You Change Everything You Touch
Take that in—it’s important. The reason is simple: you exist.
If you exist in a state of confusion, you spread confusion everywhere.
This is going to be a hard-hitting message, so if you’re feeling very sensitive, you might want to scroll past—unless you’ve begun to suspect that this extreme sensitivity, this belief that the whole world exists to make you feel happy, special, and good… isn’t working.
Because here’s the truth: it’s insane to think the entire world was created to make you feel good. It doesn’t, and it never will. So you live in constant confusion, projecting it outward, demanding happiness in return—and never getting it.
That’s because it’s an illusion. The world wasn’t created for your benefit.
You were created for the world’s benefit.
This is the truth humanity resists, and why we’ve become so destructive. We don’t accept the extreme responsibility that comes with our existence. But all freedom—especially spiritual freedom—lies in taking full responsibility for the fact that you affect everything you touch.
When you do, there’s a deep calm. If you’re agitated, you create waves of agitation around you. That’s the real seed behind the “you create your own reality” idea. But let’s be more honest: you create your own destruction.
Look at the modern landscape—heaps of discarded cars, polluted air, a warming planet. All of it begins in the human mind. No matter what philosophy you follow or how much you claim to believe in love, if you live in agitation, you aren’t bringing love with you.
Here’s an example. I sometimes lead kirtan. At times, it’s beautiful. Other times, people show up with rattles or drums and no skill or practice, shaking and banging away, ruining the flow. They’re having a great time—“Oh, me and my rattle!”—but it’s a perfect symbol of our modern mindset: no training, no discipline, just noise. And we do this with everything.
Remember—everything you touch, you change. People come to my talks and disrupt with endless questions when all they really need is to sit in silence.
Right now, are you feeling agitated by what I’m saying? If so, you probably stopped reading already. But if you’ve stayed, you have a choice: you can type an angry comment, or you can let this bring you to a place of stillness.
Because when we are silent and unagitated, we affect the world differently.
So—which will you be? A being of disruption, or a being of calm quietness?
That calm quietness is where you’ll find your true self. The agitated self isn’t the real you—it’s what Eastern traditions call the ego, the small self. The real you doesn’t need to be hyped up or told you’re special. The real you calmly abides in life, participating where you can.
Calm abiding can even look like sadness. It’s not about chasing happiness or avoiding sadness. It’s about being steady. That steadiness is what the world needs now.
This is the self that participates rather than disrupts.
So, to those of you who stayed through this whole rant—what does calm abiding feel like to you?