| "Making a difference is being in a way that allows something new to become possible that forwards the greater good, which before that way of being, wasn't possible." |
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Making a difference is
being in a way that allows something new to become possible that forwards the greater good, which before that way of being, wasn't possible. |
| 1) |
MAKING A DIFFERENCE IS
To get the full, real possibility of "making a difference", you have to be willing to let go of / look beyond "making a difference" as the colloquial change / improvement / betterment. Look: there's nothing wrong with making a difference that way. It's simply mis-characterized. Articulated accurately, it's "making a change". And you can only change / improve / better that which already is ... whereas the real possibility that "making a difference" brings forth, is something entirely new. What could that "something entirely new" be? |
| 2) |
BEING IN A WAY
The full, real possibility of "making a difference" comes from a way of being ... not from a way of doing. It comes from a way of inventing, being, and bringing who we really are to bear ... not from a way of changing anything. While the full, real possibility of "making a difference" as a way of being may result in an altered way of doing, any new way of doing / changing in and of itself is not enough. If we tell the cold, hard truth about it unflinchingly, making a difference as a new way of doing / changing doesn't make any difference. |
| 3) |
THAT ALLOWS SOMETHING NEW TO BECOME POSSIBLE
The full, real possibility of "making a difference" allows something new to become possible (you could distinguish it as a possibility that allows for new possibilities). The hallmark of people and projects that really make a difference, is that they bring forth new possibility where before there was no possibility of new possibility. Making a difference by changing on the other hand, simply re-arranges the same old same old pieces on the same old same old game-board without really bringing forth anything new. In its purest form, what the full, real possibility of "making a difference" allows to become newly possible, is context - secondarily, the context for what we do / change; primarily, the context of who we really are. With the advent of this new context, we get to see the tired, old, unworkable, erroneous, unexamined contexts in which we live and work. Changing the content of the tired, old, unworkable, erroneous, unexamined contexts in which we live and work only produces more tired, old, unworkable, erroneous content. Trying to make a difference by changing the content of the tired, old, unworkable, erroneous, unexamined contexts in which we live and work, doesn't make any difference. Bringing forth a new context in which to live and work allows something new to become possible: who we really are comes to bear on what we do. This isn't the same old same old anymore. This is something new, something extraordinary. This is living life transformed. Bringing forth a new context in which people can live and do what they do transformed, makes a difference. The truth (much to our own chagrin) is that almost all of our (well-intentioned) changes / improvements / betterments have in contrast, never made one iota of difference. |
| 4) |
THAT FORWARDS THE GREATER GOOD,
Now as an important point of note, I assert the full, real possibility of "making a difference" only occurs in the domain of the greater good. In the colloquial sense, a toothpaste may make a difference whitening teeth - but only in the colloquial sense. In the colloquial sense, a book on how to pick stocks may make a difference to investors' portfolios' bottom lines - but only in the colloquial sense. The full, real possibility of "making a difference" only occurs in the domain of the greater good where it powerfully leverages ideas and current political will in resolving issues like world hunger, homelessness, and climate change for the greater good. Whitening teeth and expanding investment portfolios don't make any real difference in the full, real possibility of "making a difference". Bringing forth new possibilities for resolving issues like hunger, homelessness, and climate change makes a profound difference. The plethora of newly-minted cyber-billionaires may not make any real difference doing what they do in a world in which a penniless Mother Teresa makes an enormous difference bringing forth the possibility of new possibilities for feeding and housing the poor, simply in the way she be's. So as a matter of distinction, I say it's essential to locate the full, real possibility of "making a difference" in the domain of the greater good, a domain senior to what's merely good for you or merely good for me or merely good for our teeth or for our investment portfolios. |
| 5) |
WHICH BEFORE THAT WAY OF BEING,
I include the clause "... which before that way of being ..." in my definition, to emphasize and highlight it's a way of being that's the source of the full, real possibility of "making a difference". Bringing forth this new way of being (transformation) demonstrates it, which makes it possible for / available to others. Merely changing things doesn't bring forth the possibility of transformation for others. Hence merely changing things has never made any difference. Again, all that does is re-arrange the same old same old pieces on the same old same old game-board in the same old same (tired) old context / way of being. Simply put, if whatever "making a difference" is deemed to be (colloquially or otherwise) isn't sourced by a new way of being, then it falls short of what "making a difference" really is. "Making a difference" is the natural outcome of the advent of a new possibility coming from / sourced by a new way of being, not by a change in a way of doing, nor by doing anything differently or doing it better or doing more of it. |
| 6) |
WASN'T POSSIBLE.
It's called "making a difference" because it shifts / alters something fundamentally, profoundly. People and projects that make a difference, are those that shift / alter something for the greater good. And whatever they shift / alter, once wasn't possible for the greater good, and is now possible for the greater good. It's the power to shift / alter what once wasn't possible to what's now possible, that makes a difference. And we distinguish those people and projects who are committed to exercising this power (if "exercising this power" is too dichotomous for you, then substitute "being this power") as those who are making a difference. |
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