Processes of Change
The External as a manifestation of the Internal
The external is the manifestation of the internal. All that exists is the materialization of people’s thoughts, and ultimately, their level of consciousness. No change is possible unless an internal change occurs in how people see the reality.
In addition to that, every person sees and interprets the reality according to his own internal world. Man sees the reality in a way that he can understand it. The 19th century man saw the Universe as a big clock, an enormous system that worked under the same principles as the machines he was able to design and build. The 20th century man sees the Universe under the Einsteinian relativistic principle, where the quantum physics discoveries showed a sub-atomic universe beyond our Newtonian comprehension. A different language had to be created to understand the atomic laws and interpret what was being revealed.
Based on his values, knowledge, experience, intuition and consciousness, man interprets the surrounding reality based on what he sees, and perceives what he is able to understand. In this sense, a mystic man will see a mystic reality, a religious man will see a religious reality, a rational man will perceive a rational reality, and a conscious man will see a conscious reality.
Changes occur from within Outwards
Throughout human history, many changes occurred when the majority of the people understood that it was not possible to continue with the current system, and decided to either change the system, or replace it with a different one. These kinds of changes, like the French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution or the fall of the Berlin Wall, did not occur as an initiative of the State, from top to bottom, precisely because this is one of the institutions that needed to be changed; nor did they occur as an exclusive initiative of the people, from bottom to top, because they are not powerful enough to do it by themselves. But, they occurred from within outwards.
These kinds of changes occurred when the whole society perceived that it was no longer possible to continue with the existing order, that this order was unsustainable, and that it had to be changed radically in a short period of time. Suddenly, the society realized that this order had to be replaced with a new type of order, and a big step forward had to be taken into the future. Subsequent events came due to a change in the people’s level of consciousness, showing a change in their internal understanding of the social reality, and the want to voice it openly. Thus, generated a shift from within outwards.
However, this change in the level of consciousness on a few people was not enough to induce a change on a large scale, no matter if it made sense, or if these people had the power to implement it. It was necessary a change in the level of consciousness in many people, so that perceptible changes in the existing social order could be implemented.
Therefore, it is necessary to increase the level of consciousness on a sufficient number of people in order to change the status quo. As stated above, a real transformation in the existing order does not come from top to bottom or bottom to top, but from within outwards.
Principles of Change
a) The Minimalist Principle
This principle states that any change should be implemented by means of small steps towards the desired goal, in order to nullify the natural inertia of every single step. The Minimalist Principle is based on recognizing that there are natural opposing forces to any action exerted on a different direction than the reality momentum. It is necessary to proceed gradually towards the desired direction in order to achieve a given goal, step by step and not drastically, to reduce the risk of the opposite effect that may arise due to the existing reaction force to any exerted action.
The Minimalist Principle is fully incorporated in eastern cultures. Every idea and every action are executed gradually, in order to nullify the opposing force that exists in every step. Eastern cultures treat the ideas as plants that need to grow and flourish. If someone has an idea, he will not shout it with all his force, but place it in reserve to give it time to mature. This time of reflection gives the opportunity to nullify all opposing forces, and advance towards the desired destination.
b) Radical Action
However, sometimes it is not possible to reach a given desired state only by acting through the Minimalist Principle, either because obstacles are bigger than expected, or because there is not enough time to let the situation mature fully, or especially, because the Minimalist Principle has paved the way to exert a more radical action. In any of these cases, an intensified effort should be executed. This is what is called a Radical Action, which can be defined as a drastic action, usually stronger than a minimalistic action, with the objective of providing a decisive momentum to drive circumstances towards the desired result.
Every Radical Action has secondary effects, and it will take some time before a state of equilibrium is reached, where all of these effects will recede and reach a state where all opposing forces will be nullified or integrated to the natural inertia towards to the desired state.
It should be mentioned that a Radical Action should be within certain limits, not bigger than required, in order to prevent the Pendulum Effect from happening.
c) The Pendulum Effect
The Pendulum Effect happens when the Radical Action is so strong, higher than the desired level, that the magnitude of the reaction force will generate the opposing effect, making circumstances to go backwards to a point behind where the Radical Action was exerted. From that moment on, circumstances will turn into a back and forth movement like a pendulum, until they reach a new equilibrium.
This final equilibrium could be ahead of the starting equilibrium point. That is, towards the direction where the Radical Action was exerted. But this will not be necessarily the case, due to “hidden” forces, or not foreseen at the starting point. This can make that the new equilibrium be behind the starting point, or in another direction. In any case, a new equilibrium will be attained after this strong Radical Action is exerted and the Pendulum Effect movement ceases.
In the case where the Pendulum Effect makes circumstances move towards the desired direction, the new equilibrium will be close to where it was expected, once the back and forth movement is over, due to end of the reaction force and collateral effects.
Critical Mass
The concept of Critical Mass refers to a sufficient number of people capable of inducing transformations on a given social system.
The implementation of social changes aiming at the establishment of the Organic Society may come through an awareness-raising process, where a number of people equivalent or greater than the critical mass can induce transformations in that direction.
Once this awareness-raising process occurs, various scenarios may happen. One could be the purposeful implementation of minimalistic actions on educational systems, private and public organizations, political order, legal framework and economic systems at a global level, to pave the way for exerting a Radical Action to establish the Organic Society. Another scenario could be the execution of a Radical Plan to establish the Organic Society in a short period of time, assuming the risks of the side effects that may occur, by means of establishing the Law of Love worldwide as the base for setting up any social/organizational system, and make progressive adjustments at organizational, institutional, political, legal and economic levels, as issues arise.
No matter what process is chosen, this change will impact the way people see the reality, by means of increasing their level of consciousness, and implementing changes from within outwards.
As for the critical mass, there is no accurate count of people that can induce this type of transformations in the society. This will be recognized when the time comes, due to the winds of change that will arise at all levels, externalizing a general sensation that the existing order should be replaced, and ackowledging the necessity of moving ahead.
