I find it incredible that an ordinary human ~2600 years ago was able to provide powerful insights into human nature and reality. In essence, Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, made two statements:

  1. Change is occurring all the time both in and around us
  2. Self is an illusion we make up for ourselves, and this leads us into a flawed perception of reality

When taken together, these statements give us the root cause behind the general dissatisfaction (dukkha is Buddhist term) we struggle with as human beings.

How is it so?

The perception of a separate, unchanging self leads us to attempt to build an unchanging environment around us, which we find impossible to do.

For example, we want to feel happy, and hence we keep on accumulating clothes, electronics, and cars. We assume that these possessions will lead us and our loved ones to be happy forever.

Unfortunately, even the best cars, houses, and clothes do not hide the fact that both us and our loved ones are getting older and edging more towards our eventual demise.

We do not realize this, and we spend our lives expending enormous energy trying to possess more novel and fancy things, as we expect them to validate and pacify our (false) unchanging and inflating sense of self.

What can be done differently?

If we realize that both us and the reality around us is going to change and not be in our control, we can let go of this obsession to keep it unchanged and instead become more peaceful and harmonious with our changing existence.

Why is this useful to realize?

Once we internalize this lack of control, our craving for novelty gets more tempered, and we can begin to work with the change instead of struggling to oppose it.

For example, in Buddhism, one of the goal is to become more compassionate towards others and their struggles with dissatisfaction.

Personally for me, I find it more peaceful to accept changing reality and continue trying to work with it, learn from my actions, and finally forgive and learn from my failures.

I want to embrace change by seeking it openly and using them to build more experiences in my finite life.