"If you're in a bad situation, don't worry, it'll change. If you're in a good situation, don't worry, it'll change."
-- John A. Simone Jr.
Happy New Year of Change
At the end of each year at the Kiyomizudera in Kyoto a kanji (Chinese character) is chosen to represent the old year. For 2008 that character was:
It means “change.” My sense is this is only the beginning. To quote The Second Coming by W.B. Yeats:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
What follows in Yeat’s poem is a vision of violence, bloody anarchy and descending darkness. I believe we have an opportunity here and now. What follows is what I’ve written before.
We can allow change to run it’s capricious and inconsiderate course and react to it, we can respond to it openly and courageously and do the best we can or we can be change, change change, shaping and creating the present and, thus, the future. We do as we do.
How do you do? Happy New Year.
Tags: change, Happy New Year, Kiyomizudera, The Second Coming, Yeats, 変
… indeed…
… of course, my sense is that there is only really the present that truly exists; the “past” and “future” are mere perspectives of THOSE PRESENTs measured at a point in, or range of “time”. An individual’s perspective of the Present and of Change often varies from another person’s perspective. In spite of being directly affected by these “perspectives” in our Present moments, there is still considerable flexibility by which we can choose to measure and interpret these effects.
This is encouraging!
And still, there always seems to be evidence of those who change the change that others changed. So, at what point then, can we really shape the future I often ponder… And to what end?
Furthermore, if there is only Present, then what does that have to say about the concept of Change?
Clearly, change is a factor of the concept of time. Specifically, linearly measured time given our trappings of the physical macro environment in which we find ourselves. But the mind can operate in another “environment”. This ability provides us with the concept of hope. And there is nothing wrong with good old fashioned hope. So we continue on towards our never-ending moments of Present (existence). The more consciously we exist, the better we can control our environment in outwardly concentric ways.
I believe that the reach of this control depends on the inter-connectivity to our systems and players. This too can be encouraging.
So, I encourage you all to understand these systems and players, and to understand how we can find common grounds, so that we can all be present for our collective Presents! This would be the greatest present for the Present.
Happy New Year! And thank you for your blog entries. They provide some interesting perspectives.
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For an appreciation of the changes in kanji over the years, and an understanding of how Japan has “changed” since 1995, I invite you all to have a look at the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji_of_the_year