“Be the change you want to see in the world.” This quote is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi and you’ll find it all over the internet (I’m sure I have shared it myself at some time!) Turns out, this is actually a paraphrased interpretation. The essence of the quote - that social transformation begins with personal transformation - is very “Gandhi-like”, so it’s easy to simply assume he spoke this.
What he actually said was:
"We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies of the world would also change. As man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change 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."
Even though the short and sweet paraphrased message is a good one, I find his actual words to be deeply profound. He’s not merely offering the advice to first reflect inward and change ourselves in order to model the change that we desire in our world.
Gandhi is speaking about the spiritual connection between each individual to the collective consciousness. To some degree or another… whatever is outside of us is also inside of us. Each of our individual vibrations feeds into a collective vibration which manifests into worldly experience.
When we do the on-going work to raise our individual vibrations by clearing the tendencies driven by our egos (rather than spirit), we contribute to a higher collective consciousness. And we don’t need to be concerned whether others are doing their inner-work because that becomes a distraction and an excuse. We just need to stay focused on ourselves.
By courageously choosing to raise our own vibration, one experience at a time, one decision at a time, one thought at a time, we become that example that the paraphrased quote suggests. And in due time, the world will mirror back our changed nature based in that higher consciousness.
What a bold world-view Gandhi offers. We are not at the mercy of a cruel and unjust world; instead, we are empowered to shape it… IF we are willing to change ourselves.