…. the only constant is change.

Good day intrepid traveler of the fiber optic forest. You have journeyed deep beyond the normal Clickbait to find my rusty-hinged mind palace. It has seen better days but, the hearth still warms and lights the recesses of an old fool’s vaulted halls. In all honesty, I have no idea what “clickbait” is or whether to capitalize it. It seems to have the force of movement that accompanies a “who” and therefore the capitalization. My kind friends that assist me in these entries are a constant source of innocuous information appertaining to this digital medium. I am persuaded that this new language has value to the domain at large and therefore I better behoove myself of their great wisdom. And, in taking their advice (in my fashion) I am participating in a central tenant of an integrated life. That all existence is in a constant state of evolution. Change is inevitable and the power of personal change is our greatest strength as a species.

The ability to imbibe, interpret, analyze and actuate information from our senses is one of the hallmarks of humanity. It allows for so very many uses. From building a space station to passing a 5th-year English test, our ability through biology and psychology to gather and absorb input gives us a huge evolutionary advantage. It also allows us to tell when the weather grows cold and, that we should probably get up off the couch and close the window. We use these incredible abilities every moment of every day. We build routines and patterns of behavior. We make clothing to protect ourselves from the phenomena that our senses first told us about. We build buildings to do the same and also to protect us from ever having to experience that phenomena in the first place. We connect with other such people that have noticed the same and used any number of phenomena, and then the sense reaction to it, to create wonders of human engineering and ingenuity both in the physical and mental space.

So, now we have made all these fantastic structures of wood, steel, thought and action to help us live our lives as we see fit. These behemoths of habit and actuality mark out the corners of our existence. Our sphere of influence, built upon our senses seems as resolute as Notre Dame. But, sadly even such a marvel of human creation was inevitably compromised by fire.

You see, fire at its core is an ages-old symbol for change. In fact, one might say they are, metaphysically speaking, inseparable. Fire allows for so much of what we think of as intrinsic to modern life. It is constantly used to convert some things into other things. Moreover, it allows for the utilization of half our lives. Without fire, when the sun slid below the horizon, we would be right back Huddled in the caves from whence we sprang. No light, no warmth, no palpable safety. There we would hide in the panic of what we could not see.

Fire is also illuminating. It casts light in dark places. It allows us to KNOW far more than we ever could without its use. If we know more, then we can start to do more. If we start to do more, then we move to be bolder still. Fire drives our senses. Heat, light and a sense of understanding of that which the light falls upon are some of the greatest gifts life has bestowed upon us. With this new partner of fire, we have wrought all that has become the megalith of modern living. The very structures of our interpersonal relationships are made at the very least easier by a straight shot back to the command of the fire. And just like that power to create, it also destroys.

By its very nature, Fire creates all these wonderful effects by utterly converting the material it has been loosed upon. So through this conversion of what seemed to be physically solid into an ephemeral state, possessed of light, heat, sound and smell, we have completely changed our lives for the better. So, we sacrificed a constant state of darkness and fear by completely destroying our original way of life. With the use of fire we became capable of doing all we have done thus far.

As I have said, fire is an ancient metaphor for change as well as physically operating through that change to create effects that are not intrinsic to the materials from which it is fed. Fire both exists and does not. It both is physical and mental. It lives its metaphor. If we transubstantiate fire into the insubstantial or mental realm, it functions almost identically to its physical allegory. Just as the physical fire destroyed the physical state of darkness it also coincidentally destroyed the mental state of darkness. Its light allowed for far more understanding and through that understanding eased fear. Once the fear was eased other thoughts beyond survival became possible.

This destruction of a seemingly unbreakable object is, in my humble and excessively romantic opinion, as real a magic as a person can experience. To see something that one moment was seemingly eternal and the next is in ruins is a state change that can seem terrifying in its audacity. That anxiety that you just felt reading that passage, that is your ID reacting to the biological fear of instability. It is an important heightened awareness of the flow of life. We must at all times be ready to react to shifting conditions in order to stay alive. But, in this case, fear has become the guiding principle in a great deal of civilizations around the world.

The fear of instability, while a helpful tool, is not a state of living. It is a state of existing to be sure but, not of living. For the mind that stagnates knows only its limitations not its possibilities. That lack of greeting new and unexpected experience creates an illusion of solidity and in some senses safety. In this state many people continue to exist. Treading paths long since pounded to meaningless ruts to and from locations that haven’t been new since before the flood. This habitual cocoon is a ready-made enclosure for contentment. But, as with all sensation of permanence, it is but spun sugar. Looking beautiful and solid but fragile to the slightest heat.

The beauty of an eternal facade lies in our valuing of it. We are, as a species, dazzled by our physical senses. We become enraptured with the feast that we are so lucky to be invited to every time we wake. The smell of our 6am coffee brewing. The sound and feeling of the shower running over us as we get ready for our day. The burst of light as we leave our homes to enter into the flow of our everyday. These are all pleasing and exciting to the senses. The question comes, is it our routine that we love. The endless repetition of the formula of our waking lives or, is it the variation in that routine that excites us?

In many ways the modern person seeks control above all else. I do realize that coming from a person with a disposition such as myself, speaking of the modern person seems a bit like a pig ordering an uber. I’ve been told that this is some sort of car service. (I do hope this is correct.) But, my definition of modernity is quite a bit broader than most. Our propulsion as a species through the explosion of technology and commerce called the industrial revolution was the beginning of my personal modern era. This enshrined technology as integral to progress. It also shifted our focus en masse from the natural order and connection with the earth to one of manmade paradigm. Cities pooled resources like never before.

Efficiency became the most important factor in our lives. We created education systems and superhighways, trains busses, cell phones, the internet and sleep aids, designer drugs, all to facilitate more efficient use of our time. It seems so normal an idea to most people. There is an entire industry dedicated to this end. All of these habits have but one treasured output: control. Control of our lives. Control of ourselves. This is not to say that these items and behaviors do not help many people with many things. It is the structure and framework that many if not all people would rather live in. It appears steady and infallible. Why would anyone rock that boat? Well, the thing about boats is that they require an ocean to sail. While everything on the boat may seem steady and perfect, the ocean does not operate for the sake of the boat.

When you perceive your life as stationary and of a singular dimensional axis, you are actively denying all the possibility and promise that swirls around you. Furthermore, you attempt to deny your true role within physical existence. We achieve and thrive and do all sorts of things within our life plan. Then the day comes when something that we had purposely obfuscated occurs. Then we are listless or incredulous in the face of it. We are constantly fighting against these negative outcomes through the imposition of structure. These structures have value to do enormous things within the structures that we have made. But, outside these unnaturally imposed structures change reigns supreme and it is truly eternal.

This is not to say that people do not live fulfilling lives within these structures. More, that we must entreat with and have personal structures that embrace an evolving life plan as well. Like most universal constants this exists as a paradox as well. In order to feel more in control of our lives, in many ways we must internalize that we have none. In doing so we become able to thrive in the brutality of a storm as well as on a cloudless day.

Thank you very much for your time, gentle reader. I hope that this foray into my tiny, one might say “byte-sized” corner of the digital space was at least an interesting one. I know, I know, my assistants didn’t think that was very funny either. I send to you joyous tidings on your personal journey and fair weather till you arrive back at your home port.

Farewell Till Then.