SOUL SHIFT: AWAKENING AS ONE
Issue: We’re fast asleep in a Box!
Sub-Topic: Time for talk alone is dying; we need to UNITE, SHARE, SERVE and SEE change.
Group Members:
Loo Sue Anne (107276)
Ngoo Sze Jie (107311)
Nurnazifa Mohd Najib (107333)
Selamah binti Pazalol Rahman (107357)
Stephanie James (107367)
Major:
Architecture
Mankind has destroyed the beautiful, life-sustaining earth that God has blessed us with and placed under our dominion all in the name of greed. That which was once beautiful and pleasing to the body, soul and spirit has become the very thing that kills us off slowly but surely, namely due to the ever-increasing amount of pollution, natural and man-made disasters, disease, war and other forms of destruction. While it is true that our earth still contains much untouched beauty and untapped resources, all those will be lost soon enough if we do not protect them at this point of time. Now that we have seen the consequences of our exploitation, what are we to do? Time and time again we hear speeches and words articulated by leaders, representatives and organizations that intend to address this issue of rebuilding earth, however not much is done. We speak much about changing the earth but never do enough. For change to actually take place, our speech needs to be followed by the works of our hands and feet. Quoting the words of William Shakespeare, “Talking isn’t doing. It is a kind of good deed to say well; and yet words are not deeds”. If mankind continues on this habit of talking much but doing little, the earth will very soon die away and take all of us humans along with it. Time for talk alone is dying, we need to unite, share and serve each other in order to see change happen.
Talking about a dying earth, why is the earth and all that is within it even dying for a start? Going into the details of pollution, economical failure, societal rot and the likes will not be practical as that would fill up the pages of hundreds of thousands of books and not a single paragraph on a paper. We shall look at this from a very basic viewpoint. People are a greedy lot. We need only the basics to live but we want more. We want power, pleasures, riches, and glory. So, in the pursuit of fulfilling our lustful desires, we forget to become human and we forget our responsibilities in stewardship of the planet. Either that or we simply refuse to care. We are appointed by God to protect and use wisely the resources available in planet earth for survival but we use more than we ought to and end up destroying that which sustains us out of our hunger for material possession. Not only we use up all that we can out of our earth, we abuse those who are in it as well. Indirectly through economical and societal means the rich and the knowledgeable, or the elites as they are known as sometimes, oppress and exploit the poor to gain more wealth and power instead of defending them with their strengths. Mankind has become heartless, pounding their very kind for their own interests. Now that this is revealed, shall we continue on in our ignorance and just watch our world die off?
Since the day humankind noticed that their actions in pursuing wealth is causing the earth to deteriorate rapidly, talks of change is sounded by leaders of the world. Following these speeches, it can be said that no real, effective action is taken to solve these problems. If any action is effective at all, an improvement will be seen but it seems like matters are getting worse, or at least stagnant. Why is this so? It is probably due to the fact that we are too busy in running our own lives, in pursuing our own interests and dreams to be bothered by talks of change and the actions that are to follow it. Even if we do decide to change our way of life, to reduce, reuse and to recycle, to love and to defend, we tend to forget our change of heart by the time we arise from our slumber the very next day. This is because it is only human nature to be self-centred and we have always been so since the start of time. It would take a lot of effort on our part to wake up and get out of the box of ignorance, indifference and self-importance that we have been sleeping in. We simply do not care how our simple and seemingly insignificant actions or the lack of it will affect the planet we call home and the human civilizations across the globe. All we care about is us, us and us. This has to change. It is time to awaken ourselves and open our eyes to the needs of the world around us. Change is desperately needed.
Before we can see change happen in planet earth or attempt to change the reality we live in, there is a greater need for us to change first. If we do not transform the people that we are, it is impossible to change the circumstances around us. The first thing we need to do is to unite. In order to unite, we need to resize ourselves because if we regard ourselves as strong, important and powerful, we will never see a need to unite. In reality, an individual, no matter how powerful or influential he is in society, is small and unimportant on his own. It is only when he unites with his fellow inhabitants that he becomes significant and they become an important entity capable of changing the world. Next up, we need to serve the people around us and to do that, it is essential to humble ourselves to a level where we can put the needs of others before our own needs. If there is a need, don’t talk about it. Instead, meet that need. With this newfound humility, we also ought to share our thoughts, resources and love with each other. We live in one earth and one earth only, and all of mankind share the same land. It is man who created boundaries; it was never there in the first place. Beneath our external differences, we are only the same. When this shift happens in us, it is possible for us to change the reality that we are living in. If we unite as one, share and serve each other, change is inevitable.
As Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) School of Housing, Building and Planning students, we hold a significant role in society to influence the people around us to change for the better. As the small number that we are in comparison to the world around us, we certainly cannot change the entire world. However, with the little power that we have, we are without a doubt, capable of changing the world of USM, and eventually of Penang Island. From here, change will travel to the mainland, West Malaysia and progressively take over the whole of Malaysia. Once this happens, we Malaysians may one day have the power to change even the world. Like how ripples caused by a drop of water is ever expanding, our decision to initiate change in unity will slowly spread outwards, influencing more and more people as long as we are stubborn enough to hold true to the change that we begin. Waking people up from their slumber starts with initiation. For example, if our studiomaster, Mr. Wan Burhanuddin did not give us lecture after lecture on this topic and assign us a paper on it to write, we probably would not be exposed to the idea that a shift in our souls is necessary, and that there is a need for us to be awaken from our sleep in order to see change. That aside, initiation requires love, faith, sacrifice and commitment for it to be strong enough to affect others around us in a profound manner. For a ripple to be powerful enough to carry on for a long distance after the initial disturbance at the epicentre, the impact must be especially strong. Therefore we need to be firm in the shift of our souls so that the works we initiate will be influential enough for others to follow.
Change does not happen when we speak, talk or discuss about it. Change can only happen when we do it. The most important requirement for change to happen is for it to start first and foremost in ourselves. All form of propaganda propagated by various bodies is useless if the general public does not make a conscious decision to transform their mind and souls. Genuine decisions cannot be forced onto a person. As sung by the late Michael Jackson, “I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways. No message could have been any clearer. If you want to make the world a better place, just take a look at yourself and make a change”. Once change has taken place in ourselves, we can then do acts that will awaken others and have them follow suit. Slowly but surely, this change will spread and a visible shift in the reality of the earth we live in will be more than obvious. People always say that change cannot happen, that the world is too messed up to be corrected, and that a small number of people cannot make a difference. All these thoughts are those of the faithless. Change can take place. It is up to us to decide. Do we care enough about the earth and the people in it to sacrifice and commit to making change happen? The future of the world as we know it lies entirely in our hands. We are the very persons we have been waiting for.
