Ch...ch...ch...changes

Nov 19, 2016
3 min read

'Ch-ch-changes

Where's your shame?

You've left us up to our necks in it' (Bowie)

A very dear scholar friend of mine recently asked me if I thought 'Big Picture Happiness" was attainable in our lifetime. His saddened inquiry was brought on by the recent US election in which a man he considers 'not worthy of walking our dogs' has somehow achieved the highest position in our country. Here in Connecticut, this sentiment is mostly agreed with. There is a pall of disbelief, depression, anger, and fear around the outcome. People are whispering in social circles about the Antichrist arriving. There has been talk of us jumping into an alternate universe where nothing seems familiar but looks the same.

People are freaked.

I have seen the gentler minded folks trying to find the silver lining around a descending four year black cloud to come. They speak in meager tones, not convincing anyone, including themselves. I appreciate the positive thinking though.

On the rare occasion here in CT, I meet the Trump enthusiast. That is always an interesting five minutes.

As I was listening to my friend's question about achieving a state of nirvana, my usual go to answers immediately arose. Sure, if we can achieve soul enlightenment. Sure, if we learn to just love others, and think less about ourselves. Sure, if we let go of attachments. Sure, maybe in a thousand lifetimes of karmic playout.

But what came out of my mouth was, " I have no f'in idea. Are we even really entitled to that?"

I awoke this morning with David Bowie singing in my head:

'I watch the ripples change their size But never leave the stream Of warm impermanence And so the days float through my eyes But still the days seem the same'

My friend's question came back to me, and the song answered. 'Ch...ch...ch...changes.'

I don't know if we are entitled to a permanent state of joy friend, but we are certainly going to experience change. Nothing is permanent. Everything shifts. Everything moves. Even being attached to thinking we are evolving to something more, somewhere better is subject to impermanence. How many times do we doubt that road while on it?

No one I've ever met has ever achieved it, except maybe Finn (the family dog), who seems perpetually in a state of bliss. We are told by mediums and mystics and the Near Death Experiencers that there are choirs of angels singing above us and for us - waiting for our ascension. As someone who has studied the field of fringe a long time, I believe there are factions of universal realities we can't begin to comprehend. Thinking we know the finite results of our transcendent experiences is likely premature.

But changes? Yes, that's proven. We can count on change. As the song was rolling in my head, my own questions arose. Do we need greet change with fear? Does change have to be bad? Even scary change: Change we don't understand (like this election)? Change that brings about pain and suffering (the death of our loved ones, relationships ending)? Changes where we have no idea the outcome, couldn't that be an exciting thing? A good thing? Even, a great thing?

Not because the change may or may not take us to a beautiful place, but because the change is happening in itself. Would you really want to stand motionless in this life? Predictable?

We fight the changes. But we really shouldn't. Regardless of outcome, it is the essence of being alive. Change isn't the enemy. In fact, it's the only thing we can really count on so we might as well get friendly with it. Maybe even find sustainable joy in it.

Bowie sings:

'Turn and face the strange Ch-ch-changes Ooh, look out you rock 'n' rollers Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes Turn and face the strange Ch-ch-changes' I vote Bowie.