Just a few moments ago, I was sitting on my ottoman looking out the window over western Toronto, eating an apple and pondering the many possible topics for today’s blog post.
As my mind’s wheels were turning, I bit a tad too deep into the apple, exposing its core and one tiny seed. In that one tiny seed, I could see the potential for an entire orchard. Something so small and fragile, yet something with great power. We, too, are like seeds. Small and fragile yet infinitely powerful. There is strength in numbers, but there is power in one.
Each of us has the ability to change the world. And indeed, we exercise that ability each day with the choices we make, the thoughts we hold and the actions we take. We make decisions of peace or of violence, love or of hate, greed or of generosity. Not all of us will be Gandhi or Mother Theresa. But we’re no less powerful.
If my apple seed had found fertile ground and suitable conditions, a tree would have grown. Over time, that tree would produce fruit and more seeds would be sown. Those seeds would give rise to other trees. Over time, a practically limitless number of trees could result – all from one seed.
In the same way, our actions bear fruit by inspiring others. The consequences of our actions, when multiplied through the population, are infinite.
Today, I smiled at a stranger and changed the world.
September 27, 2008 at 9:07 am
Each morning I am greeted by many people on the way to creating thier day as I finish mine. I like to think that they come to me because I brighten thier morning reguardless of the weather or anything else in thier lives. I welcome the challenge of being the one to handle such a huge job.
As always, excellents insight from my inspiration, Davey Wavey.
Thanks.
September 27, 2008 at 9:26 am
simple things, make big changes…
good thing you smiled at a stranger. his day definitely’s a lot better.
i like this post… see how an apple seed can actually exemplify life to be productive and worth living?
coolness!
September 27, 2008 at 9:27 am
great post.
September 27, 2008 at 10:11 am
You remind me of a priest with a sermon and a lesson. Very inspiring, Davey. You have a gift.
September 27, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I concur. I think Davey would be a great priest. He has the gift of ministry
September 27, 2008 at 10:14 am
One one today Davey, this post just started the day today great & I hope that it would continue like this. hope the universe smiles to you bright today as well. Cheers!!!
September 27, 2008 at 11:12 am
Thank you for the wonderful smile. Like Candide you brighten a fast disintegrating world, helping to make it tolerable for a moment at least.
September 27, 2008 at 11:13 am
The seed of the apple similarly looks like your nipple. . . hahaha
September 27, 2008 at 11:23 am
our actions ripple effect!
heya, hows it going? strange thing… talk to colin about the aftershow! perhaps i’ll see you in eggsalad sandwhich land!
September 27, 2008 at 11:50 am
I went to my nearest supermarket for the first time in ages today and I’d forgotten how grumpy all the people always are there. I made a point of being cheery and smiling at people when I nearly run them over with the trolley (I don’t get on well with trolleys).
It made me feel happier too.
On a different note, I tried your 20-minute full body workout a few times this week and my abs now officially hate you. I’m sure they’ll come round though!
x
September 27, 2008 at 1:20 pm
thats really deep yo.
September 27, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Does this mean you’re complating planting your seeds in a woman?
September 27, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Evang. So it is.
When the Buddha was near death, his deciples asked him who they should pay respect to when he was no longer with them, who should take his place, so to speak. He answered that he was born under a tree, attained Enlightenment under a tree and was about to die under a tree. His followers should therefore pay their respects to a tree. Ever since, a Bodhi tree can be fould in every temple, adorned with garlands and the yellow cloth of the Buddhist monks. All living trees are full of the potential to sustain life on the planet. Flowers and incense are offered to show deepest respect as though honoring the Buddha himself.
Go plant a tree, many if you can.
Be well,
September 28, 2008 at 5:33 am
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches. — Matthew 13:31-32
What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade. — Mark 4:30-32
This was another of Christ’s many agricultural parables. In context, he had led his audience to consider the sower, casting his seed, with the various results arising from the ground upon which it fell. He had told them of the field that produced both wheat and weeds, and now he wants to present them with a symbol of the origin, progress, and consummation of his spiritual kingdom.
To do this, he uses the example of the mustard tree, refers to the small size of its seed and the contrasting height of the grown plant.
Mustard is mentioned five times in Scripture – twice in Matthew, once in Mark, and twice in Luke – always in reference to having faith like a grain of mustard seed.
The tree known in Palestine as a mustard tree has minute seeds and yellow flowers, and grows widely in the Mediterranean. Most Bible scholars believe that the plant is the black mustard, grown for the production of the condiment, but in New Testament times, it may have been grown for its oil content. The plants, when not crowded too closely with other plants, can grow to be fifteen feet or higher, and have a thick main stem, with branches strong enough to bear the weight of a bird.
The parable of the mustard seed exhibits the smallness of the origin, as well as the greatness of the progress and magnitude of his kingdom.
September 27, 2008 at 1:57 pm
we need reminders like that – all the time.
ciao
September 27, 2008 at 3:19 pm
That is so true. That is how I have live my life everyday. Inspiring others is what I believe. Smile is so infectious~ and warmth. The best part is that its free~
September 27, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I have read your entire blog and never commented before, but this post moved me to say: “Beautiful work.”
Thanks for the daily gift.
September 27, 2008 at 5:56 pm
dw-Riley just said something I have to mirror. since I stumbled on this blog, it’s given me hope to keep going on. even when I thought I couldn’t. have you ever considered turning this into a book? perhaps it’s time to go beyond the blog. I’ve turned so many guys onto your website here in South Florida who never knew you existed and they’ve found answers to the most perplexing problems. you don’t have to do a thing, just contact a publisher. and change even more lives. again, just a thought…and thanks Riley it is “beautiful work” a “beautiful work of literary, spiritual, physical art.”
September 27, 2008 at 7:49 pm
hey
i just saw you post on youtube about how you watched this guy in the window masturbate and i how sad it was that you were like this at the age of 24..
haha, i am 25, and check out one of the emails i send to my friends just recently after moving to spain.. enjoy
oh boys and girls,
we live in this apartment building and there’s a courtyart in the middle, so you can kinda see into the windows of other people living opposite to your flat. and its a very small courtyard, too, maybe just like 8 metres wide, so you can see in their windows really well. and not that it would be my hobby to watch random people in their bedrooms, but sometimes it is difficult to stop watching.. 
and the boy seems to have just got home from a run so he takes his shoes and shorts off, so he is only in his underwear, then he puts some other shorts on and lies down on the bed. and apparently, he must be sweating, cause he starts wiping his firm torso with a flannel..
so it takes only like a few seconds and he puts it back and keeps watching the TV and then after a while he starts again and it goes on like this. and i hope you guys realise how WELL we could see everything. like we could tell the shade of his (fore)skin!!! 
in spite of the view, rachel gets bored after a while and she goes back to bed (the next morning,while we’re having breakfast at the terrace and i am telling her the rest of the story, she says: i know, i lost interest! but he could have been there for an hour! 
). anyhow, i continue watching (and i kinda feel like a perv now when i am writing it down – but he was really CUTE!) and in about 15 minutes he sits on the edge of the bed and finishes himself off. but i really couldn’t see anything but his back. the he stands up and probably just wipes himself or something, i dind’t see that part, he turns off the TV, lies down again and starts reading a comic book! he reads like three pages of the comic book, looking very bored and yawning, then turns off the light and goes to bed..
you just wont believe what happened last nite!
so anyway, last nite i got to bed at about midnight, and then suddenly i thought: why is there so much light in here? so i look out of the window, which is like right where the bedhead is supposed to be, so i don’t even have to get out of bed, and i see that the light in the flat on the opposite side of the courtyard, one floor below us, is on. the room that i can see is someones bedroom and the bed is right at the window. so, i think, whatever, and i want to go back to sleep, but then suddenly this really cute boy, tall, slim but muscular, walks in, takes off his shirt and sits on the bed and i think, what the f**k?!
ok, so i have to stop right here for a moment to explain the ridicule of the situation – imagine me, lying on my bed, my head in the window, by this time practically drooling over this stud and saying “what the f**k?” over and over again, and then the view – i don’t know how on earth would you get a better angle for it, i can see his whole body on the bed, except for his head (and that’s good because he couldn’t see me), and i just feel like watching national geographic, and it is so close i can basically see the pattern of his shorts.. can you imagine??
so anyway, he starts watching TV so I go and get Rachel from her room, ’cause i think she needs to see this. and she comes to my room and goes “oh my god!” and we watch for a while and then we decide to go to the kitchen to see his face and we feel like a pair of voyeurs and we laugh about it and then we see his face from the kitchen window and we go: “he is so cute!” so then we go back to the room and we’re like “ok, so that’s it, he’s cute, good to know, whatever, good nite..” but then he puts his hand in his shorts, takes it out, and starts wanking…and we go “oh my god!”
so, can you beat this??? i can’t wait to hear your comments
much love,
stano
so, dont worry, i am much more of a perv than you are!!
LOL
September 28, 2008 at 2:01 pm
WOW beautifully put. So often so many people overlook something so simple such as an apple seed, but I believe the moment we began to cherish everything is the moment that we grow and have a better understanding of why we are here on this earth and a greater understanding of the miracle of life.
September 28, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I’m a very convinced believer in the promise that it just takes one. One of something to change our world.
I hope that what or whoever that one turns out to be will be filled with love and peace in their hearts when they make that choice.
Ciao – J
September 29, 2008 at 4:41 am
Way to shoot a little positivity in our lives today. Thanks dude.
September 30, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Davey,
First time to this site, so I welcome you as a fellow seeker. Your posting spoke volumes to me because it touches not only on the choices we in this world but also the mindset in which we do so.
Your analogy is very similar to Saykong Mypham Rinpoche (tibetan buddhist teacher whose family brought tibetan buddhism to the west) talks about cultivating the mind to allow for the possibility of a single rose to arise from the hardest rock.
What does this mean? In broad terms we all have to understand our role as Creators and the responsibility that comes with that role. With purity of mind spirit and body we are capable of wondrous miracles, if we only prepare ourselves and allow ourselves to see them. This is illustrated very nicely by Mark in Dallas using the example of Christ and the mustard seed.
So using the image of that lone flower growing out of the rock, think of the buddhist eight-fold path which includes right intent, right thought, right action. Let everything you do be done with the fullest compassion and joy. As the Yaqui Indian sorcer Don Juan once said, “There is only the path to take, the one with heart, all others are of no use.”
October 12, 2008 at 3:47 am
Wow this was great!
December 7, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I am so moved by your words.
So eloquent, concise, and significant.
You did indeed change the world.