A Scheme to Change the World?

Image of the Week
Image of the Week
¿Un plan para cambiar el Mundo?
--por Hazrat Inayat Khan

El otro día di una conferencia en París y tras mi charla un hombre muy capaz vino a mí y me dijo: “¿Tienes un plan?” dije: “¿Qué plan?” “De mejorar las condiciones.”

Le contesté que no había hecho tal plan, y me dijo: “Yo tengo uno, te lo enseñaré”.Abrió su maletín y sacó un gran papel con operaciones matemáticas escritas y me lo enseñó diciendo:”Este es el plan económico que va a hacer mejorar las condiciones del mundo: todos tendremos la misma participación”.

Le dije, “Deberíamos practicar este plan económico primero para afinar nuestro piano: en vez de que suenen Do, Re, Mi, deberíamos afinarlas como una misma nota y ver lo interesante que puede ser – todos sonando igual, sin individualidad, sin distinción, nada.” Y añadí, “La economía no es un plan para construir, si no para destruir. Es la economía quien nos ha llevado a la destrucción. Son la calidad del corazón y la actitud espiritual las que cambiarán el mundo”.

Muy a menudo la gente que viene a escucharme dice después, “Sí, todo lo que dices es muy interesante, muy bonito, y yo también deseo que el mundo cambie.Pero ¿Cuántos piensan como tú? ¿Cómo puedes hacerlo? ¿Cómo puede hacerse?

Vienen con este comentario pesimista, y les digo: “Una persona va a un país con un catarro o una gripe y se extiende. Si algo tan malo puede propagarse ¿No podría también hacerlo un pensamiento de amor elevado, amabilidad y buena voluntad? Daos cuenta de que hay gérmenes más finos, gérmenes de buena voluntad, de amor, amabilidad y sentimiento, gérmenes de hermandad, de deseo de evolución espiritual, que pueden tener mejores resultados que los otros. Si todos tenemos esa visón optimista, si todos trabajamos en nuestro pequeño camino, podemos lograr mucho.”

Muchos han estado enfadados con Dios por haberles enviado alguna desgracia a sus vidas –¡ Pero siempre tenemos ese tipo de experiencias! Al enfadarnos decimos: “Porque esto no es justo”, o “ Esto no está bien”, y “¿Cómo podría Dios, que es justo y bueno permitir que ocurran cosas malas?” Pero nuestra vista es tan limitada que nuestra concepción de lo correcto e incorrecto y del bien y el mal sólo lo es para nosotros—no para el plan de Dios. Es verdad que, mientras nosotros lo veamos de esa manera, es así para nosotros y para los que lo miran desde nuestro punto de vista, pero cuando se trata de Dios toda la dimensión cambia, todo el punto de vista está cambiado

El Sufí, por lo tanto, encuentra una única manera de salir de la angustia de la vida… Se eleva sobre ella, tomando las cosas como vienen, con paciencia. No le importa cómo sea tratado. Su principio es hacerlo lo mejor que sabe, y en eso está su satisfacción. En vez de depender de que otra persona sea amable con él, el sufí piensa que ser amable con otra persona es suficiente. Cualquier hombre sabio a la largaen la vida encontrará que este principio es la solución de la felicidad.No podemos cambiar el mundo, pero podemos cambiarnos a nosotros mismos.


Preguntas semilla para la reflexión: ¿Cómo te relacionas con el ejemplo de aplicar la economía a la música? ¿Puedes compartir una historia personal sobre la “buena voluntad infecciosa”? ¿Qué te ayuda a seguir haciendo las cosas lo mejor que sabes sin importar cómo te traten?
Seed Questions for Reflection

How do you relate to the example of applying economics to music? Can you share a personal story around infectious goodwill? What helps you to keep doing your best regardless of how you are treated?

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Add Your Reflection

16 Past Reflections
JB
Jay Bender
Sep 22, 2019
I really like this passage!
WD
wdad
Mar 23, 2017

 nice artilce 

DI
Mar 6, 2017

I often think of people I have known who are doom and gloom. Nothing positive do they ever see. It has become a self-professng prophecy for them. When I surround myself  with positive thoughts and people my life is so much better in the way I see everything.

MM
Mar 1, 2017

Sharing wealth is some thing difficult. We are not interested to share Happiness or earnings in mean time we want share in sorrows. The selfishness is the most important  culture we have to throw away.I hope share to others is the Best QUALITY and  to overcome all sorrows. It is DIVINE. 

RG
Mar 1, 2017

 Individual is a part of the  world.  Ego, or else, everyone thinks their own way.  No matter how nicely  we explain them, they mostly stay stand still. It is not practical to change the world. But if we change, people will inquire about secret of our change and they too apply the "secret"  I  revealed to them. They to change and reveal secret to others when asked.  And this process goes on and on till the whole world changes for  better. 

KP
Feb 28, 2017

 As a word person rather than numbers I felt the same as the narrator in the story, ah, how dull it would be if we all sang or played the same note, how lovely to have melody and harmony! Infectious goodwill, yes!!!! As a person who often shares Free Hugs, does random acts of kindness, applies as best she can the Golden Rule: 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you' I can attest to so much goodness and kindness always! Good Will is indeed infectious in a good way! When we do or see a kindness it just keeps on going and it infects those around us to be kind as well. i see this all the time with Free Hugs. One person accepts a hug, then another and soon there are so many conversations! This is the goal really, to connect one to another! What keeps me doing my best and being kind is knowing that eventually it comes back around and really it just feels so good to do anyway, so why not be kind?

IL
Ilonka
Feb 28, 2017

I found this to be one of the most disappointing passages. Here comes a man with obviously a caring heart who wishes for everyone to share in  on the bounty of the world, and the author compares this to a flat sounding piano music?  We don't know what it would be like to share and be equally responsible for the resources of our beautiful planet. It might just turn out   To be one of the most interesting  symphonies  ever.  I conducted a survey once, were I asked participants if they'd rather be rich in the world of rich and poor, or would they rather  be neither rich nor poor in a world where everyone shared resources equally. Everyone chose the second.

KR
Kristof Feb 28, 2017

 There is good in our hearts but at this point of time we still do not have  or give enough the right education to the schools ,so what dominates is fear .The right kind of education is what we need for our goodness to grow and eventually make us free . 

SE
Feb 28, 2017

 

IF YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT MAKING CHANGES - Google honors humanitarian Adbul Sattar Edhi with a doodle .  Known for helping deliver medicine to those in need, the "Angel of Mercy" is celebrated TODAY 28/02/2017 on what would have been his 89th birthday.
AK
Akshata
Feb 27, 2017

'we cannot change the world, but we can change ourselves.' which is I find very important, but it does not happen this way and we try to change others, Why we find difficult to understand?

TA
Feb 27, 2017

 Beautiful. We are a drop in the ocean with rose colored glasses on -- changing ourselves, changes us in positive ways we can not fully appreciate at the time, making our view of our experiences more clear and our hearts lighter.

DD
Feb 25, 2017
I don't equate everyone having the same share economically to tuning a piano such that it has only one note.  I equate everyone having the same share economically to everyone having a piano, that is, leveling the playing field so everyone has the same opportunities.  What someone does with their opportunities, such as the music someone creates with their piano, is up to the individual.  Now we have a world of haves and have nots.  Ten percent of people controlling eighty percent of the wealth isn't good economy.  A portion of the world having too much and throwing food away while another portion is starving to death isn't good economy.  The same opportunities available to everyone would be economical, that is, efficient, and would be fair, and would be good will in action and an applied spirituality that would change the world.  The good will of others has been inspiring and infectious for me, resulting in more good will from me.  Knowing good w... View full comment
LH
Laura Havlick Feb 28, 2017

 Thank you for your insightful comment.  I agree completely & was looking to see if anyone else had a response similar to mine.  You did.  So glad to see this point of view represented. Though it's not too different from that already expressed, I believe the distinctions make the difference.  Thanks again!

JP
Feb 24, 2017
 There are two worlds I (and we) live in: The world which has more darkness than light and also the world which has more light than darkness. I can talk about my world more authentically than the world of others.What are the two major components of my inner world?:The kind of world I really like and love to create and live in.It is a world filled with light and love, a world graced by kindness, forgiveness, truth, gratitude, generosity and compassion. Then there is another inner world with my ambitions, needs, and desires and my likes and dislikes. The challenge for me is to strike a dynamic balance. My life long work and challenge has been to build  a realistic and constructive bridge between the two worlds. Can I serve myself and others? Can I take care of myself and others in my life? I do not aspire to be a martyr or  a an unkind self-serving narcissist. The more I introspect and remain aware of the self created imbalance between these two apparently opposite perspe... View full comment
JO
Jo Mar 3, 2017

 Namaste

SS
Feb 24, 2017

 Yes, yes, and yes.  When I let go of any fear (insecurity, worry - all the many forms of fear), life, people, circumstances, health improve.  I experimented with practicing living in a more present way by leaving home and a physical address, giving myself, my time, my resources, and practicing acceptance of whatever happened.  I left home in April, 2014 and traveled without a destination, going where I was invited, sharing or serving as I was asked.  I have never been on the streets for one night, and have never gone hungry.  Life and I expanded, and I saw how much more powerful transformation - inner growth - is than any material advantage or gain.  Enjoy this full life, today.