… if we want to change the world, we have to change ourselves. Unfortunately, that is not where most people begin. Most of the leaders I have met, both here and in India, strike a more familiar tone:”Let me reform you, Diane, and you, George, and, of course, you, Bob.” That is often the reason why well-intentioned efforts to change conditions in other countries fail to get the effects at which they aim. The great spiritual teachers of all religions—Jesus, Saint Francis, Saint Teresa, the Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi—say in refreshing contrast, “Let’s start with ourselves.”
–Eknath Easwaran, Original Goodness: On the Beatitudes, 242
