We are in the midst of evolutionary change. The pandemic, climate crisis, and protests against systemic racism are all signs that the Tower is crumbling. It needs to fall. The foundation is faulty. It’s time to tear it down and start over.
That’s really scary for a lot of people. Change, especially big, systemic change, is never easy. “Wouldn’t it be so much easier if things just stayed the same?” For you, maybe. Though you probably wouldn’t like it after years and years of sameness.
And it ignores the reality that everything is in a constant state of change.
Change is the only constant in life.
Heraclitus
(You know it’s true if an ancient Greek said it. 😉 )
Seriously, though. The seasons change, and the weather changes, and we change our clothes and our tastes and… Ideally, we are growing and learning from and through those changes. Still some people have a hard time changing their minds. Not many people like to admit even the possibility that they might have been wrong.
Tradition is a powerful motivator, whether we like it or not. “This is the way my father/mother/grandmother/grandfather always did ______.” It takes courage to see past the tradition and ask why they did things that way. Have circumstances changed? Inevitably, the answer is yes.
It takes even more courage to go break with traditions and make different choices.
Most of my life, I have been a “go along to get along” kind of person. As I get older, though, the discomfort of holding my tongue is becoming increasingly greater than the discomfort of not belonging. I’m more solid in my own identity, and I have found people who value me, and share values with me.
That’s part of growth, and part of change. Part of my spiritual training is to observe the changes in the world around me and see how they are reflected in my personal and spiritual life. Usually that is referencing the changes in the natural world, however, I think it can just as easily pertain to changes in the social world.
The way I see climate change, and the pandemic, and the social justice movements are as an awakening and a positive evolution. We are being called to look closer at our impact on the planet and each other as human beings. That necessitates a closer look at our beliefs, values, thoughts and actions.
It is not easy to look in the mirror and ask, where do I need to change? It is SO much easier to point the finger out at others and keep making the same choices that we’ve made before. It’s comfortable and familiar. Comfortable and familiar are the enemies of growth and change.
If you’re not growing, you’re dying.
Unknown – attributed to many
I don’t know if I will ever be comfortable with change. I don’t know if I want to get comfortable with it. That doesn’t mean I’m not committed to doing the work so that I can flow with it and grow. It takes a certain amount of faith to choose transformation.
No one said change (or growth) was easy. If it was, how different might our world be?
Blessings,
Mary