How big, strong, sudden, radical or drastic a revolution is depends on a number of factors. We could go through a number of physics-related metaphors, of course, but at bottom, the answer is going to be that old stand-by "it depends".
Our authoritarian-minded friends of whom I spoke last time are particularly susceptible to this problem. To them, for the most part, even the smallest change is a change of everything, down the last detail. This is, as I think most of you will recognize, an exaggeration, but I would be the last person to maintain that a change of anything (or everything) you once thought to be good and true to even the slightest "maybe" can be next-to traumatic. And this is why I never hesitate to add that the revolution you choose to initiate is always whichever one you think you can handle. This is one of those many, many situations in life where, well, to co-opt a phrase, "size doesn't matter" at all. Who cares how big or small your own personal revolution is? It's yours, not theirs. What is more, who cares how long or rapidly your own personal revolution takes? It's yours, not theirs. In other words, if we were more worried out our own revolutions than those of others, well, we would have probably changed the whole world already.
I'm serious. Just stop for a moment and think what the world would be like if every single person you know -- family, friends, business associates, teachers, students, acquaintances, the cashier in the supermarket ... everyone -- suddenly became more interested in the effect that they were having on others than the effect that others were having on them (and don't forget to include yourself in the thought experiment). Really. Do you think the world would be the same as it is right now? I didn't think so.
OK, we all know that this isn't going to happen just like that, immediately or without any kind of warning. And, yes, we all know that everyone isn't going to (and maybe some people will never) change all at once. But that's not the point. The whole thrust of the little exercise is open ourselves up to new possibilities. We're not talking about a big, individual change: simply paying more attention to one's own effect on others. I mean, how much time, energy, or other resources can that demand. But, simply becoming aware of that effect will have a feedback effect on ourselves. What we do about it is a different issue that we can get to later. My point is that with a very minimal amount of effort, without attracting the slightest attention to yourself, without having to make a New Year's Resolution (public or private), without anyone suspecting anything, you could end up having an extraordinarily profound experience.
I know that most of you think you know what the result of this little data-collection exercise will be, so you won't do it. But I'm here to tell you that you have no idea what the result will be unless you do do it. And I'm also here to tell you that you'll be surprised at what you find.
The fun-seekers, the courageous, the risk-takers, and the desperate will take me up on the challenge. You may like what you find and you may not. It may mean something to you and it may not. But I assure you, if you are open, honest and earnest in your effort, you will have already started your own revolution.
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