moment, the young man turned down the volume, put his headphones down, and spoke a few words of apology. We chatted a little bit about the music he was listening to and what it meant for him, and then we returned to our own business.
Nothing that happens outside of us truly happens outside of us. I had created the situation on the train before I boarded it. I was already exasperated when I arrived at the station, and when I got on the train I was unconsciously looking for a way to direct my anger.
Nothing that happens outside truly happens outside of us. There is always a strong connection between our inner life, our consciousness, and the world around us. This relationship extends far beyond the principle of cause and effect, and holds true for every dimension of our lives. From our private lives to our societal and global existence: we are living a human-made life, and everything we encounter was once created by someone else. If you trace back, you will find humanity's current situation reflected in the words and ideas of those who came before us. It may not be entirely transparent, as only a few described the global degradation of the ecological sphere as their goal. However, you will see it as a more or less acknowledged outcome of their objectives. The power of the dynamics at work stems from the fact that so many people not only follow but also create and sustain that same dynamic, by adhering to paradigms they once chose to integrate into their lives.
The same dynamic can be used consciously to reverse the situation, as I did on the train. We need to understand the underlying paradigm and principles of the dynamic we face, the one we want to change. We can achieve this by understanding the relationship between our inner life and the dynamic outside. We can realize far-reaching transformations if we change our inner attitude, disconnect from the old dynamic, and allow that which we want to create to unfold, rise, and eclipse the old.