The Nature of Change

By Benedict Herrman

It occurs to me, as it does from time to time, that nothing is permanent, much as we might like it otherwise. The handle of your favorite coffee cup suddenly breaks off, and the vessel smashes. The friend you had for years suddenly turns on you for no discernible reason. You get a new job and have to move from your old, cherished home. Children grow up and become adults, have their own lives, and stop calling. I have my old passport picture from when I was 18… and one from 50 years later. Strangely, they’re not the same…

The Buddhists know this and call it impermanence, but what it really is, I think, is change. When you really consider it, change is brought about by motion – children grow, the coffee cup is used, etc., and if something doesn’t move… well, it isn’t really possible, is it? Even the Great Pyramid, that symbol of Humankind’s most enduring government construction project, will someday be a pile of sand due to the incessant action of erosion over the eons. Even our Earth, our eternal Celestial Nest spinning in the cold vacuum of Space, will one day be an icy cinder orbiting a brown dwarf star, devoid of all life… and all our wars, flags, ambitions, politics, leaders, problems, errors, triumphs, and yes, our entire history will be as naught.

Everything changes. Winter follows autumn, day slips into night, the tide comes in, the tide goes out… we breathe in, we breathe out…Movement and change are the lifeblood of all things. Remembering this helps one during these trying times… pandemics, politics, short-sighted corporations destroying the planet for short-term gain, and climate change itself… all ultimately mean nothing. The virus played itself out; politicians win, lose, and die; corporations vanish like smoke in a breeze; and even climate change will eventually correct itself. The planet will survive, and once again harbor a rich abundance of life that may or may not include us.

This is not an excuse to do nothing, nor am I endorsing a passive attitude towards our many problems. What I am talking about is holding an awareness of perspective. When we stand too close to our fears, they overwhelm and control us, making us behave in ways we normally wouldn’t. We put walls around our country, hoard toilet paper, and seek solace in foolish authoritarian regimes. These are old-brain, reptilian responses — not the actions of noble human beings that Bapak urged us to be, but of parts of ourselves less than human, driven by darker, invisible fears that live in the more subterranean parts of our soul.

My dear father, when observing my sixteen-year-old attitude, selfishness, and hormone-induced actions, would often smile and shake his head and say, “This, too, shall pass.” His words are all the more useful today. We need to stop living in fear, and stop letting it drive our actions. As the Brits say, “Keep calm, and carry on.” This, too, shall pass.

But Wait – There’s More!

By Fayra Teeters

When I functioned as a drama instructor, one of my favorite exercises was something called “In Movement there is Change”. Students stood in a circle and passed around an imaginary object, created through pantomime. The task was to receive the object, use it, then transform it into something similar, yet different. Beginners would frequently freeze up at the moment of transformation, getting stuck in their heads, wanting to think things through before making a choice for change. This might be perceived as prudent, but it absolutely killed the flow of energy, which was the focus of the exercise in the first place. I very patiently but decisively kept reminding the frozen stallers “in movement there is change”. Keep the imagined object in motion, keep using it, and change will come of its own accord. Obsessive control of change actually kills the flow needed to allow it to happen. I’ve learned that as I taught in theater classes, I can also apply the gleaning to my own journey through life.