Maturity is tricky sometimes.
Sometimes we'd like to think that wisdom automatically comes with age. Though reality isn't always that simple. Sometimes we're given tests to convert our knowledge into wisdom. Sometimes no amount of wisdom can prepare us to pass the tests. Sometimes there are no clear right or wrong answers - just improvision, and the hope that acting with the best of intentions and greatest consciousness we're capable is good enough.
"With great power, comes great responsibility," they say.
Sometimes that power is knowledge or wisdom. And sometimes, it's a mindfuck to assess what exactly we're "supposed to" do with it - how to implement it responsibly.
As with many things in life, there is something of a paradox around responsibility, one that takes maturity to learn how to deal with wisely. And even then, sometimes we just don't know what the fuck we're supposed to be doing.
On one hand, if we're given insight or knowledge that can make a positive difference and benefit others - perhaps there is a responsibility to pay it forward.
On the other hand, maybe it isn't always our time and place to intervene in others' affairs.
Just because we might have answers, doesn't mean it is automatically our place to give them. Perhaps there are even cases where the responsible, wise thing to do might be to withhold secrets. Perhaps it might sometimes be irresponsible and unwise to share certain things before the time is ripe.
And perhaps, there are times when observing something requires us to respond with care. Yet, what are the limits...?
How can we truly know what is and isn't our responsibility to take on...?
As these fine gentlemen have stated, perhaps there is a responsibility we have to take a stand when things just ain't right.
Maybe they are correct - and failure to do anything when we see evil going down puts part of the weight of such evil on our shoulders to bear, perhaps some karmic payback for not having enough balls to be the grownup and offer a slap on the wrist where it's due.
Though, let's be real - there's no fucking way any of us could ever intervene in every shitty situation we see going down in the world.
Political leaders in nearly every country are making decisions such a stance would require us to speak out against. Muslim immigrants spreading through Europe raping hundreds of women and doing "honour" bombings. Corporate leaders making decisions damaging the environment and having destructive consequences on human health. The list could grow pretty large pretty fast.
Though what are the limits on the responsibility we can take for all of that?
We might be standing by and watching - despite wishing we could do something about it all. But with only 24 hours in a day, where would we even start...?
Maybe these guys aren't right.
Maybe it's a fine idea with honourable intentions. But not exactly realistic, considering the sheer amount of ill shit taking place on the global stage - which thanks to the internet, we all have constant updates on.
Maybe it's the same line of thinking as the rhetoric of the personal development, "spiritual," motivational cultures, the "you are 100% responsible for what shows up in your reality - you attract what you vibrate, etc." In other words, bullshit.
Maybe it isnt our place to take on all the world's ailments on our own shoulders, and attempting such would amount to little more than self-righteous, narcissistic arrogance, through the thinking we are so smart and powerful so as to manipulate the course of human destiny according to our ideals of how it should be unfolding.
There is a concept at the core of Taoist philosophy...
"The Tao does nothing and nothing is left undone”, is a pearl of ancient Chinese wisdom inspired by the Tao Te Ching written by Lao Tsu. This is not an admonishment to be lazy and do nothing, but rather, this is a call to exercise Wu Wei, non-striving, natural and effortless action, following and surrendering to natural law. It means to live with an understanding of the Tao, the natural flow and rhythm of life, to live in alignment with its wisdom and not fight against its principles. Lao Tsu says, by not striving after power, a man becomes powerful, if straining and reaching for power, he never has enough. If we are always trying to do and force things to go our way, we lose sight of their true nature and soon discover that our overzealous endeavors only get in the way, and nothing is accomplished, or it leaves even more to be done. To “do nothing” means to allow the world to unfold as it will, without seeking to manipulate or control its dawning emergence. It is to allow the Tao to move naturally through us, seeing ourselves as the witness, the observer, the vessel or receiver, but not as the main actor or doer." ~source
This isn't to say the Taoist were correct in all their approaches. But they definitely passed on their share of wisdom. And something in here resonates strongly, in the context of this debate...
"Allowing the world to unfold as it will...
Perhaps, here, is the embodiment of a mature responsibility. It takes wisdom to acknowledge the natural course of things and step back to allow it all to run its course.
Yet, on the surface, this approach might appear in stark contrast of the stance above - that we cannot merely stand by and watch evil doers carry on without bearing responsibility for its perpetuance.
Where does the Truth lie...?
Perhaps, as always - in the middle...?
It's tempting, in this day and age of abundant news of corruption and horror going down in every corner of the globe, to want to make a difference.
It's tempting to buy into that logic that if we don't stand up and fight, evil forces will have already won the war.
But there is no way we can take on every fight as our own.
Maybe we can never know what Einstein, Riley, or King truly meant when leaving those quotes behind, without understanding the full context of where they came from. Or maybe they were just incomplete truths.
Maybe in looking up to leaders like them, we've cheated ourselves out of the opportunity to come into our own wisdom, approaching conflicts like these.
What is the appropriate response to take when we see crazy shit going down in the world?
Perhaps there is no absolute answer.
Sometimes, we might be called to intervene. Others, it may only be our place to observe the madness as some larger universal force emerges through its own evolution.
Maybe we're just each on our own journeys of figuring shit like this out as we fail forward - intervening where we weren't meant to, getting slapped until we sit back down and mind our own business, or lazily neglect to take action until shit gets so out of hand, we have no choice but to step up and nurture the leaders within ourselves through doing what's right and needed...
Or perhaps, both at the same time...