Monday, October 12, 2009

Change

While sitting in my World Religion class the other day, our teacher gave us a very interesting metaphor on change. An ancient philosopher, and I apologize if my spelling is wrong or even if I got the wrong guy. Anyway, Hereclius, said this, "When you walk down to the river to wash, you cannot step in the same part of the river twice." This really peaked my interest and the more I thought the more I wanted to write about it. Basically what he is saying is that the river is forever changing and that every second the river that you stepped in moves down stream at the current in which it was brought to you.
The same happens in the world, what happens one second is gone and something else is happening the next. The world is forever changing and for people who try to say we don't need to accept change, they are severly mistaking on their view of life. Additionally, people who say they know who they are, or what they want are also mistaking. The human person is always changing. Every second you are different from what you were a second ago. You take in new information, you change your perspective on different things. You go from hungry to full, from wired to tired (good rhyme) and you go from knowing to questioning. So as I was thinking about this I suddenly realized, that I myself was changing and what I thought I knew was now outdated and I was developing a new outlook on life.
Another quote I remember hearing in the past was that, "When you are done changing, you are through." Essentially, when you are done changing you are dead, you have nothing else to do. The moment you stop changing is the moment you stop learning, it is the moment you stop gaining knowledge and wisdom. If you really think about it, pain and suffering come as a result of resisting change in one form or another.
The last point that I was thinking about today, is that people are supposedly always changing. However, I think the only thing that truly changes is the mask they have on. Yea they always change but the nature of who they are always remains true and always comes out in the end. People do however change the masks they wear and the ego they represent from moment to moment depending on the situation. They try to realize the face that will get them the furthest and they will wear that until they can go no further and then they change. So this has been my outlook on the day, does anyone have a comment...lol