EMBRACING CHANGE

By Moin Qazi

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am

wise, so I am changing myself.

– Rumi

We are awash in change – it is everywhere we look. And it is the only constant. The rate of change we have experienced over the last hundred years is unprecedented. For thousands and thousands of years, humans have moved no faster than a man could walk. Then for thousands more, it was no faster than a horse. Then in a few short decades, we developed trains, cars, planes, and rocket ships. Now, communication occurs at the speed of light.

What is crucial for us is how fast we adapt to the changes around us. Instead of dreading change, we must try to find comfort in it. This mindset can assuage anguish and help us move forward.

Those who are deeply rooted in traditions are quite likely to be resistant to change. Traditionalists are pessimists about the future and optimists about the past. The temptation to use tradition as a cover for prejudice and conformity, accompanied by a refusal to change or stretch, manifests quite stubbornly because it has become our nature. Many refuse to accept that new and creative approaches to finding solutions to problems are possible. Pushed into adopting new ways, they might join hands to ensure that things don’t work. Alan Cohen advises, “It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.”

When confronted with unforeseen changes, our first response may be to either run away from them or fight them. The fear of redundancy is real for those not prepared for change. Fight or flight is an inborn survival instinct that surfaces when we feel threatened. Embracing change with our full being is the only way for us to live mindfully and meaningfully.

For most middle age, inelasticity comes not from physical muscle and sinew alone but from mental fibre. Experience has its dangers: it may bring wisdom, but it may also bring stiffness and cause hardening of the mind, leading to inelasticity, which can be crippling for the individual and the people around him.

One of the keys to an individual’s success is the ability to adapt to changing situations. “Anicca,” the Pali word for impermanence, is the core of Buddhism. The teachings of the Buddha revolve around the fact that nothing stays the same—everything transforms. Albert Einstein emphasizes, “You can’t solve a problem with the same mindset in which it was created.”

Charles Dickens wrote about a prisoner locked up for many years in a dungeon. After serving his sentence, he got his freedom. He was brought out from his cell into the bright daylight of the open world. After a few moments, this man looked all around and was so uncomfortable with the newly acquired freedom that he asked to be taken back to the confines of his cell. To him, the dungeon, the chains, and the darkness were more familiar, secure, and comfortable than accepting the change of freedom and an open world.

Change is also happening in the broader social ecosystem. It is the conflict between the forces making for the transformation of Homo sapiens from Neolithic to nuclear humanity and the forces whose aim is the maintenance of stability in human collectivities or social environments. For most of history, the forces inhibiting change have usually effectively counteracted change. Today this balance has been decisively tilted in one direction. And the disequilibrium, which may be beyond the ability of humans to absorb, is almost certainly growing beyond the power of control of human social and political institutions.

Change happens whether we want it to or not. Some people welcome change and find ways to turn the unexpected into an opportunity for growth. Others become frightened and react. How we handle the inevitable changes is the key to living without fear. There are some simple ways you think we can make a difference for our community and the larger society. Please remember: change starts with each one of us.

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