No Shortcuts

What will it finally take to make change happen in our country? Will it take something tragic or inspiring? Will it take the emergence of that ideal leader--the "alternative" we have all been dreaming of? Will it take jobs, food, shelter and education for all? Clean elections? What will it really take for change to take root and flourish? There is only one clear and sure answer and it points right at you. None of the above would truly address what ails us. Change is you. This realization makes too many scurry to the hills, away from anything that might force them to do something about it. That is the tragic reality. We keep talking about it, praying and chanting it, yet are we truly ready to birth, and perpetuate change?

Isn't it easier to point at the politician, the rotten system, corruption, our parents, substandard education, past trauma--anything that is outside and beyond our control, than to acknowledge that it is in our hands and so we must act on it? And exactly what does this entail that frightens us all?

Change in us: that scares the hell out of everyone. And with that, the painful process of realizing what it is we need to change, then going through many more death processes and saying goodbye to the many parts of ourselves we need to let go, so that we can bring in the new. Then the constant work of renewing ourselves, the adjusting and re-adjusting of our views and lifestyles, as we become able bearers of authentic change. Change was never meant to be easy and there is no less demanding path; there are no shortcuts.

Inner work towards any kind of transformation is a lifelong commitment. It is a turbulent path rather than a decided and fixed destination. It is difficult and unpleasant. The only compass is your determination and will to keep the course. It means loss--of worlds and friends. It entails truth in every form. Who wants to look into the dark crevices of one's own life, to shine a light on those muddy corners we've created that we can't even bear to peek at? It is easier to say that corruption is outside and must therefore be fixed there, and please, let me not look at what goes wrong in my own backyard, at my own relationships and ways of being in the world. Let me spend the rest of my days pointing a finger but never lifting it.

Yet in my experience each time we turn away from doing what we know in our hearts we ought to, the call simply becomes louder and the universe creates situations that make it ever more impossible to ignore the call of that part of us that we know is True. Circumstances seem to connive until everything becomes up close, personal, and difficult to ignore. It is change pressing itself upon us. Every hardship in life is a call for change; it is an invitation to take a different route. If we took change by its horns and rode it valiantly, perhaps we wouldn't have to deal with such complicated situations in our lives. No, life wouldn't be easier, but I'm willing to bet it wouldn't be so complicated. If we stopped running away from the work we need to do on ourselves today, we would be able to handle life's surprises with grace and equanimity. Change would simply be our guide.

I feel that the very essence of every human being is to use his biography--yes, with all its inherent pain and seeming ugliness--towards transforming humanity and the world--everywhere he lands, no matter where that is, he is called upon to create change, just like the Christ did. And if His journey is the gauge, where did we get the idea that life shouldn't be as painful and difficult as it is? We turn away from change because it is inconvenient. It is demanding. It's such a long and tedious process. It's painful. It is hurtful. And yet running away from it only makes the journey more difficult in the long run.

This is why Andres Bonifacio is remembered and revered as "Liwanag" and Emilio Aguinaldo "Ningning". Bonifacio believed in completing the process of inner purification towards greater transformation. He believed in the importance of one's inner condition because that is what inevitably manifests in the world. Any change, without a thorough inner cleansing, will only be superficial. Aguinaldo was all bells and whistles, but his inner condition left much to be desired. He glittered and was shiny and promising, but the integrity--the rich and conscious inner life-- was not there. In human history, many have died fighting to complete, redeem and claim this inner journey towards change and it is them we remember and admire because we know their lives were about this universal truth: that change in the world cannot happen if we haven't done the work of changing ourselves first.

So, yes, point the finger at those who must be reminded of what it means to lead humanely and justly, but also look with grace, courage and resolve into the mirror and decide at last to be that change. No amount of fist-raising and indignant shouting at rallies will bring the change. The anger won't do it. Showing people, time and again, in ever more creative ways, about the wrong we continue to do, won't do it either. The relentless call for "Ibagsak" whatever is just clawing at the outer skin of our ailments. To get to what we need to raise and bring forth instead, is a call for inner reflection and work, because it will inevitably point to the need for every individual to pledge his life to truth and integrity. Everyone is accountable. No change will hold if we are not able to receive and bear it, and make it live and thrive in our society.

Inner work is invisible. Its legacy manifests only over time. You cannot market it, yet it is the cornerstone of any kind of awakening and transformation. There is simply no cutting corners. Creating new initiatives that address only the outer realities will not bring about the change we all dream of. It happens inside and it is in our hands.

I sound like a broken record, I know, but lately I've been getting comments here and there that bring this topic home again. It's not in the hands of politicians. The solutions are not somewhere out there, but in us already. People tend to disappear when I say that, as if they are overwhelmed by adding yet another task to the many each of us already carries, but I like to see it as the net that holds everything. It isn't one more thing you need to do that is separate from the rest; it is the thread that binds everything you do together to contain the whole.