Multiplication

One man's greed
may wound another;
a thousand greedy minds
may build an empire
upon that wound.

One compassionate heart
may comfort another;
a thousand such hearts
may change the world.

For multiplication
has no conscience—
it merely magnifies
whatever we bring to it.

Civilization, perhaps,
is a multiplied consciousness.

Yet who creates whom?

The individual
shapes the collective;
the collective
shapes the individual.

The creator
becomes the creation,
the creation
its creator.

And so, we discover—

neither awakening within
nor reforming without
can stand alone,
for what we multiply
returns to multiply us.

Illustration courtesy: rajGuru Notes