I can change the entire world all by myself. It’s not difficult to do, and in fact, as humans it is really all we do, every moment.
When we look at all of the troubles in the world, it may often feel like making a meaningful change is hard to do, and for one single ordinary person to make much difference may even seem to be an impossible task. The thing is though; individually, we make ALL of the difference, every single moment.
The Mental Experiment
Sometimes it is said that we are all connected, as if we were all part of one gigantic being that is consciousness itself. One way to envision such a thing is to examine a fractal pattern such as the self-repeating formations seen in a mathematical formula called a Mandelbrot set.
In a mental experiment, suppose that each frond in the paisley edge of an infinite fractal represents an individual and all of their deeds throughout their lives up to this moment. If we zoom in on a particular being, we can see the unique details of what in the world they have done, and their indelible effect on the whole pattern becomes visible.
Zooming back out, we know that those actions have changed the entire design, and having been given the formula for creating these intricate patterns at birth, it then becomes a matter of what we do with the fractal paisley that we are forming.
Will our design make the world better, worse, or will things stay the same?
Will we inspire the frond next to us to mimic our designs, or will we mimic theirs?
Given free will and the ability to choose, we are completely responsible for the designs and patterns that we form, which means that we have the ability to change the entire design with our every move and our every word. This is a big deal.
Knowing that we are all consciously (and unconsciously) designing one of the ornate frills on the edge of creation of all that is, we can still change the world as usual, but with a fresh awareness of our own individual importance here, we can cause the changes to be fitting with the world that we’d like to live in.
The Mental Experiment Goes Live
I started applying this fractal math to everything a while back, and decided that since I would already be generating an elaborate frond on the edge of reality, etc., then I would generate one that would improve the entire design; simply by improving my own self, I improved my house and garden, which improves the neighborhood, which improves the world.
Examples
How could I-- a single individual-- really make a better world? Many of the answers were there in plain sight for me, and for example; I knew that I could make a world with less suffering in it, and one way to do that would be if I chose to stop eating meat, so that by my choice, one less consumer of animals would mean a little bit less suffering in the world. So it was that I decided to become a vegetarian.
Becoming a Vegetarian For Moral Reasons
I chose to stop eating meat around March of 2016, and when I did the math, I realized that I wouldn’t need for the whole world to stop eating meat with me, because I had already stopped myself, so I was already making the world a better place-- I have that power.
If my choosing to stop eating meat makes the world better, then perhaps I should try to sell everyone on the idea of vegetarianism, but that is not my purpose, and what other people eat is usually none of my business. I'm intending to make the world better using my creative powers, and If I bothered people while they were trying to enjoy their chicken or steak, then that doesn’t really make the world a great place for them. I’m trying to make the world a lot better by not being the vegetarian who berates anyone who eats meat.
This is another way that I help to make the world better; I don’t tell people what they should eat, because I want to live in a world where I get to make my own choices, and so I treat others as I’d like to be treated.
By becoming vegetarian and consciously taking responsibility for my intentions and my actions, I know that I help reduce the suffering in the world a little bit. Even as I still use some dairy products which invariably causes some suffering for the dairy animals who are forced to produce it, I have still done something to help, starting by eliminating meat from my diet.
We can all do little things to help the world, and really that’s how it always works; many of us doing little things to make the world better, changing the bigger pattern with our numerous small actions.
Building Bridges to Improve the World
Another little example of things that I do to improve the world; sometimes I build free bridges!
I live on a rental property on a sort of community farm, and since I’ve lived here, I’ve been using this idea of fractally building the decentralized gardens and edible forests of the future, a way that I could make the Earth just a bit better.
I’ve built a couple of bridges and walkways around my house, and used my own time to construct these improvements. Part of the enjoyment that I got from making these additions to the farm was that I never wanted to be repaid for my time or materials-- I didn’t ask the property's owners to take it off of my rent or anything, because I was already benefiting from the bridges.
The way I saw it was that I got a dryer path to wheel my piano home, and the owners of the property got a free bridge. According to my simple calculations, this adds up to a better world for everyone involved. I changed the world a bit-- I have that power.
mural made with leftover spray paints
We Are Always the World’s Designers
Those were just a few examples of things I thought of that I do to make a better world, and because I care about the world and the people on it, I intend to do what I can to make life good for everyone involved. Something as simple as turning a brick wall into a piece of art can be counted as one of those little things. Some people make the world better with pastries and pies, some with technological inventions, but we all make the world, every moment, always, so there's plenty of chances to improve things a bit.
It’s simple: we all individually make an imprint on the overall pattern, each of us, every moment. The ripples from our movements spread out through the medium of life as we are here, and our lives paint an integral part of the mandala that we all are printing here every second. When the ink dries we can see what patterns we have formed, and the feathered paisley shows what our frond is going to add to the big mandelbrot masterpiece that we are making here. It is our choice-- we have that power-- we can easily make a world that we like when we consciously decide to. Lets!
if you like, there is more like this at plus things that are nothing like this. You'll just have to see it for yourself. Video is from utube, while all photos and graphics here are mine.