Why not reinvent the wheel?
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his soul?” — Mark 8:36”
In the ever-evolving, constantly changing, routinely raging world in which we live, it’s easy to accept incremental advancements as true progress — it’s not. While I choose gratitude for all things daily, I am not blind to the harsh realities of existence. Yes, I am spiritual. Yes, I have had awakenings. Yes, I’ve been born again. And, yes, I still have my feet planted firmly on the ground. What we have accepted as “getting ahead” is actual us falling behind.
I urge you to consider for a moment what is possible. Step outside of the ‘practicality sphere’ and truly allow yourself to envision the result of employing our full potential as a collective. Take this moment to put disillusionment on the shelf, set disappointment to the side, and feel into hope. If you really engage in this exercise it will take more than a moment, because the possibilities are endless. The nature of the universe is such that each step forward reveals (or creates) the potential for additional steps. Each building block creates more opportunities and makes what was once an impossible dream practical.
Let’s make this tangible with something we all need and use: money. My great-grandmother was invented (read: born) before sliced bread and she often tells me stories of her adventures shopping, including how far a nickel would get you. I am amazed at how far she got on what seems like so very little.
According to the US inflation data, on average, the US has experienced about 3% inflation each year. That may not sound like a lot but it means that something that costs $100 in 1914 would cost $2,375 today. In 1927, you could buy a Ford car for $290. (I spent more than that on gas last month.) So inflation has a compounding effect and the results are massive overtime.
This may sound like an argument against my opening idea that incremental progress is actually falling behind, but we haven’t gotten to the big picture yet. Let’s stay with using money as our medium here. Imagine you put $100 under your mattress in 1914. You’d still have $100 today, but the reality is you have $2,275 less buying power than you did. The average savings account generates 0.09% interest, which, of course, is better than zero — or is it? It is incrementally better, but effectively, there is no difference.
Perhaps you have a high-yield savings account earning 2%. That’s significantly better than 0.09% interest, right? It’s still incremental. While you’re not losing as much buying power, you are still ultimately falling behind. This is even more evident when you recognize that the stock market has produced a nearly 12% return for its investors over the past 40 years. In 2017 the return was over 29%. What is possible is so far beyond what is practical that it’s mindbending.
What is possible is so far beyond what is practical that it’s mindbending.
The practical is such because practically anyone can do it. Anyone with $100 can open a savings account and earn .09% interest. Far fewer people have access to the stock market with the potential return of 29%, but it’s possible. Why would we aim for the savings account when there is so much more?
Sadly, dominating our aspirational conversations today is a debate between a standard .09% interest rate savings account or the high-yield 2.5% version. The mainstream conversation suggests that we can get incremental victories if we don’t dream too big. I say that this is ludicrous!
Norman Vincent Peale is quoted as saying, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Why in the name of all that is good would we shoot for the treetops when the stars are possible if we only try?
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
In my experience, playing it safe isn’t safe at all. What does it profit us to gain the whole world and lose our soul? Our souls yearn for more. In fact, they demand it. The core essence of our being insists that we achieve what is possible, not settle on what is easy.
When we aim for what we think we can realistically achieve we rob ourselves of destiny and tarnish our spirits with impurity, fallacy, and fakery. The natural arc of the universe is towards love. Love is a higher consciousness that recognizes our interconnectedness as a people, planet, galaxy, and ultimately all creation. How dare we not honor our design? What unmitigated gall we must possess in order to tell the universe that righteousness is too tall an order for us to fill.
Love is a higher consciousness…
“You may say, I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one” (Yoko Ono). We should “be willing to die so that honor and justice may live” (Joe Darion / Mitchell Leigh). The harsh reality is settling for incremental advancement is not harm reduction, it’s harm production. We cannot ignore the emotional and spiritual toll of inequity. Our souls know what is possible. Our spirits demand that we manifest the possible.
As long as we are rooted in the betterment of all, we will never run out of possibilities or purpose. Until we choose to be brave and recognize that we are already “defying gravity,” then we will continue our self-destructive patterns of incremental advancement that pull us closer to the brink of extinction.
A common refrain among those who champion the status quo is, “Why reinvent the wheel?” I ask, “Why not?” We can. We should. I live every day to ensure that we will because we must. Our very survival depends on it. What good is a wheel in outer space or underwater?
Why reinvent the wheel?
Whether we like it or not, the world is ever-changing. Even the things which appear relatively unchanged are actually very different in each new moment. The physical person you see in the mirror today is not the same person who was there yesterday, quite literally, because your cells are constantly dying and being reborn. Moreover, your spiritual, mental, and emotional body is new as well because it has absorbed new experiences and new information. The patterns may remain relatively constant, but the being itself is new.
The patterns of society, of our collective consciousness, have a gravitational pull of sorts that holds us inline. That is why only incremental change seems possible because it does not fully disrupt the pattern while it offers enough time to adjust to the slightly altered course. It is the psychic pull, not reality, that resists the possible in favor of the practical. However, it is vital to note that every lasting advancement that we have made has come from radical shifts, not minor adjustments.
Adjustments are necessary and valuable once the shift has taken place, but adjustments, or tweaks, never cause the shift. Sure, improve the things that work, plug a slow leak, but even a tire has a point where it simply must be replaced. Tiny changes may pave the way to radical change, but they do not lessen the jarring impact of the shift. An earthquake is the result of years or decades of tiny shifts, but the earthquake itself is forceful.
If we truly love one another, if we really have compassion for the suffering of others and ourselves, then we must be willing to embrace the quake. Nothing is the same after a massive earthquake, and that is the way it should be. We must profoundly shift the structures of our present system if we hope to escape its gravitational pull and create a world that works for everyone.
If we truly love one another, if we really have compassion for the suffering of others and ourselves, then we must be willing to embrace the quake.
Giving a starving child .09% more food does not meaningfully change a thing. Adding covering 80% of the cost of an ambulance ride to a medical insurance plan does little for the mother who has no money to begin with. Giving a waitress paid time off does not afford her the opportunity to use that time when she is sick if she is reliant on tips to make it from day-to-day.
Change is upon us. The question is whether will we choose what is possible or what is practical. What is practical simply delays the inevitable collapse of the world as we know. What is possible propels us into a bright and prosperous future of our own creation that honors the purity of our souls and the power of our collective spirit.
It takes sunshine and rain to make the flowers grow. I hope that you have received both from me today. Know that you are so much more capable than you can imagine. The impossible is within your reach. So, believe!
“All things are possible to him who believes.” — Mark 9:23
