I have written about the necessity and difficulty of Change in all of my books and also in my Jan, 2009 blog, “The How of Change” in which I quoted from “Eco Harmony Dawn Cooking: Balancing your Internal & External Environments”, which I co-wrote with my wife, Nicola Lawrence:

“The urgent question for Humanity is not so much if we need a much higher level of compassion and cooperation, but how can we get to that level? Over his twenty-five years of teaching and even before that, Andy has pointed out that while it is a great impetus to have inspiring global leaders with integrity, compassion and vision - like Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela and now perhaps, Barack Obama – it is also necessary for the average person to radically change. Each of us needs to transform her or his consciousness in order to recognize appropriate leadership and support it on an on-going basis, through seeming highs and lows. Without this continuing support, the end result of any Great Leader‘s work will be more of the same - one step forward and one step back; one step to the left and one step to the right. Meanwhile, our global, human crises will continue to escalate.
There are many specific reasons for the gap between our ideals and actions, but perhaps the deepest and most universal is that we feel ourselves to be separate from each other, from our natural environment, and from our Divine Oneness… or “God” to many. We struggle to bridge the gap. Such feelings of alienation have not been as prominent in all cultures and eras as they are in ours, wherein our current embrace of Science and Capitalism accentuates separation, fragmentation and competition, rather than integration and cooperation. In short, modern society tends to exaggerate the processes which break us into competitive parts, rather than uniting us into a Whole.

We are at an unique point in human history, wherein our practical, global challenges as well as our most profound, spiritual teachings, are calling us to the same place – to unite on a common, higher human ground.

To be able to step unto that higher ground, we must expand the dimensions and parameters of what it means to be “I” and our particular collective identity, “We”, whether that is defined by political ideology, nationality, race or religion. This expansion of the sense of self is essentially a matter of spiritual transformation and consciousness. It can only come about by something radically different taking place within ourselves, not just substituting one belief of the day for another”.

In blunt, crude terms we have to look into ourselves before we shoot off our mouths. 2500 years ago, The Buddha said, “We are the result of what we have thought” and that we ought to be “a refuge unto ourselves”. Jesus (in reference to a stoning of a prostitute) said, “Let he who is without sin throw the first stone”. The crazy thing is that conventional society does not ask us to look into ourselves and take responsibility... we have no parameters or measures for that... yet you would think that the most essential ingredient of a successful Democracy would be aware, discerning voters!
Be aware that many (not all) of our leaders want us to be uninformed and to unthinkingly react to temporary, deceiving “talking points” or “photo ops”! In that way, we become more manipulable even as we see ourselves as “tech savvy”. Many people want change but there is no specific target against which we can direct our frustrations and energies.. unless in a destructive way as in the recent G20 riots or as terrorists do. We have built a technologically evolved and complex society and we need a more evolved consciousness to deal with it.