Your Personal Awakening Changes the World
“We're not on our journey to save the world but to save ourselves.
But in doing that you save the world.”
~ Joseph Campbell
Hi Everyone,
When I first read those words from Joseph Campbell, I felt relief and some concern. And then again, relief.
The part of me that thinks "The world is falling apart and I have to figure out how to rush in and save it!" was immensely relieved to have that taken off her young, incapable shoulders. But she was also concerned because who was going to save it? And how can me selfishly saving me also save anybody else?
Over and over again, those questions have been answered for me not through words but from an experience. An inner experience that I can't make happen but that I can open to -- a practice that lands me in a deep place of peace, clarity, compassion and trust.
The great teachers throughout human history have talked about this awakened state as already existing inside us as us. And when I read their words, it matches up with my experience. To have that experience doesn't make the desire to serve the world go away -- as if, "Oh, now that I've got my peace, I'll just sit back and enjoy it." Actually, the desire to share it only gets stronger.
And then, maybe the world doesn't need saving after all . . . maybe it just needs us to uncover the transcendent beauty and wisdom inside us so that we can see and reflect it outside of us. Maybe we can only have the world we want by being its citizens every day of our small, sometimes stumbling, and deeply interconnected lives.
With love,
Elizabeth