Five Strategies for Becoming an Agent of Change
What does it take for a person to transform reality?
Leibniz wrote that this world, the one in which we live, is the best of all possible worlds. In his own time, Voltaire mocked the claim and went on to write a whole novel whose title (also the name of the novel’s main character) sums up Voltaire’s opinion of Lebiniz: Candid.
It’s true, the philosopher’s conclusion might still seem controversial. Take a look at the world for even a moment and, to the contrary, take up Voltaire’s. If this is the best of all possible worlds, how can we explain all the things that we can easily point out are worthy of change or improvement?
Those, like Voltaire, who look with suspicion at Leibniz’s words, do so because they’ve forgotten an essential element in his conclusion. It’s the best of all possible worlds, nothing more or less than because we are alive. And what does he mean here? That we, with our actions, are the ones who’ve built this world in which we want to live.
Toward that spirit, we can share the five strategies which contribute to a person adopting this capacity, as an agent of change. Inspiration comes from the principles adopted by the Clinton Global Initiative University, which recently launched a program to support young people with the potential to make a positive impact on the environment. The points are as follows:
Contribute to the generation of a community exchange of ideas, initiatives and actions
Everything that humanity has achieved has been thanks to cooperation and agreement. To the greatest extent possible, generate links with others and don’t miss an opportunity to create spaces where it’s possible to discuss, debate, exchange points of view, and lay the foundations for concrete actions.
Become aware of your capacity as a conductor or connector
Ideas and will are energy, circulating all the time, within ourselves and amongst ourselves. We can think of a person as something which leads that energy and which also connects it. These are functions which are presented according to circumstances: sometimes a person is a driver of ideas and sometimes a person will be a connector. Becoming aware of this is a great contribution to a change in our environment, because it makes us sensitive to the transforming potential of the ideas circulating among us.
Foster a culture of sharing knowledge
With regard to the previous points, an inclination toward sharing is an inescapable element of change. Knowledge is also essential because its transmission “shortens” the temporal distances and therefore can accelerate the process of change.
Give priority to innovation
Albert Einsten is credited with the idea that it’s madness to always proceed in the same way and to expect different results every time. Betting on the new is, a priori, a way of trying to do things differently, different from what’s been tried thus far. It won’t always give the best results, that’s for sure, but that’s also its purpose: to learn something new.
Trust young people and be humble before their knowledge and experiences
Youth has a trait in its favor: it’s able to look at the world through different eyes. The ardor of youth, its courage, even its occasional imprudence, can be like a cool breeze in a room that’s been closed for a long time.
What do you think? After all, being an agent of change on any scale, doesn’t need to seem so difficult, don’t you think?
Also in Faena Aleph: The Hacker Philosophy: A Reality Reprogramming Creed
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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