<< Exacting change

Mahatma Gandhi is quoted saying:

We but mirror the world. All tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change..

The principle behind this phrase of wisdom, commonly abbreviated as be the change you wish to see in the world agrees with Gehrard Dorn* who is quoted saying: 

Thou wilt never make from others, the One that thou seekest except there first be made one thing of thyself.

We can make a solid case for these expressions providing the same principle (despite the 285 years of story between the men who uttered them).

It’s not a secret that Gandhi was a rather enlightened individual, he overcame the worst of himself and in doing so became an irresistible force. 

We cannot help but validate the point Gerhrard tries to make, for it’s evident that this man transformed himself before enacting change in others. 

In fact, changing/transforming ourselves even makes us more open and susceptible to others engaging in the same type of activity. It comes to no surprise that we tend to be attracted to individuals with rather similar interests or desires. 

You could say that multiple transformations act as catalysts for one another, and that individuals who have gone further on the path we desire for ourselves accelerate what these changes within us.

This doesn't mean of course that all transformations are positive; the struggles of life as well as different tendencies or experiences may cause as well that we devolve and place us further away from personal development. Which results in people eventually becoming split from each other as these growth patterns divert too much. 

On a final note, change is an internal process, and alteration of external wills is a transgression that even the divinity refuses to take part into. Which means unfortunately that no one can do this work on behalf of anyone else nor teach anything about it if the recipient isn’t ready to listen. 

And yet the there’s hope in the divine for everyone, as Matthew 7:8 puts it: 

For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened

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Notes:

'Gandhi's full quote: We but mirror the world. All tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world changes towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.