Being the Change Through Social Media and Internet Radio

by James Bean

People using sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Care2, and countless other social networking venues of the web are roughly divided into two categories:"whisperers", and "broadcasters".

Whisperers basically just want to be left alone. They have a small circle of close friends they desire to keep in touch with, and that's it. They aren't necessarily out to add hundreds of Internet "friends" from far away exotic lands such as Outer Mongolia and Tuva.

Social networking broadcasters however, have much in common with those inhabiting the world of internet radio. They are seeking good ratings, a growing audience tuning in, more subscribers, an expanding coverage map, more downloads, hits and page views. They have messages to communicate. Adding new friends from Mongolia or Madagascar is perfectly acceptable! They might seek to "be the change", perhaps are involved with a cause they passionately wish to promote across the globe. Mahatma Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

Though amplified by electronic equipment including the hubs of the worldwide web these days, the concept of creating networks of communication, new ideas, education, and social reformation, is at least as ancient as Mongolian Yurts, Tuvan Throat Singing, Babylonian Ziggurats, the Pyramids of Giza and those of Central America. A couple of decades before the Internet revolution, the late Robert Muller (1923-2010), Former Assistant Secretary General to the United Nations, and Laureate of the UNESCO Prize 1989 for Peace Education, wrote the following visionary poem about the power of networking.

‘Decide to Network. Use every letter you write, Every conversation you have,
Every meeting you attend, To express your fundamental beliefs and dreams.
Affirm to others the vision of the world you want. Network through thought. Network through action. Network through love. Network through the spirit.
You are the center of a network. You are the center of the world. You are a free, immensely powerful source of life and goodness. Affirm it. Spread it. Radiate it. Think day and night about it. And you will see a miracle happen: the Greatness of your own life, In a world of big powers, media, and monopolies, But of six billion individuals Networking is the new freedom, the new democracy, A new form of happiness.’

I continue to be inspired every time I read those words. Muller was also Chancellor Emeritus of the University for Peace (UPEACE or UPAZ) based in Ciudad Colon, Costa Rica, which, once-upon-a-time, was the home of Radio For Peace International, a community radio station broadcasting to the Americas and the world via shortwave radio.

It was great to be able to share my program, Spiritual Awakening, via RFPI for most of the years the station was on the air. Someone told me that Robert Muller tuned in one day and actually heard me read from a booklet called Ambassadors For Peace, featuring a dialogue about world peace between Robert Muller and Sant Darshan Singh, presenting some very positive visions of a Golden Age. Now as I broadcast Spiritual Awakening on HealthyLife.net Radio Network who knows who I am reaching within the millions of people who tune in monthly, sharing my messages.

In conclusion, we not only transmit messages to the world via radio, Twitter, Facebook updates or Blogging but on a subtle level, even our very thoughts are like radio waves escaping into the ethers, and those thoughts have a effect as well.

As Spiritual Master Shivbrat Lal puts it:“The human body is a kin to a radio broadcasting station. It transmits into the ethers subtle and mental waves of what the mind thinks. Mental thought-forces and spiritual currents go out in the atmosphere according to the disposition of one's mental and spiritual make up. The human body system is also a radio receiver.” And from Ralph Waldo Emerson: "A man is what he thinks all day long."

It’s Amazing to realize that the totality of that thought-life during this earth-walk adds up to become our legacy here. Not only akashic records, magnetic tape, or a digital format, indeed, all our thoughts, words, and deeds become a factor, a part of the grand equation of the collective thoughts, words and deeds of the earth, slightly moving humanity in one direction or another, here in what Guru Nanak called "Dharm Khand", (The Realm of Action, Karma, Dharma: Moral or Ethical Activities).

In Decide to Be a Global Citizen, By Robert Muller he says, “A good inhabitant of planet Earth. A member of the great human family. Pray, think, act, feel and love globally, And you will aggrandize yourself to the outer limits of being. Know this planet. Love this planet. Care for this planet. For you come from Mother Earth And you will return to Mother Earth. You are made of her elements. You are the Earth, become conscious of herself. You are her eyes, her ears, her voice, her mind and her heart. Save your Mother Earth from her matricidal children who destroy her, who divide her, who spike her with nuclear arms, who hold their territories to be greater than the globe and their groups, greater than humanity. Unite, global citizens, to save and heal planet Earth and to make our Mother bloom again as the most beautiful planet in the universe.”

Check out James Bean's Show Spiritual Awakening Tuesdays 12 noon Pacific Time on http://www.healthylife.net