“The opposite of love is not hate …it’s indifference.” —Elie Wiesel
The other day I did the routine update to my WordPress website software and checked out the “Freedoms” tab which explains the type of license that WordPress operates on: an Open Source General Public License (GPL). I already knew this, but it just feels good to see a solid business model that works from every angle.
I mean these people are geniuses, they created a free program that’s managed, improved and updated by the public. And their for-profit business runs like a little but vital side thing: add-on software, plugins.
If you don’t know how WordPress GPL works check out this video of Matt Mullenweg (WordPress founder) explaning Open Source as a philosophy:
Then the other day my wife showed me a video of a guy that went from hosting parties in New York city and making tons of money, to building wells in Africa for people without access to clean drinking water. He started a foundation that pays for its managing expenses with direct investment from his wealthy contacts so 100% of donations go straight to building the wells, they even developed an app that tracks with geo-location exactly where your donation money went!
If you want to learn more about this man and his water foundation, watch the shocking but beautiful video below:
That video made me remember watching TV late at night as a kid. The program showed children with grotesque, disproportionately bloated bellies erupting from skeletal bodies —barely skin and bones …flies would be all over his face, they’d get inside his mouth, a thick yellowish paste of saliva at the edges of his crusty lips. It was shocking to see it the first time and shocking every time after.
I couldn’t stop the question: “How could this even be possible? Why is it that there are people today living like this?” Since that day I’ve been contemplating about this and other related bullshit and now my view is that maybe the answers are different according to different levels of understanding of reality:
#1. It’s nature. Whenever there’s scarcity, there’s overpopulation to counter-balance the odds of survival —many die so the survivors can carry the strongest genes onto the next generation.
#2. It’s ignorance that keeps people subdued and handicapped.
#3. It’s by design. As there is an upper class, there has to be a lower class. Without slaves, hierarchies don’t function.
#4. On a soul level, these types of experiences offer the opportunity to develop compassion for the suffering of others —As people experience pain themselves, they open up and are able to feel the pain of others, they are able to feel empathy.
#5. It offers the observers (us) the opportunity to use our power in whatever way we can to change/re-direct this reality. Every one of us already has a certain level and quality of reach and maybe we just have to learn the how.
#6. It offers the opportunity for healing like Scott Harrison’s and his Charity Water foundation, and for people everywhere to “wake up” as they see they can do something, anything …or at least make them feel something… which is what many people who feel numb, desperately need.
#7. It makes the “video game”of life more exciting. I mean once you’ve beaten the “normal” and “hard” levels, you’ll want to play on the “insanity” level!! —> “Yeah, I’ll go down there where the love don’t shine! …I’ll get myself a frikin’ tumor the size of a volleyball right on my face! …hopefully that’ll bring some light into the hearts of the natives…” —Now, that’s compassion! …what a spiritual warrior, what a Boddhisatva!
And the repercussions do reach people who are also evolving towards compassion, like Scott Harrison. By the time he was done with the New York party scene, he felt empty, but in a bad way. It was the suffering of the people that inspired him to do something, and his new job gave him a new life. To live feeling compassion raises you to a whole other level of reality.
So if the open source movement is done properly, it can’t help but generate abundance: to have and to share generates abundance because the flow of energy and information is unobstructed, it’s not hoarded.
Now take that same concept and translate it into helping ease the pain of billions of people across the globe who are suffering in one way or another.
There is only one way to do it…
Each individual has to do their own thing, whatever that thing is. For Matt Mullenweg it was starting WordPress, for Scott Harrison it’s Charity Water, for Elon Musk, Tesla …and soon we’ll have a fossil fuel free auto industry! :)
And then there’s the most important job of a mom that comforts her son after he’s had an awful day, the gardener that makes sure to pull the whole root of the weed before moving on to the next one or the cashier who shares with every customer some moment to brighten their day.
We’re all connected by our interactions, every single one of our actions ripple out throughout the planet (Butterfly Effect). Our job is to do our thing, whatever that is and by doing it, help inspire other people to do their thing, whatever that may be.
This takes away the idea that one person can figure out and solve these problems on their own, and takes away the how to do it since this is where humans always get stuck —we’re worlds apart in regards to point of view and approach.
The real solutions spring from the individual having fun with something that makes them feel the expansion of more life experience while simultaneously sharing it. It’s the fulfillment of giving and receiving, being able to feel a real connection with another human being.
My thing is painting, writing, music and other fun stuff, plus I love to be part of conversations that make sense in an efficient, holistic manner. Maybe your thing is fixing bikes, calculating statistics or taking care of horses. Whatever the case, the source of the solution springs from the joy that you feel as you do your work; however, the implementation comes with our interactions with one another, this is what actually transmits the ideas, information, energy and inspiration that makes the real difference.
How we listen and deal with each other in every moment, how much we choose knowledge and appreciation in every situation; this is how we uproot the weed of indifference from our beautiful planet Terra – The Soil – Our Earth.
The future of our species is not in the hands of politicians, laws and treaties among countries. It’s in the hands of the little person with the big heart.
—Epiphanio
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