You 2.0: The new revolution

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

- by Maryanne Williamson as quoted by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 presidential inauguration speech



The most amazing thing is happening right now in the world:

People are generous.

In the nanoseconds I’ve been blogging, I’ve discovered a world of new, kind, generous friends. They’ve linked people to Re-Versioning. They’ve taken time to comment. They’ve listed this site. They’ve sent me stuff. They’ve introduced me to places I never dreamed existed, where the new revolution is happening, where people are sharing freely, to change things.

And the world is giving everything back in return.

Here’s the funny thing about generosity: when the world gives to you, you want to give back. And, even funnier, you find you can give back.


Why we don’t give
What is sad about our present culture – or at least, about our professional culture as perceived by most of us who have been trampled on by capitalists without morals, bosses without sense, and fear-filled colleagues – is that it actively squelches generosity. It focuses on money. Success (= money). Rampant Individualism (= money). Celebrity (= money). Be Somebody (= money).

It tells us that we can’t afford to be generous. Generosity won’t make us Money.
So we start hiding things inside, to “protect” them: Ideas. Suggestions. Answers. Creativity. All our ideas to save the world.

And we tuck them into a dark, safe spot so hidden that even we can’t find them. Because we’re afraid that someone, somewhere, will find them and take them and there won’t be anything left for us. Of us.

Or that all of our protected, saved, "best" ideas won't amount to a hill of beans in this world.

The world feels this darkness, this black hole of fear, and stops being generous for us. This is no “woo-woo”: When we live from our fear, we stop experiencing what is out there. And we neglect to listen for the things people want to give us.


Conquering fear
Conquering our fears is one of the most difficult things we face in re-versioning. What if it won’t work? What if I can’t do anything else? What if this is all I cam become?

What if it were another way? What if we are so rich inside, so powerful, so amazing that if we just opened the dark spot a crack, the world rushed in with a big yell of “Yeah!” and started pouring generosity in?

Years ago, I was struggling to find a way to forgive my mother for a lot of unkind things. I had just begun practicing Zen. One day, I sat/meditated. I read a lesson from Shunryu Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, on a very simple concept that, at the time, I didn’t believe:


You cannot practice compassion for others until you have compassion for yourself.


I was (fortunately!) young enough, and in pain enough, that I meditated that day just on finding compassion for me. Here’s the phases I went through:

• This isn’t going to work.
• My mother doesn’t deserve compassion.
• I feel fine about myself – really.
• I don’t deserve to focus on myself.
• If I focus on myself, I’m being selfish.
• Now I’m REALLY being selfish!

Then it happened: I felt deep compassion for myself. I forgave myself for being mad at my parents. For feeling broken. For not being “successful” enough. For not being perfect.

For being afraid.

My tears watered the world that morning. And in a few minutes, compassion for my mother, my father, my whole family gushed out. And I was able to be generous with them, forgive them, build something with them.


Creating generosity
Change isn’t really difficult – especially if you really want to do it. Compassion isn’t difficult. Generosity isn’t difficult. Trust isn’t difficult.

What’s difficult is doing all that for our deepest selves – first.

Re-versioning, if it is to take us to 2.0, needs to start with our deepest selves. All of the exercises I’ve been posting only work when you go to the place that’s true. That can be hard to do, because we’ve been told not to go there. We’ve been “saving” it. We’re afraid of it.

Here’s a big “What if” for us:

What if Nelson Mandela is right?

Imagine what we could do for the world.

Let’s take a chance. Let’s be generous with ourselves. Let’s be clear with ourselves. Let’s trust ourselves, give ourselves compassion and kindness and generosity – and open the door to that dark place inside.

And give it to the world.

__________


After over 30 years in prison, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first president of a demonstratic South Africa in 1994. In his acceptance speech, he used this quote from Maryanne Williamson's book A Return To Love:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our Light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightening about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us -- it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.


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