Meltdown

Blogger is apparently having a meltdown this morning. I had written a brilliant essay on change. Now I find I must change the course of my day without posting my brilliance. Instead, I will try a quick summary.

Change takes a long time. Humans have had the use of fire for hundreds of thousands of years. We still don't know how to use it without polluting our environment because we haven't figured out how to limit our population to our environment. 

My practice is my minuscule contribution to change for the good in my environment. Learning to accept the limits of my effect in time and space is part of my mindfulness. Religions have attempted to control the minds of people for good for centuries without great success. Science has managed more positive change in two hundred years. Science has also caused great suffering when applied without mindfulness.

The interplay between mind, instinct and environment is the core of mindfulness. Mindfulness promotes functionality and health. Functionality and health promote positive change. Mindfulness of the one in concert with mindfulness of the many can move huge obstacles for the greater good. However, sustainable change for the greater good takes a great deal of time, because it must take root and grow voluntarily in each individual mind.