virgin islands scene

Things do not change; we change.
-- Henry David Thoreau
 

 

The MONTHLY Motivator - March 2008

In this together

Do you seek a better life for yourself? Then make a better world for everyone. There is something vitally important to remember in order to grow, to prosper, to find fulfillment, to know joy. We are all in this together. One person cannot truly gain at the expense of another. Any relative advantage over others is fleeting, for when you compromise someone in order to be their master or superior, you make yourself master of nothing.

There are those who say that if we all joined together we could make a better world. Yet we are already joined together. Our fortunes are inextricably linked. The more we learn to live that reality, in each moment, in each thought, in each action, the more we advance forward. It is when we deny that reality, or choose to ignore it, that we get into trouble.

Surely you have noticed that when you plug a light into the socket on the wall, there are two prongs on the plug. That’s because electrical energy must flow through a circuit, that is, in both directions. When the light is illuminated, there is electrical current flowing into the bulb, and there is current flowing out of the bulb. One cannot continue without the other. If you stop the flow in either direction, the light goes dark.

The energy of your anger, the energy of your love, the energy of your envy, the energy of your friendship, all work in a similar fashion. You cannot propagate such things without receiving them back in equal measure. And you cannot receive them without giving them in return. The circuit must be complete in order for the energy to flow.

Just imagine how powerfully you could live each day if you could drop all pretenses, all resentments, all efforts to gain advantage over others, the need to impress, the desire to subdue. Imagine what life would be like if you were free to live, to work, to play, to love, to experience each day unhindered by conflicts with others, conflicts largely of your own making.


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--Ralph Marston

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