It is not for most people to think that they are anything greater than just a member of their family, an employee at their job, a part of their community, a citizen of their country, along with the the minor influence they bring to that conglomorate, and then reaching further out, the even smaller overall impact they make upon the world.
People are conditioned to think that what they do in the scheme of things doesn't matter so much unless they're at the top pulling the biggest strings, steering and directing the course of major events.
But are not all rivers made up of droplets? This might be an extreme concept to consider, one that even seems laughable, for what possible influence can a droplet have? Not much, compared to a river.
But look to the movement of society and how relatively minor happenings within that movement are what most people experience on a daily basis. The majority of people aren't in the throes of huge undertakings, they are in the midst of everyday occurrences and within those occurrences are the happenings that shape their days and their perceptions. This 'colorizing' happens all the time and is so ubiquitous as to be almost unnoticed. People are continuously being affected, molded, and changed by life itself.
One time encounters or events can make a profound difference in people's lives. Searching my memory banks here, I can say that for sure I hold memories of several seminal events. The same must be true for you.
The river is rife with new additions
Inge Maria- Unsplash.com
Leaders try to affect the course of the river. They think that it is they who are making a difference but it is individual choices that ultimately makes up the path the river follows- are you following this?
For if you are, you can see that it isn't the 'cult of personality' that rules the day so much, it is the inner state of each person. Each person examines the outer and makes decisons based on what they hold within. Of all the influences people take into consideration, the vast majority are those that might affect them personally.
Were we to examine the building blocks that make up just one human's perception of the world we would be amazed at the amount of influences that individual has experienced. Who can say which of those have had the most impact? That is up to the individual to decide, and most quietly do. They come to their own conclusions.
So yes, though people are driven by highly individual needs and desires they are also turned this way or that through exposure to exterior influences, the things that politicians and advertisers and romantic partners and managers concern themselves with. Psycholological aspects aside, there is also the subject of spiritual belief and understanding, which definitely plays a role in each individual's decison making. Not money, sex, or survival driven, these decisions rest on individually held concepts of right and wrong. It's easy to see why politicians couple with religious leaders to cover all the bases of belief.
In extreme times, people are called to examine their beliefs and assumptions and the way they do that is by acting on what they personally know, not just what they're being told. So you can see how the interaction with just one person, or being part of one event, which could be a current one or an event that happened years ago, can change the path an individual currently chooses to take, which can alter the flow of the immense river of life!
Knowing this, can it still be said that droplets don’t have any power?