Article by Charles Eisenstein

Sometimes when I encounter pioneers in a certain domain of alternative culture, I get the feeling that even if they are doing their work on a small scale–perhaps within a small eco-village, an isolated prison, a single community in a war zone or gang zone–that they are doing that work on behalf of us all. I get the feeling that the changes they make in themselves create a kind of template the rest of us can follow, and do in a short time what took them decades of effort and learning. When I see, for example, how my friend ‘R’ has–in the face of near-impossible odds–so profoundly healed from being abused as a child, I think, “If she can heal, it means that millions like her can too; and her healing smooths the path for them.”

Sometimes I take it even a step further. One time at a men’s retreat, one of the participants showed us burn scars on his penis, the result of cigarette burns administered by a foster parent when he was five years old to punish him. The man was going through a powerful process of release and forgiveness. In a flash, I perceived that his reason for being here on Earth was to receive and heal from this wound, as an act of world-changing service to us all. I said to him, “J, if you accomplish nothing else this lifetime but to heal from this, you will have done the world a great service.” The truth of that was palpable to all present.

The rational mind, steeped in separation, doubts that his healing could really make a difference. It says, only if it is somehow made public, for example, turned into a motivational story, could it have an effect on the world beyond that man’s direct influence. I do not deny the power of story. Maybe J’s healing is having an influence via my telling of it now. However, stories are only one of the possible vectors of manifestation of a more general phenomenon. One of the ways that your project, your personal healing, or your social invention can change the world is through story. But even if no one ever learns of it; even if it is invisible to every human on Earth, it will have no less of an effect.

Read more...