CHAPTER 1
A Splendid Torch
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one . . . the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
—GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
This quote from the British writer and activist has been framed on our mantel for decades and says in a few lines what I hope to convey in this book. For me, it epitomizes the meaning of commitment. Over the years, I have seen my own “selfish little clod of ailments and grievances” disappear as I devoted myself to a higher calling. I’ve aimed to live my life as a splendid torch lighting the way for future generations.
I’ve known many people who have held that torch, but the person who most epitomizes that kind of commitment for me is the renowned inventor and visionary Buckminster Fuller, one of the great geniuses of the 20th century. Bucky, as he was called, became a friend and a mentor, and although he died in 1983, his ideas and insights inspire me to this day.
In 1976, a friend invited me to an event called an Integrity Day, where Buckminster Fuller spoke to an audience of 2,000 people. A small man wearing thick glasses and dressed in a black suit, he stood onstage behind a table of models of his “tensegrity” structures (tetrahedrons, octahedrons, and icosahedrons) that were the basis of his famous geodesic domes. Bucky was talking about the intellectual integrity of the universe, and I didn’t really understand much of what he was saying, but I got who he was. As the Emerson quote says so beautifully, “Who you are speaks so loudly, I can’t hear the words you’re saying.” That was my experience of Bucky Fuller.
At a certain point, he stepped out from behind the table, looked out into the audience, and said, “Now I’m going to say the most important thing I’ve ever said, or perhaps ever will say. Humanity has just passed a critical threshold. We are doing so much more with so much less that we now live in a world where there is enough, enough for everyone to live a healthy and productive life.”
Sitting in the audience, I could feel my heart pounding and my eyes filled with tears as I listened to this exuberant and eloquent man speaking about what it would take to create “a world that works for everyone, with no one and nothing left out.” He fervently believed that this was possible, that humanity already possessed the resources and technology to meet the needs of everyone on the planet. For me, Bucky smashed the myth of scarcity, that there is not enough to go around. He introduced the notion that we are on the verge of replacing a you or me world, one of competition for scarce resources, with a you and me world, one of sufficiency for all. With these words, he planted in me the vision that would soon become the guiding force of my life. I was blown away by his revolutionary and transformational vision of the world and our human future, and I had a visceral, physical, spiritual, out-of-time experience, the realization that my life would never be the same.
BUCKMINSTER FULLER’S STORY
Nearly 80 years old at this time, Bucky told the story of his own personal transformation, an epiphany that I consider to be one of those magical moments that changed the world. In 1927, at the age of 32, he was grieving the loss of his four-year-old daughter some years before as well as the loss of the business that was his livelihood. Another child was on the way, and he had no savings and no prospects for supporting his family. He was drinking heavily and characterized himself as a “throwaway human being.”
One afternoon in Chicago, walking around Lake Michigan, he contemplated suicide by drowning so that his family could receive his life insurance. Suddenly he felt himself suspended above the ground in a sphere of white light, and a voice spoke, telling him, “You do not belong to you. You belong to the Universe, and your role is to apply yourself to converting your experiences to the highest advantage of others.” From that moment forward, Bucky devoted himself to what he called an experiment: “to find what a single individual could contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity.”
Bucky was the first example I had known of a person who had turned his life over to a purpose larger than himself and who helped me discover the possibility of living a committed life. Key to Bucky’s message was the power of an ordinary human being, what he called a “little individual,” to make a difference that would impact all humanity. Bucky did indeed give his extraordinary gifts to the planet as, in his words, a “comprehensive anticipatory design scientist” to solve global problems. His work as an architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, and futurist still inspires and challenges people of all generations. He is indeed a splendid torch for me and millions of others.
There is more to come about Bucky as my mentor and family friend. I introduce him here as a way to examine the nature of commitment. There are many ways to look at the word, the idea, and the concept. For the purposes of this book, commitment is giving your word—not only giving your word, but being consistent with your word. The etymology of the word—pledging oneself—means you become the commitment you’ve made. Commitment is an act of courage, integrity, and boldness. A profound commitment is a declaration of the soul of who you are and what you’re up to in this lifetime. It could possibly be the most powerful action a person can take. I’ve seen that with my own eyes; I’ve lived that with my own life.
COMMITMENT AS A CONTEXT FOR LIFE
In the conversation that is this book, you will see and experience how giving one’s word from a place of authenticity and courage can be life-altering and life-defining. A bold, audacious commitment can shape every action you take. It’s not a decision and not merely an agreement; it becomes the context of your life. Commitment is especially powerful when connected to the needs of the world that touch your heart. It enables you to take your grievances and your heartache about the world and do something about it. The very words “I commit” can stir the soul of both the one who speaks them and those who hear them. I’ve found that making commitment public enough that the people you respect, love, and trust hold you to account is empowering. Then people relate to you not as your desires, your personality, or your agenda, but rather as your word. They interact with the integrity of the commitment you’ve made.
A commitment larger than your own wants and needs lifts you out of the landscape of your circumstances and personal desires. It lifts you out of day-to-day moods, irritations, and upsets about things not going your way. It pulls you out of that smallness and elevates you to a place where you find the strength and courage to generate your life out of possibility and generosity.
All great movements, all major alterations in the course of history, began with a courageous commitment by a human being who said what they meant and meant what they said—someone who held themselves accountable to a standard beyond what they knew possible of themselves. For me, once the commitment to end world hunger was spoken, a new domain of existence was born. When President John F. Kennedy committed to getting a man on the moon within nine years, a whole new field of aeronautics and space science was born—along with national inspiration and aspiration. When a small group of men and women in England committed to ending slavery, they began a worldwide revolution. When Mahatma Gandhi said the British would walk out of India and India would be independent, an unstoppable, nonviolent movement was born.
That kind of commitment is born of the heart, from the soul, from the deepest place of who we are. It comes from what some of us call God, Spirit, or Source, and it is equally felt by anyone who is moved to hear a calling from life itself. It’s an act of courage, which comes from the heart. What I’m talking about isn’t logical. It doesn’t come from the mind. It’s not irrational or rational. It’s not even in that domain. I call it trans-rational—in the domain of transformation. It changes the game, moves the world, and creates a space for miracles.
People often think that great leaders are born, not made—that they are somehow destined for greatness. I believe, however, it’s the opposite—that committing oneself to an inspiring cause is what forges you into a great human being. It’s the commitment that shapes you into who you need to be to fulfill it. And that’s the point of this book. It’s not that you have to be smart enough or talented enough or knowledgeable enough to make commitments. You make the commitment, and then the talent, the knowledge, the passion, the resources start to become visible and move toward you. The light of a splendid torch attracts them to you. When something greater calls you, human frail-ties—which we all have—begin to fall away or move into the background. Instead of focusing only on your own wants and needs, you put your attention on the larger community—what Shaw called the “true joy in life.”
People who’ve made a big commitment seem larger than life, but they didn’t start out like that. Gandhi was a small man who was thrown off the train in South Africa and became a huge hero for generations to come. Jane Goodall went to Africa as a young researcher before she had any scientific credentials, yet her relationship with chimpanzees gave scientists and the rest of us a completely new perspective on primate behavior. Greta Thunberg was a young girl on the autism spectrum who got very angry about inaction on climate change and just started sitting outside the Swedish Parliament instead of going to classes. She took her anger and transformed it into a beacon of light so powerful that she mobilized millions and millions of young people to join in climate action. Even people living in downtrodden circumstances where it looks like there’s no hope have found deep commitment. Cesar Chavez is such a beautiful example. He spent every day of many years toiling in fields and picking grapes with no rest, no health care, no decent wages or place to live. But something happened that sparked his commitment. And then he started to live by that commitment, and the farm-workers’ movement was born.
The possibility of that kind of commitment, I declare, lives in everyone—everyone who’s alive, or they wouldn’t be here. Many people live their lives without ever tapping into it or even getting close to it, but we are all capable of living committed lives, and I want to make sure it is accessible to everyone.
I have been blessed to have a privileged life that afforded me the opportunity to follow my passion, and for that I am beyond grateful. However, I have seen that a committed life is not a function of circumstances—that jobs and families need not define service. Raising children is obviously a massive investment of time and commitment and might seem a deterrent to substantial broader contribution. During the long battle for women’s right to vote, some leaders, like Susan B. Anthony, had no children, while others, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, had eight children to raise, yet they all worked together side by side. For some, it was totally inconvenient, while others had all the time in the world, yet they both stepped up. I am particularly inspired by mothers who have lived a committed life. For example, among the women Nobel Peace Prize winners who make up the Nobel Women’s Initiative, Leymah Gbowee, a freedom fighter from Liberia, has six children. Tawakkol Karman, an exiled journalist from Yemen, has three children, and she’s still fighting for human rights in her country.
Often, heroes and heroines who have lived committed lives are unknown and unacknowledged. I think of the fathers and mothers whose commitment to their children made astonishing contributions to society, even under the harshest of circumstances. Berdis Jane Baldwin raised her son James and eight other children as a single mother working as a domestic servant. Louise Langdon Little, the mother of Malcolm X, had eight children who went to foster homes after she was involuntarily institutionalized for “believing she was being discriminated against.” Martin Luther King Jr.’s mother, Alberta Williams King, was murdered six years after her son was assassinated. She was shot in the back while playing piano in Ebenezer Baptist Church. These women were directly responsible for the empowerment of their children as well as the entire Black community.
WHEN ORDINARY PEOPLE BECOME EXTRAORDINARY
Ordinary people become extraordinary when they take a stand for a purpose larger than themselves. I have witnessed extraordinary leadership arising from people in every circumstance and culture on earth. One, who is very dear to me, is Narcisa Mashienta, an Indigenous woman from the Ecuadorean Amazon. She was originally from the Shuar people but had been married at a young age to an Achuar man and lived in the tiny community of Pumpuentsa, deep in a remote area of the Amazon rainforest. As part of a dream culture, Narcisa had had dreams throughout her childhood that she would play a leadership role in that part of the forest, but there had never been a woman leader in the community; it was almost forbidden.
At the age of 19, she encountered the Pachamama Alliance, which was bringing committed activists from the United States and Europe into Achuar territory, a region of the Amazon rain-forest still roadless and untouched by extractive industries. Margaret Love, a nurse and midwife from Berkeley, California, had visited the Achuar a few times and discovered that their birthing practices were dangerous for both mother and baby. When a woman was ready to give birth, she went off into the forest by herself. With no one attending, she lay on banana leaves on the ground and tied herself to a stake in the ground that she could hold on to while squatting and pushing. She would cut the umbilical cord herself with a special, very sharp tool made of bamboo, which was actually fairly hygienic.
The women made the best of this birthing practice, but too often, women and babies died—breech babies, stillbirths, mothers hemorrhaging to death. The women of Sharamentsa village, learning that Margaret was a nurse and a midwife, asked for her help. When Margaret inquired about who might spear-head the project locally, Narcisa—young, intelligent, and charismatic—was everyone’s recommendation.
Narcisa was well aware of these constant birthing tragedies. Her tribe, the Shuar, had safer birthing practices, but Narcisa, being young and of a different tribe, felt she had no power to advocate for change. She found an ally in Margaret, whose medical training gave her some clout with the Achuar. Narcisa stepped up and committed to partnering with her to discover how they might transform childbearing into a safe and healthy process with support from the community. Together they brought into existence a local community health program called Ikiama Nukuri, which in Achuar means “women as keepers of the forest.” Walking, sometimes for days, in the forest to reach surrounding communities, they began recruiting women to be trained to work in their own villages. In this traditional warrior culture, Ikiama Nukuri was the first opportunity these women experienced to have a say in their lives.
Narcisa became the director of Ikiama Nukuri and has made it an unqualified success. Within eight years, 100 percent of unnecessary deaths of mothers and children were stopped. The program has expanded throughout Achuar and Schuar territories, providing communities with safe birthing kits as well as addressing other community health concerns. Although it took several years, eventually the Achuar men began supporting the project as well.
Ikiama Nukuri has also become the source of a surprising rise of leadership among the Indigenous women, who now hold elected positions in local governance and are engaged with national and international advocacy. Narcisa has given a talk at a TEDx event in Quito, Ecuador; spoken at Columbia Business School in New York City; and traveled to international climate conferences. True to her earlier dreams, she has become a leader—a humble, profoundly respected, and sought-after leader.
WALKING CREATES THE PATH
Even in her early dreams, Narcisa could not have envisioned how her life of leadership would come to be. People often want to see the way forward before they commit, but it just doesn’t work that way. When I committed to ending world hunger, I had absolutely no idea how to do it. When I committed to preserving the world’s tropical rainforests, I had no clue how that would happen. For those of us who are committed to ending racism in the United States, there is no road map. You can’t figure it all out in advance and then do it.
As the W. S. Murray quote at the beginning of this book says, “The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.” Things start to organize themselves around what needs to happen. It’s not that obstacles, doubts, and worries go away, but you find your way through them. It’s almost like a path opens up in the forest and you can then see the way forward—but not until you commit.
People often want to keep their options open; they fear being trapped. But in my experience, it is not making a commitment that traps you. Keeping your options open gets really tiresome and burdensome after a while. When you make your commitment and declare, “This is it!” then you have real freedom. I think of my 50-plus years of marriage to Bill Twist. In our early years, I was always worried that Bill was such a brilliant and handsome man, someone was going to take him away from me. Then, at a weeklong workshop, Bill and I realized that no matter what happened, we were life partners. We said, “This is our lifetime together, and we’re not going anywhere.” Once we were clear about our unconditional commitment, we knew we could handle anything together. When you are unshakable in your commitment, it frees you. It’s so liberating!
Commitment is more powerful than anything. I don’t really understand it, actually, but I see over and over again how it creates miracles for the world and for the person who is brave enough to make the commitment.
