Truth

The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.
-
Christopher Johnson McCandless

10.10.2010

Change as a Commonality: The Mark of Being Human (EDIT 10.10.2010)

Human beings are creatures that are very similar to each other. Every single individual wandering around the earth shares a commonality. All of us are creations, made from the personal nature of human experience. Each one of us is fully engaged in playing the game of life: fighting the challenges and reaping the rewards. Sometimes we are accompanied by others and other times it becomes an individual effort. Few things are ever certain, even fewer things come easy. However, there is an unstoppable constant among everyone engaged in this ongoing process of life.


In all walks of life we experience change, starting at conception and continuing until one passes on. It is important in our lives. Big changes may leave an impact on us, but little ones are equally memorable. Change can come in all forms. It can be hard for us to fully understand change. The cause for this is not always obvious and the results can be unclear. Yet it’s a contagious force that acts as a catalyst for character building. There are no restrictions on change.


Dangerously, change is often accompanied by pain. It becomes confusing because humans tend to feel an unstoppable craving for change, but yet we strongly reject pain. It hurts, it’s uncomfortable, and it prohibits us from functioning normally. As much as pain can bring utter devastation to our lives, it’s necessary. Not without a price, pain takes from us.


Pain causes us to blame ourselves for problems we have no control over. It brings perpetual thoughts of merciless guilt. We require this ache in order to survive. This may seem extremely cynical. The most painful parts of life are when we are in our weakest states, but the magic of this time is that this is where the greatest, strongest changes are actually occurring. Defeat and deterioration are symptoms of change, the change that works to shape character the most.


It’s the aspect of pain accompanying change that makes us fear it. This can be a daunting idea. Perhaps we are convinced by ignoring change we can avoid pain as well. But it is impossible to ignore change. Without change we don’t evolve and adapt to the fast paced life that is constantly moving around us. This makes us pathetic and helpless, our own worst enemy. We constantly build walls just to learn to break them down again.


We desire earth shaking experiences but cling to every day consistencies.



It’s vital to recognize there is a way to overcome this fear of pain. The best way to digest difficult change is by remembering our blessings. Blessings are gifts that we acquire without the feeling of pain. We have so many blessings that it’s nearly impossible to count them all. Once we can learn how to use change as food for the soul, an opportunity to live, and the mark of being human, and once we realize how many blessings we really have, we can begin the process of self-transformation.


Self-transformation is a beautiful display of complete cleansing and re-creation of mind, body, and soul. This is the most vital part of change.


It is the key to understanding ourselves, and the key of surviving.


Change is our common denominator. Each time we undergo change we are more able to relate to other human beings. We are able to cope with the relationships and circumstances in our lives. We are more able to handle whatever life brings. So the solution is this: welcome changes, recognize change, and endure change. Remember that even though we may not be able to understand it right away, transformation is the result of change. It marks the personal evolution of self that each one of us strives to achieve.


A beautiful strength is found in simply surviving the trials of life.