“Ever-newer waters flow…”

Transience

“Transience” is a crucial aspect to every spiritual tradition. From panta rhei (which is an element of the Greek origin of Western civilisation), to the Tao te Ching, to Buddhism, to Sufi mysticism: every wisdom tradition on the face of the planet knows that change lies at the heart of everything that is.

Heraclitus said: “Ever-newer waters flow on those who step into the same rivers .”

Buddhism calls it “impermanence“.

Change is one of the scariest things in life, I find. Imagine: every time I get on a plane to hey another destination (as I’ve been doing for the last twenty odd years) I still feel fear.

Despite no setbacks to speak off on my many adventures, I still wonder what could all go wrong. And for the first hours of any journey, I feel seriously uncomfortable. Yep – even after all those years, after hearing the whizzing sounds of bullets pass by, and even after the countless screeching sounds of rubber on tarmac due to a crazy driver.

I have passports full of destinations; yet – no departure is without that uncomfortable feeling of fear.

Fear for the unknown.

Because that is what the fear for change is actually all about: a sense of not knowing what to make of the unknown. Impermanence rules. Transience is the name of the game. And despite those forceful energies, most of us do everything in our power to resist the irresistible.

Life’s little lessons

Yet, life teaches us, sometimes the hard way and sometimes in joyful moments, that nothing will ever stay the same.

The principles of permanent change and renewal, transformation and adaptation lie at the core of most of my writing.

• How do we change what we don’t like about our lives?
• How do we cope with the difficulties that we are bound to find along the path?
• How do we celebrate our achievements and victories?
• How do we surf the waves that invariably come crashing onto the shores?
• How do we let go, shed, renew and find acceptance of what might feel as utterly unacceptable?
• When do we resist and fight for our ideals, for our safety and that of others, for happiness for as many people as possible?
• When do we turn around, faithfully, when the path we’re on leads into an abyss?
• How to make sure the virus of fatalism stays far away from our souls?

Transience is a collection of old blogs in which I play with these questions, thoughts, feelings and struggles.

All inspired by this ever flowing river of life.

Click to enlarge

You’ll be able to download a copy for free here: [wpdm_file id=1]

Share it amongst friends, relatives, colleagues or whomever else might be interested.

It would be my honour to see it reach as many people as possible.

Who knows, someone might actually feel a tiny bit more comfortable with the all encompassing principle if change – how nice would that be?!?!