The woman wanted the world to be a better place. She saw injustice and iniquity wherever she looked. It is up to us, she asserted, to make things better.
Where is this line, between us and them? Who are these other people, who are the wicked ones, whilst we are the good? It is an illusion, of course. We see others as bad because we have a dark shadow side to our psychology; all the things that we have not accepted about ourself. The others are no different to us. We are almost all in a mess on the inside. No wonder, then, if the world on the outside appears to be in a mess too.
How can one save the world, if one is still messed up within oneself? Whilst there is a mess on the inside, even with the best will in the world, we can only create a bigger mess on the outside. So I agree that it is up to us to create a better world but we won’t do that by pointing the finger at others: the first work is to sort ourself out.
I am reminded of the advice given in the aeroplane safety briefing: Put on your own oxygen mask before trying to help others. Otherwise, you will be asphyxiated and you won’t be any help to anyone. Likewise, save yourself before saving the world. Otherwise the mess will only get bigger, inside and out.
Perhaps the strangest thing is that once one has saved oneself, a great compassion arises towards others and no-one is felt to be a bad person, even if they are acting in a way which we don’t like. With this change in our own attitude, we suddenly find ourself living in a better world, without having had to change the others at all.
