I’m in limbo, tossed about in a Taoist funk: “you cannot change the world,” it says, “so change yourself.” Adapt, adjust, compromise. Go with the flow.
Long have I resisted this reasoning. It goes against my programming – the ideal that “anything is possible if you put your mind to it.” I don’t know if this is a product of post-modernism, multinational capitalism or the American dream. But I’m smart enough to recognize that it conflicts with reality in many situations where one’s best just isn’t good enough, the world’s not fair or your country has only two political parties … or one!
So I realize the value of the “get used to it” mentality. It’s true that there are many things in this world I can’t change. While coping might not solve the problem, it would save me a lot of frustration and seemingly useless struggle. Does all the wishing things were different ever affect a change? Seldom.
This dilemma is a recipe for hypocrisy. I want there to be a change, but the situation is too great for one person to make a difference. If I stay silent, my life may be more convenient. If I speak up, I’m a hypocrite. But either way, nothing changes.
I suspect that the greater contradiction is actually a paradox: no one tries to change the world because it is impossible to change; but the world never changes because no one tries to change it.
For the time being, I think I’ll go on being a hypocrite. Sure it’s hard living with the contradiction of calling out injustice while not being in a position to do anything about it. But it beats crawling around without a spine.
2 Comments
The only way to change the world is to change yourself. Accept what can’t be changed, but there is much that can be changed, only not in the obvious, direct way. That doesn’t mean ignoring injustices and may not even involve any outward behavioral change. It is a shift in perception, taking responsibility for one’s state of consciousness, and letting go of expectation (that is, the emotional investment in consequences).
Change is constant, but our state of consciousness is the one thing we have direct control over. I wouldn’t say that would make one a hypocrite, or spineless.
Very, very well-written … and insightful. Thanks for this commentary.