What Can You Contribute?

“Never before has man had such a great capacity to control his own environment, to end hunger, poverty and disease, to banish illiteracy and human misery. We have the power to make the best generation of mankind in the history of the world.” – President John F. Kennedy

In this day and age we live in a time where vanity and concern for our own selfish desires reigns supreme. We live in a world where we are predominantly conditioned to only think about taking and don’t really consider what we can give.

The world would instantly become a better place if we can switch that focus. Today, I just want to pose the question of….what can you contribute?

In our current economic system our society is largely based on fear and greed, so we inevitably become takers. We are taught that we live in a competitive society where we need to be more clever than the next guy to get what we want.

Is this the only way that society can be? In my heart I feel we can live differently if we just all decide to. I mean….what is society anyway? It’s just you and me deciding to play a game of co-creation.

I think our current system is long over due for a drastic makeover and to me it’s obviously breaking down. This can be a great opportunity if we choose to see it at as such and completely start from scratch. Problem is we have a hard time letting go of the things that we have known all our lives even if its causing us more harm than good.

For example, I think that we need to completely rethink the idea of money. We need to re-think what role in plays in our society. What are other possible alternatives to our current system? Bitcoin is a step in the right direction. One thing that is clear is that a financial system that is based on debt is unsustainable and very destructive. The people who created this system have done everything in their power to make us believe there is no other way. Remember this is a game and we can change the rules at any time if we all chose to. Our current system only makes a few very wealthy and is very psychologically damaging to people as they come to derive their sense of worth based on a socioeconomic scale. This to me is absurd.

In a society based on contribution, love needs to be our foundation. Out of a simple sense of love, one immediately feels compelled to contribute in what whatever way one is best capable of. For this to happen we need a collective shift in consciousness.

One of the ways I have chosen to contribute is through my writing. I have seen how powerful the right ideas can be in helping a person transform themselves. It is my sincere desire to help someone discover their inner potential.

Another way is just through my own presence. Once a week I visit and teach English at an elementary school for orphans. One of the things these poor little kids desperately need and crave is a loving presence.

As soon as they see me walk onto the premises they all start hooting and hollering. Seeing their happy little faces light up is one of the best parts of my week. They just want to feel a loving energy that they can take solace in. It is like food to them. And unfortunately there are not enough people in their lives to give them the loving attention that is part of a normal healthy child’s development.

Being an orphan in Korea is especially hard because of the cultural norms and the importance they place on family structure. Your family background plays a big role in how society views you and the opportunities that will be available to you.

I hear that once the kids are seventeen or eighteen and they are out on their own they sometimes need to lie about their family history, because unfortunately it has many negative stigmas attached to it.  If a future employer finds out they have no family it will definitely influence their chances of getting the job. They really do have the cards stacked against them.

I just want you to imagine that if we were starting a new world, how could you best contribute to it?

What do you like to do that makes you feel alive irrespective of whether it makes money or not? Is this something that you could share or teach another?

Now you don’t need to wait to start changing the world….switch your focus from a ‘what can I take’ mentality to a ‘what can I give. ‘ You will enrich your life in more ways than you can imagine.

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6 Responses to What Can You Contribute?

  1. As I see it, the biggest problem facing the world today is that there is the vast majority of human beings (more than 99%) who are unconscious: completely identified with their mind and all things material; there is no education system teaching children spirituality. There is the urgent need to change the conditioning of thousands of years. Humanity needs more people like you, Ivan to begin this change in earnest.

    • Thank you for contributing Pravin, you are absolutely right. The problem is, is that it is quite of a challenge waking people up who already think they are conscious. We definitely need to a whole new type of holistic education. Let’s keep fighting the good fight.

      • what we need to do is to strat implementing it there are times we get opportunity but due to our taughts we are not able to capitalize it ……sunil

  2. Hi, Ivan 🙂 Im iku, im 18 and im from Japan.

    I enjoyed and convinced by your article very much. I am in 12 th grade at a highschool in Maui Hawaii, and I am doing this one project from English class ‘If a world was one village of 100 people’. I am writing an essay about how I can make a change into this village. I was on a process of resaerching resouces for essay and I found your article. You TOTALLY explained what I all wanted to say!! I strongly agree with your perspective in what we are missing today. one of my reserch said 20% of the world earn 80% of the wealth. We are one of them and i didn’t notice how lucky i am to be in this position till now. This project and your article was a life-changing. I decided not to go to collage, instead, I’d like to volunteer at Third countries and help people there.
    Why don’t we stop wanting more and more, and why don’t we look back and pick those people who have less quality of life?

    I wish I could talk to you in a person! you seem to be so cool :)!!

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