The Challenge of Change
“You cannot step into the same river twice.” – Heraclitus
One of our greatest challenges is recognizing the constant change that everything goes through.
Everything evolves. Some things change slower, others a bit faster, but nothing remains the same, not even for a second. People change, society changes, the world changes…
Even our political reality is constantly changing. Today, there are countries on the world map that no longer exist.
Most of the time, we lag behind in realizing that things have changed. It’s hard for us to accept that what we know about people, society, and the world will soon no longer correspond to the truth. In order to accept this, we need to constantly renew ourselves, our ideas, and our habits. It is much easier to rely on temporary knowledge, or knowledge about circumstances in a specific moment in time.
We usually create a “snapshot” of reality at a certain moment and from a certain perspective, and we hold on to these “pictures” as reference points and safe havens, even when they no longer reflect the truth. However, true growth and understanding come from embracing change and constantly adapting to new circumstances. We base our entire lives on it, despite the fact that it no longer accurately reflects the reality.
Usually, we solidify a certain idea about the world and anchor it in our consciousness, regardless of its lack of truthfulness. In some areas of human activity, this is easy to illustrate. For example, in the digital world, we are constantly asked to update the operating system we use in order for it to function well with all the new programs. Windows 95 was once one of the most advanced operating systems. However, few people still use it today.
However, it is difficult for us to update our own “operating system”. We tend to go to extremes; either we get stuck in an old operating system that doesn’t keep up with the world, with new discoveries and new understandings, or we reject the old system and constantly come up with a completely new one that does not take into account the experiences gained from using the old one.
This is precisely why we constantly see clashes between two generations; one that works with an old operating system and refuses to update it, and the other that’s constantly seeking new ways to improve. We should never stop updating our “operating system” and constantly learn from the efforts and experiences of those who have developed and programmed it to the point where it is at present. This is something we can truly achieve if we realize that there are universal and timeless principles that do not change because they are not things, they are not from the material world. Mathematical principles, for example, do not change, at least not within the span of human time. These are ancient archetypes, principles of Goodness, Justice, Beauty, and Truth. If we rely on these principles as a stable and shared foundation, we can achieve continuity instead of getting stuck in time, believing that our perspective is the most correct and best.