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So long as we remain estranged from the potential inside each of us, we live in a chronic state of emotional and spiritual depravation. We hunger for manna that cannot be found in the external world, and often settle instead for crumbs in the guise of the "little mores" - a little more money, a little more contentment, a little more love. When we get them we're satisfied for a time, but ultimately the feeling passes. We find ourselves growing empty again. Maybe these crumbs are all we think we can manage, or feel we're entitled to. But, tapping into the wellspring of our potential fundamentally alters this situation.
How? Happiness, that most elusive of pursuits, becomes a by-product of everyday life, rather than a goal to be realized at some later date - simply because we are doing exactly what we were designed to do. For some people this will mean a new career or avocation, for others a new approach to an existing career. In either instance, we are energized (and not drained) by our daily activities because we experience a perfect fit between our talent and our role. Just imagine how your life would change if you could tap into this source. For one thing, your relationship with money would be totally transformed. Instead of working for money to buy things that promise happiness, you'd be tasting happiness first hand.
Imagine how your relationships would change. Having de-coupled satisfaction and money, you would find yourself with more time to spend with people you cared about - and because you'd be happier to begin with, your time with them would be more enjoyable.
Imagine how the world would change if more and more of us chose to live life this way. The global implications are enormous. Because each of us experiences the world through the window of our psyche, frustrated painters, with no meaningful life to speak of, can become the leaders of genocidal wars in search of "living space." They may be madmen, or merely cynical, power-driven opportunists, but they do not constitute the real danger. Their followers, recruited from every walk of life and often sharing in no unifying characteristic except that their dissatisfaction mirrors that of their leader, represent the true peril. For, no matter how charismatic the leader, or how vile the ideology, there can be no death camps if there are no disciples to do the killing. On the day when happiness becomes a by-product of everyday life, demagogues and would-be tyrants will discover that their henchmen have vanished; the savage fantasy that a neighbor's grass is somehow greener will have suddenly lost its allure; and the era of nation-states wantonly invading their neighbor's borders will have come to an end.
We are children of two great lies: The first states that we are all in competition, the second that in any situation
there has to be a winner and a loser. They're not happy thoughts; but, seen from a spiritual perspective, they
may also be inaccurate. Today, more and more of us are discovering that we're actually allies in a cosmic struggle
against ignorance and fear - the two impediments to the further extension of human potential. In the most fundamental
sense, we are absolutely not in competition. Every breakthrough you and I make in our individual lives becomes
a symbol of what is possible for our families, our friends, our neighbors, our countrymen, and, indeed, an entire
world. Every battered woman who leaves an abusive situation, every alcoholic or addict who finds sobriety in a
12 step program, every would-be entrepreneur who leaves the quiet desperation of an unsatisfying career and makes
their dream a reality, stands as an inspiration to us all. As they explode the myth about what is possible for
their lives, they change the planet in a concrete, if sometimes imperceptible, way. They make it a little more
possible for each one of us to take our own next step.
That's why the "the picture on the seed packet" is so very important. There's so much more to each of
us than we've been taught to recognize. And we're the most effective when we're doing exactly what we were meant
to do. Astrology can give us a head start on the journey of self-discovery. The rest up to us. If we want a planet
where co-operation and collaboration are the rule, where nations enjoy both peace and prosperity, where hunger,
prejudice and war are unthinkable remnants of a distant, tragic past, it's a journey more and more of us need to
go on.
Some people believe that there's nothing an individual can do that will significantly alter the course of human
affairs. But society doesn't exist except as an extension of you and me. And as history has demonstrated time and
again, individuals do make a dramatic difference. Martin Luther King made a difference. So did Gandhi, Bill Wilson,
Mother Theresa, Jackie Robinson, Winston Churchill, Roberto Assagoli, Oskar Schindler, Gene Roddenbery, Albert
Schweitzer, Frank Serpico, Leonard Bernstein, Carl Jung, Mother Hale, Neil Armstrong, Wayne Fischer, Judge John
Sirica, Linus Pawling, Raoul Wallenberg, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, Dane Rudhyar, Arturo Toscanini, Sydney Schanberg,
J. Michael Straczynski, Stanislav Grof and perhaps 5 million (or even 50 million) others in this century, many
whose names we may never even know. The American Revolution was conceived with only ten percent of the population
actively supporting the cause of independence. That ten percent fundamentally changed the course of human history.
So can we. If we make the effort to reach deep inside ourselves, to embrace who we really are and why we chose
to be alive at this time and place, to look beyond the immediate scene and notice the enormous shadow that our
life can cast, then we will surely recognize that there was a giant walking in our footsteps all along. Giants
can make an impact. It might take a lifetime - but if we can change ourselves, we can change the world.
"Welcome back to the fight. This time I know our side will win."
- Victor Laszlo (from the 1942 Warner Brothers film, Casablanca)