230. Change Is Primary

As we experience the world, we naturally get used to it. What was once novel becomes commonplace. What was once unknown becomes predictable. We adapt our actions to our new understanding and we develop habits that allow us to navigate the world with greater ease.

Eventually, we might come to feel we’ve experienced everything and there is no longer any novelty left in the world. We might then begin to live mostly in our memories, the only place where joy still exists for us. We might even become so profoundly bored that we start to tire of life itself.

But while this kind of cynical defeat is possible, it’s not the only path available to us. For as we experience more of the world, we also become more aware of its complexities and nuances. We begin to see what was formerly hidden and we discover the importance of change. We learn that there is always something yet to come and that what currently exists is never permanent.

Rather than seeing the world as a perfectly predictable machine, we begin to see it as a place of radical possibility. What we once thought impossible is now seen to be possible in ways we had never before imagined. We might still get bored with parts of the world, but it is always with the parts and never the whole. The parts that bore us are those that are mechanical and repetitive and that offer little possibility of change.

As our awareness expands, we learn that change is primary. There is always something new arising in the world, always something we have not yet seen or understood. Not only is nothing truly commonplace, there are also more ways for us to create joy and beauty than we ever thought possible.

Far from our memories being our most cherished possessions, it is our imaginations that take flight to lift us to new heights of possibility. From these new heights, we discover the practically unlimited range of creative actions we can take towards greater joy for ourselves and others.