This idea of becoming our opposite is incredibly powerful. I feel like that warrants an article in itself — it’s like we stare at the things we hate so long that our faces mirror them without us even realizing it.
Thanks for the interesting thoughts on change and its effects on how we view ourselves! I find the fallibility of memory to be an immensely complex and interesting subject relevant to this discussion.
What this reflection on Heraclitus captures beautifully is that change is unavoidable — both in the world and in ourselves.
But in our algorithmic moment, one distinction feels increasingly important: not all change is the same kind of change.
There is a difference between change that remains interruptible — where judgment, resistance, or redirection can still meaningfully intervene — and change that arrives only after decisions have already closed elsewhere, through institutional momentum, automation, or structural delegation.
In the latter case, “accepting change” is no longer a personal virtue so much as a demand placed on us after agency has quietly migrated away. The ethical question then shifts: not how do we learn to go with the flow? but where does anyone still stand such that the flow can be redirected before it hardens into fate?
Heraclitus taught us that everything flows. Our moment forces a harder question: which flows still allow interruption — and which ones no longer do?
If change is inevitable, resisting may be natural, but at the same time a waste. The beauty of change is that it is not permanent. The other conundrum is perception. For one person it may be positive and for another it may be negative. Stoically, it may be best to not look at in either perspective.
I love that observation about the beauty of change. It is very interesting, of course, when considering how impermanence is a distinct feature of beauty and art in the East... and not usually considered as much in the West. Certainly a fertile ground for discussion!
A most pertinent saying here is: "...we resist change because of a false sense of a continuous, fixed self." In that Lacanian way, there is no self but rather we are the reflection of the other as well as the big Other,, but what is the self? We have been under the spell of Self Psychology for some time now--The Big Other. From my perspective, as long as we cherish the "self" we will be filled with an anxiety that comes with change. Some people ask me if I missed whatever: living in a different place, a person, etc. My answer, to adhere to the language game that dictates our speech, is that: Yes, I miss....." But when looking at it deeper, I really do not miss so much of what I say I miss. Missing something is to go back in a time that really did not exist. Are we not all a series of narratives that we continuously develop, and change the narrative with each recitation, but in reality the narrative stands by itself. It really never happened as we say, though something did happen. As Jean Cocteau once said: "Histories are truths that turn out to to be lies whereas myths are lies that turn out to be truths." Oh yes, on becoming our opposite: do we not all eventually become our nemesis?
Change, becoming our opposite, involves accepting the new circumstance as a result of a process of understanding of the new condition while making use of our past knowledge and learning from the new condition itself. It involves living with new emotions or with new degrees of emotions we already knew. "Change as a sudden transformative experience" represents a huge challenge especially from a psychological point of view. Accepting change is about surviving in our world, adapting. However, we need to add the question of agency into the equation and things get more and more complicated, opening the path to more and more reflections.
Another question that can be posed is: How do we reject external change and retain the flow of the permanent things?
There are two levels of change, the personal changes that are unique to every life(health, relationships, work, etc) and the external changes governed by the place and time in which we live. These two levels of change are distinguished first by the fact that we have significant influence over the first type and very little over the second. It is notable that in the 21st century the rate of external change that exists in the realm of perception has temporally become “minutes” for the first time in human history. In the 19th century it was arguably months if not years and in the Middle Ages it was centuries. And now we live in a manufactured world with 24 hour propaganda and psyops. Change has been weaponized. Layers of distraction, false narratives and manufactured events are all aimed at creating a level of mass cognitive dissonance for the purpose of controlling human behavior. How does one think about “change” in such a world? Does one cope by becoming the proverbial ostrich(many are doing so)? Or does one grab hold of the permanent things, starting with the creator of the universe? It is here(IMO) that the only effective method of personal “change management” must reside. One’s anchor must be rock solid, else there is a perilous lee shore waiting.
I fully appreciate this point, that we must seek what is solid, so we can moor ourselves, especially in this day and age. Some might suggest we can find a form of permanence in accepting the impermanent... but I think the later philosophers with their ideas of moral and ethics would be applicable here... A value code in which to understand and navigate change...
I tried to make a comment, and it disappeared. Perhaps it didn't like the comment.
I suggested adding the word improvement to things that change. Philosophers learned from not only other contemporaries but from the past. They addressed morality and conscience long before formal religion. In my opinion this lack of morality is causing the world to collapse.
That is a good amendment... though it is impossible to always go in one direction. Heraclitus would probably argue that only through tension and conflict that we can have harmony and order...
Anya makes the Classic teachings not only vivid before our eyes but enjoyable, and meaningful. In addition to the challenges that Change confronted all ages of mankind , presently we have one additional very important ingredient which is SPEED !!!!!! The speed at which change occurs in the world is a phenomenal challenge as to how to cope with it........ the young girl meditating in shallow waters of a spring is coping today with a somewhat engrossed amount and speed of the flow of water.
Thank you! And yes, that is an Excellent point! The speed in which we operate today is surely unparalleled... We can write to thousands - millions - in a second, with information brought to us traversing both time and space... it does mean that change can happen much more rapidly...
Lest we think the concept of acceptance is too passive in our dealings with change, I’m reminded of the old adage “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” And if life includes vodka, have a party. I grew up hearing this advice but nobody said how to do it. It metaphorically conceptualises accepting difficult change by being ourselves transformative alchemists and meeting change by making our own change! I published a book on this called Plato’s Lemonade Stand. Proper acceptance isn’t just passive but can be among our greatest activities. Thanks, Anya!
Very well said indeed... I wanted to go into some of Heraclitus' ideas (but I didn't feel there was enough time today) with regards to the role of conflict and tension in producing harmony and order. So many great ideas to discuss...
This idea of becoming our opposite is incredibly powerful. I feel like that warrants an article in itself — it’s like we stare at the things we hate so long that our faces mirror them without us even realizing it.
Thanks for the interesting thoughts on change and its effects on how we view ourselves! I find the fallibility of memory to be an immensely complex and interesting subject relevant to this discussion.
Concur! This would make an excellent second discussion and I thoroughly appreciate the imagery of the two mirrors… very powerful.
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." - Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy
What this reflection on Heraclitus captures beautifully is that change is unavoidable — both in the world and in ourselves.
But in our algorithmic moment, one distinction feels increasingly important: not all change is the same kind of change.
There is a difference between change that remains interruptible — where judgment, resistance, or redirection can still meaningfully intervene — and change that arrives only after decisions have already closed elsewhere, through institutional momentum, automation, or structural delegation.
In the latter case, “accepting change” is no longer a personal virtue so much as a demand placed on us after agency has quietly migrated away. The ethical question then shifts: not how do we learn to go with the flow? but where does anyone still stand such that the flow can be redirected before it hardens into fate?
Heraclitus taught us that everything flows. Our moment forces a harder question: which flows still allow interruption — and which ones no longer do?
If change is inevitable, resisting may be natural, but at the same time a waste. The beauty of change is that it is not permanent. The other conundrum is perception. For one person it may be positive and for another it may be negative. Stoically, it may be best to not look at in either perspective.
I love that observation about the beauty of change. It is very interesting, of course, when considering how impermanence is a distinct feature of beauty and art in the East... and not usually considered as much in the West. Certainly a fertile ground for discussion!
A most pertinent saying here is: "...we resist change because of a false sense of a continuous, fixed self." In that Lacanian way, there is no self but rather we are the reflection of the other as well as the big Other,, but what is the self? We have been under the spell of Self Psychology for some time now--The Big Other. From my perspective, as long as we cherish the "self" we will be filled with an anxiety that comes with change. Some people ask me if I missed whatever: living in a different place, a person, etc. My answer, to adhere to the language game that dictates our speech, is that: Yes, I miss....." But when looking at it deeper, I really do not miss so much of what I say I miss. Missing something is to go back in a time that really did not exist. Are we not all a series of narratives that we continuously develop, and change the narrative with each recitation, but in reality the narrative stands by itself. It really never happened as we say, though something did happen. As Jean Cocteau once said: "Histories are truths that turn out to to be lies whereas myths are lies that turn out to be truths." Oh yes, on becoming our opposite: do we not all eventually become our nemesis?
Change, becoming our opposite, involves accepting the new circumstance as a result of a process of understanding of the new condition while making use of our past knowledge and learning from the new condition itself. It involves living with new emotions or with new degrees of emotions we already knew. "Change as a sudden transformative experience" represents a huge challenge especially from a psychological point of view. Accepting change is about surviving in our world, adapting. However, we need to add the question of agency into the equation and things get more and more complicated, opening the path to more and more reflections.
Accepting change means to erase the past. Unfortunately. We can't learn from a past that is haunting our future. But we can see the results.
Not change
But liveliness
Not flow
But love
Another question that can be posed is: How do we reject external change and retain the flow of the permanent things?
There are two levels of change, the personal changes that are unique to every life(health, relationships, work, etc) and the external changes governed by the place and time in which we live. These two levels of change are distinguished first by the fact that we have significant influence over the first type and very little over the second. It is notable that in the 21st century the rate of external change that exists in the realm of perception has temporally become “minutes” for the first time in human history. In the 19th century it was arguably months if not years and in the Middle Ages it was centuries. And now we live in a manufactured world with 24 hour propaganda and psyops. Change has been weaponized. Layers of distraction, false narratives and manufactured events are all aimed at creating a level of mass cognitive dissonance for the purpose of controlling human behavior. How does one think about “change” in such a world? Does one cope by becoming the proverbial ostrich(many are doing so)? Or does one grab hold of the permanent things, starting with the creator of the universe? It is here(IMO) that the only effective method of personal “change management” must reside. One’s anchor must be rock solid, else there is a perilous lee shore waiting.
I fully appreciate this point, that we must seek what is solid, so we can moor ourselves, especially in this day and age. Some might suggest we can find a form of permanence in accepting the impermanent... but I think the later philosophers with their ideas of moral and ethics would be applicable here... A value code in which to understand and navigate change...
Anya,
I tried to make a comment, and it disappeared. Perhaps it didn't like the comment.
I suggested adding the word improvement to things that change. Philosophers learned from not only other contemporaries but from the past. They addressed morality and conscience long before formal religion. In my opinion this lack of morality is causing the world to collapse.
That is a good amendment... though it is impossible to always go in one direction. Heraclitus would probably argue that only through tension and conflict that we can have harmony and order...
Anya makes the Classic teachings not only vivid before our eyes but enjoyable, and meaningful. In addition to the challenges that Change confronted all ages of mankind , presently we have one additional very important ingredient which is SPEED !!!!!! The speed at which change occurs in the world is a phenomenal challenge as to how to cope with it........ the young girl meditating in shallow waters of a spring is coping today with a somewhat engrossed amount and speed of the flow of water.
Thank you! And yes, that is an Excellent point! The speed in which we operate today is surely unparalleled... We can write to thousands - millions - in a second, with information brought to us traversing both time and space... it does mean that change can happen much more rapidly...
Lest we think the concept of acceptance is too passive in our dealings with change, I’m reminded of the old adage “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” And if life includes vodka, have a party. I grew up hearing this advice but nobody said how to do it. It metaphorically conceptualises accepting difficult change by being ourselves transformative alchemists and meeting change by making our own change! I published a book on this called Plato’s Lemonade Stand. Proper acceptance isn’t just passive but can be among our greatest activities. Thanks, Anya!
Very well said indeed... I wanted to go into some of Heraclitus' ideas (but I didn't feel there was enough time today) with regards to the role of conflict and tension in producing harmony and order. So many great ideas to discuss...