The movie Shawshank Redemption taught me a simple truth: “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” I found that some people mistake their hearts as calling for them to sit still when they get to the top of a mountain, live as sedate suburban house moms, or wallow in self-pity after life deals them rough blows. I have done that myself.
We have no reason to have to stand still, sit in place, or simply allow anything to happen to us; these are forms of engagement. However, if you know you must change, then you must get busy changing. If you do otherwise, you are dying inside through disengagement.
Knowing that perfection is happening right now, some people believe they must allow all the tides of the ocean to cover them, drown them, or mire them in swallows of fat, heavy sand so they cannot move. However, if inside of you is a fire that burns, a passion that stirs, and the motion to change things then you are obligated to yourself to “be the change you wish to see in the world.”
The principle of engagement, constantly at work, adamantly calls for action within and around us. If you are living in abuse, encouraging corruption, or otherwise not following your inner voice, Heartspace provides no support for you while you sit on your throne. Nobody is encouraged to be apathetic beyond their inner voice and what they are telling themselves to do. We all have the capacity to create change within and around ourselves right now. If you must do that, then do it.
One of my favorite authors is Jose Saramago. He once wrote, “…if, before every action, we were to begin by weighing up the consequences, thinking about them in earnest, first the immediate consequences, then the probable, then the possible, then the imaginable ones, we should never move beyond the point where our first thought brought us to a halt.” Simply put, this means that we shouldn’t let our thoughts get in the way of action. Too many of us over-think, over-analyze, and over-consider the possibilities and ramifications of action, stifling our best intentions and smothering our Heartspace as it calls us to higher ground.
The Principle of Engagement is reality. The most successful practitioner of the Principle knows they can change anything through their engagement in it. The more people don’t believe they can change things, the less in touch with the Principle- and reality- they are. The reality is, you can change the whole world! Do not be afraid to challenge, to listen, and to see the world unveiled for what it truly is. Dialogue, fight, move, create, and recreate all you want. That is engagement, and exactly what the Principle is about.
When change must happen, we must get busy and let it happen. This is what we’re called to do every moment of everyday, actively and passionately fulfilling our engagement within and in the world around us.