While no one wants to be the first to say it,
who each of us is and the fundamental choices
each of us makes in life seem to matter very little.
Even acts of great courage and intelligence,
while admirable and even inspiring,
exist in sharp contrast to
the apparent unworkability of the world at large.
Our greatest technical achievement,
walking on the moon,
while galvanizing the world for a moment,
did not fundamentally alter people’s experience
of their ability to make a difference
in their lives and in the world.
Sometime around now –
it may have happened five years ago or 50 years ago –
but sometime around now,
the rules for living successfully on earth shifted,
and an opportunity, unseen before, began to reveal itself.
This opportunity is a context –
a particular space or paradigm, a way of being –
which unexpectedly creates the possibility
for a person’s life to truly make a difference.
In this context,
the way each of us answers the question,
“What is my life really going to be about?”
can literally alter the course of humanity.
The possibility to create the context
in which people’s lives really matter
is undoubtedly the most profound opportunity
available to anyone, ever.
Werner Erhard, 1980
