Change - The Irresistible Force? (Updated and reposted from 8/26/2016)

"All things come out of the One and the One out of all things. ...I see nothing but Becoming. Be not deceived! It is the fault of your limited outlook and not the fault of the essence of things if you believe that you see firm land anywhere in the ocean of Becoming and Passing. You need names for things, just as if they had a rigid permanence, but the very river in which you bathe a second time is no longer the same one which you entered before."

-- Heraclitus

Heraclitus (500 BCE) stated, "The only thing that is constant is change."  To read his philosophy is to imagine him debating the same with Gautama Buddha.  If you stop long enough to consider it, the philosophy of the obvious is a universal concept.  We have built upon this obvious observation of Heraclitus by stating the only universal constant is change.  The "Big Bang" evidenced that change can even occur in a vacuum of nothingness, but then, nothing is really something, since it can be named.  The "name" notwithstanding, I won't even broach the fact that there really isn't anything as an "absolute" vacuum.  Particles exist, even in a vacuum.

Does change occur if we aren't there to witness it?  Does change surpass our senses to occur of its own accord?  Does a tree, falling in the woods, make a sound if there is no one there to hear it?  Can we exist and not exist, at the same time?  The paradox in the story of Schrodinger's Cat would give one pause to consider this possibility.  If I understand correctly, the question of the "existence of reality" if we are not here to witness it, even insinuates itself into the study of particles in Quantum Mechanics.

"We both step and do not step in the same rivers. We are and are not."

-- Heraclitus

Many of us don't like change, yet we wake every morning to a different day and another chance to excel.  We are another day older, as are our houseplants, the cat, and our loved ones.  Everything around us has changed since we went to sleep.  Try as we might, the force of "change" moves inexorably forward, with or without us.  As with Schrodinger's poor cat, the things we do not witness either are or are not.  The plants we forgot to water are dead, dying, or alive, and, until someone interacts with us to confirm our own existence, we either are or are not.  If we are not bearing witness to reality and change of our own making, we bear witness to the changes occurring to our reality due to changes being effected to the realities of others; ripples interacting with numerous other ripples in this human pond.

"We are and are not."  In the mid-1600s, philosopher René Descartes said, "Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum."  ("I doubt, therefore I think, and therefore I am").  By this thought, if I understand Descartes, correctly, if I cease thinking I no longer am.  The only way to truly cease thinking is to die, unless you're a Taoist monk, or if you believe in an afterlife in which case you will always be, except to those that no longer see you and therefore cannot acknowledge whether you still are... or are not.

"No man ever steps in the same river twice"

-- Heraclitus

But this is philosophy, much of it based on facts as we understand them in the now; facts are prone to change as we become more knowledgeable of our universe.  Does a tree make a sound when it falls, if no one is there to hear it?  History, our experience, would evidence yes, but we have no facts to support the premise.  If we put a microphone in the woods, we hear the sound, but, we can't truly validate what the sound was.  If we put a video camera there, we see it fall and hear the sound, and, therefore, we are there by proxy.  Is our experiment faulty?  

What we are left with is an ever-changing abundance of faith that there will be a sound, and that this river we keep stepping into, although constantly changing even as we stand in it, still leads us to an ultimate destination.  Heraclitus told us, "The road up and the road down is one and the same," it is our existence and our reality.  However, the river we have traversed is what we have already experienced.  We cannot stand still in this river of life and expect the entire source to come to us, along with any "blessings" flowing toward us, especially when we have faith that upriver leads us to the source.  We need to walk the path, albeit wet. 

I don't view change as an irresistible force, it is simply another force that works, most often it seems, to hold us back.  We must take the first step, become the catalyst for our own change, and move forward!  By taking this control we fulfill our own destiny, God's desire for us to become more than we are, as we travel our path to the source of all things. 

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

-- William Shakespeare, "Hamlet"

Well, maybe not in Horatio's philosophy.

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

I fervently hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with the United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and, finally, a senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world-renowned, Western Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research.

Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteered as the lead chaplain at a regional medical center.

Feel free to contact Pastor Tony: tolerantpastor@gmail.com