Yuval Noah Harari describes in a recent book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind how ‘story,’ the capacity to imagine and share meaning through symbols and images, is the defining capacity that sets Sapiens apart from all other species. When focused inwardly ‘story’ sculpts the social-image we believe ourselves to be, what we call ‘me.’ When directed outwardly this same story creates culture. Culture and our social image are reciprocal mirrors of the other, each giving rise to the other, reincarnating the enchantment moment by moment. Both are stories, images, but we treat the image is if it were an independent, concrete reality. This is our basic flaw.

Krishnamurti observed that the inner creates the outer, meaning that the sources of both images, self and culture, originate in us. It is a waste of time to try to bring about a change in the outer, in culture, he said. The only revolution is inner, at the root, by having an insight into the imaginary nature of both our social image and the outer-culture. That insight brings about a radical change at the root and fundamentally alters both the social image and its twin, the outward culture. This is where real transformation lives.

Below are a few snaps of the outer, the USA Today. Consider the nature of the inner images and implicit beliefs that spawn this outer reality and then go beyond both to what you and all of humanity really are. Be that now and watch the world change.

Michael Mendizza