by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
We have all heard by now, I should assume, about the Transition Project, the Transition Towns and such, but for us to transition to a new future, a new society, the transition has to start with each one of us and it has to start from the inside.
Unless we, each one of us, has a personal transition to a new way, which to some degree, actually, is an old way, of doing things and working with rather than against Nature, change cannot be brought about. We also, to this end, need to rediscover they way our grandparents and their parents did things and the way they made things from almost nothing.
Gandhi said “be the change you want to see in the world” and this means that we have to become the change and not wait for a change to be brought about from the outside.
The greater transition cannot be brought about until we, as individuals, each and every one of us, have a personal transition first towards the goal of change. You must be the change and also the light. Stop looking for the light but become the light, the light that others can use to see their way out of the dark. But to be the light you have to set yourself alight, so to speak, and shine from the inside out and guide by your example.
Many people believe, it would seem, that they have to do nothing on the inside, so to speak, and that the change of the system can simply be brought about from outside, from changing the system itself. It has been shown that this, however, does not and cannot work.
The system cannot be changed unless and until the people themselves change their thinking, actions, attitude and their approach to things. You cannot put new wine into an old wineskin. The former will disintegrate the latter.
The change of the current system of exploitative capitalism to one where people and the Planet are held in high regard first requires a change in our own attitudes. Without such a change and transition the change of the system is not possible. It cannot be imposed from the outside, as many seem to believe, especially when it comes to political change.
More than once have we seen that an imposition from the outside on the people, without them having undergone a serious change on their insides, a change of system and values is not possible and has to be, then, imposed by coercion.
Thus changing the entire system from one day to the next, or overnight, also cannot be expected. We have to be the change and live the change to bring others along by our examples.
© 2015
Whenever I buy grapes imported from Chile, fill my gas tank with fuel sourced in the Persian Gulf, or select underwear made in Thailand at a department store headquartered in Minneapolis, I can’t help but wonder how much longer we can all go on like this. That 
