A Quiet Revolution by Yoko Ono
(link to story: a quiet revolution)
*inspirational/wonderful/beautiful
SPEECH FOR OXFORD UNIVERSITY ON MARCH 10, 2010
A butterfly is hopping from flower to flower. Oh, good. I think. The butterfly is busybodying as usual. Peace reigns. But what is the butterfly really doing?
When a tiny movement like the flapping of the wings of a butterfly brings about a big change elsewhere, it’s called the butterfly effect in physics. I’ve just heard this one…so I don’t know its legitimacy. But if they don’t call it a butterfly effect, there should be a word that expresses this phenomenon. A breeze created by a bunch of kids dancing bringing a stop to an argument going on in the other side of the globe unknown to the dancers? Why not? The latest news is that even a couch potato is useful for us, in that their breathing helps to balance the atmosphere. The world and its mechanics are still very much a mystery.
We are like butterflies. We busybody ourselves every day for our survival as we think we know how. But the difference with us, is that we know we are not as innocent as the butterflies. We are about to ruin this planet we call ours through our stupidity. Letting the axis of evil turn the wheel of destruction. What can we do to reverse the situation? The enormity of the task depresses us to no end, to the point that it is almost easier to just give up, or try to tackle the evil force head on. But the truth is, if we try to reverse the wheel of evil, we will end up giving so much of our energy to its power, we will join it instead of reversing it.
Evil often presents itself to us as an illusion of goodness. So by being confused, instead of freeing ourselves from it, we could be destroyed by it. To protect ourselves, each one of us must clearly see what Evil really is. Evil is only a dis-ease (disease) created by confused minds, which eventually disappears by its own steam. But it can do so much harm before it self-destructs. So we must do something to counteract it NOW.
Luckily, there are so many of us in the world, who are now ready to act to save our world. People ask me constantly what they can do to bring world peace. I want to make a suggestion here.
Let’s go step by step. Since destiny is created by first imaging what destiny we want for ourselves, we should IMAGINE PEACE in a big way with total conviction. In the old days, gurus sat and meditated day and night. That was pretty powerful. But we live in a different world. Time is so precious to us now. A million kids can be killed in one second as we are wondering what to do. So we can’t just sit and meditate. We should IMAGINE PEACE day and night, as we go about our daily lives.
Yes. One thing that is interesting is you cannot be violent while you are imagining peace.
If all of us in the world imagined peace at all times, there will be no dis-ease (disease) in the world. In fact, dis-ease will disappear from this planet altogether.
The next thing we should do is to focus on healing the world we have destroyed, by asking your healing power to come out.
Your intent of healing will start to show it’s power by just asking for it.
When all of us in the world ask the world to be healed, it will be.
Know that it is that simple.
We are all connected.
We affect each other right away.
We affect each other even when we are in fear, confusion, anger, wanting to destroy the world and help to increase the dis-ease.
That’s how strongly connected we are.
Start doing what you can do, knowing that you are standing in the midst of an incredible disaster created by us, the human race. It is so bad that the farmers, who are providing what we eat, are being bankrupted for not complying to the ways of greedy corporate needs, losing their ancestral lands and some of them even committing suicide. The saddest thing is that so many children are sexually abused, sold for human parts and die or perish before their teens.
Take a good look at what is happening around you. You might feel you want to strangle the force of evil, which is doing this. But I must tell you, don’t move until you changed your energy of anger into pure energy of getting the work done with love. Is that possible? Well, it has to be.
The Universe will be affected immediately as you start to think in the right way to correct the dis-ease in our world.
Start with something small.
Do one nice thing a day.
Call your mom and tell her you are thinking of her. Not just calling her for help. She’ll cry.
Look at the trees and admire their beauty in words and in action. They’ll glow and grow.
Don’t ever be cynical. Cynicism is death. We are now swimming together to get to the shore of goodness and peace. Cynicism will drown us right in the middle of the ocean and kill us. We need the power of belief to help us reach the shore. Nothing more.
Be a busybody for our collective survival. Send a message to your friend and tell them what you respect about her or him. Because they are your family.
Some people ask me if I get depressed, if I lose confidence in what I am and whether I get upset with those terrible people. Well, I do. For a moment. But I am really too busy, I don’t have time to be depressed, lose my confidence, or think ill of anybody, for long. I just don’t have the time.
Send your message through the internet of how you love life and why. Because the people on the internet are also your family.
If you keep meditating in your mind - not giving yourself the luxury of making a special sit-in meditation, but doing what you can do to change the world, if you did that for three months you will see the difference in your life and even a difference in our planet. Really! Thus, we will make a quiet revolution together.
Be creative. But just do what you can do. Nothing more.
By that, you will be starting the wheels of goodness to turn.
Something especially wonderful was told to me just recently. Two scientists who were researching the effect of waves in the ocean for two years, came to the conclusion that the smallest stimulus to the water be it a drop of a pebble, or a child splashing the water at the shore, affects the whole ocean, each time. Well, I thought we do affect each other on land, but I hadn’t realized that that was true in the ocean as well! What a blessing! Nature is making things so easy for us!
So now I call ourselves the small pebble people. Send small pebbles to the world. Don’t make big splashes with large stones. That will attract people and the wrong people as well. Our quiet revolution will not make announcements, but one day will be accepted by all people as the norm of life. The human race has done that with many things. Like we wanted to fly, and invented aeroplanes. We wanted to see the other side of the moon, and we have. This time, we want to heal our planet, and bring peace to this world. We can do that.
Meanwhile, in my minds eye, I see butterflies disappearing from earth as bees have. There will be birds getting confused by the directions of the new winds we are creating for energy.
A group of American Indians protested that the wind power was blowing the wind to their ancestor’s graves. “they should have protested at the inception of the plan. It’s too late, now” was what they were told. People need jobs. So the project is pretty much going ahead with no protest. Together with corporations which decided that they owned the water rights in some Eastern land, where people suddenly, could not drink water without paying the corporation, and some of them were jailed for not paying for the drinking water which was free for them all these years, I am a bit concerned that now we will have wind rights.
In fact, I am starting to miss the butterfly I saw in my backyard when I was a little girl. I was the kind of child, who just kept watching the butterfly dance- until the butterfly was in my heart. It was floating in the breeze, dancing the dance of life.
Start your own campaign today. You will see that it spreads and covers the world very fast, and meanwhile it will make you one of the small pebble people. Small pebble people are people who know that small pebbles, when they’re dropped in the ocean, will immediately affect the ocean of the whole wide world. Again, don’t throw big stones. It scares people and creates repercussions.
So we’ll just keep dropping small pebbles. Together. That’s how we will change the world. We change, and the world changes. Have trust in what you can do. Have trust in how fast we can change our world for the better. Why? Because we have to.
I would like to share an affirmation with you. Now say it in your mind with the firm belief that we are one, and together. We’ll make it.
In the name of truth, peace and love, Our planet is healthy and whole. We, the people of earth see clearly, hear clearly, think clearly, make the right judgement, right decision and the right move for the benefit of us, our planet and the Universe.
We are now bathing in the light of dawn, standing in the heaven we have created together on this planet.
We wish to share this age of joy with all lives on earth, as we are one, united with infinite and eternal love.
For the highest good of all concerned, so be it.
