The Inevitable: Change
Three Steps To Flourishing In the Midst of Inevitable Change
Heraclitus argued that the only constant was change. Movement is the only reality; you can’t step in the same river twice.
The preacher in Ecclesiastes 1:9 argues
What has been is what will be,
what has been done is what will be done,
there is nothing new under the sun.
Who was right?
At my first reading, Ecclesiastes seems to be false. From digital technology, to vaccines, to LGBTQ, to the circle of life it sure seems like everything is in flux.
Coping with changes like these seems like one of the largest obstacles in human flourishing from generation to generation.
Changes of Kind vs Changes of Degree
There are two types of change.
Changes of kind are like Pokemon evolving all-of-the-sudden into new animals, nuclear reactions wherein an entirely new substance is developed, or a square becoming a circle. Think metamorphosis or magic.
Changes of degree are like an airplane changing course, a boy becoming an adolescent, or a senator becoming a president. Think development and transition.
What the author of Ecclesiastes is getting at is that changes of kind basically do not exist. The same types of problems, both social and personal, recur again and again. They might rebrand themselves, but they are essentially the same.
Oppression? Greed? Sexual Immorality? Nothing new for thousands of years.
Government overreach? Overly confident scientific researchers? Cultic religious ideologies? Nothing new for thousands of years.
On the hand, the author of Ecclesiastes was right: the same problems and changes occur over and over again. There is nothing new.
On the other hand, Heraclitus was right. Development, transition, and instability is every- present. Static persons and societies do not exist.
Handling The Inevitable Change
I regularly hear people say, “I don’t like change.” What they are saying is this, “I’ve only recently started to feel semi-competent in this season of my life. Transitioning to the new season will require me to both grieve that which I love in the current season and go back to the beginning on my quest to achieve the feeling of competence.”
We don’t like change because we do like control.
But, control is always an illusion. Influence we may have, but control we simply do not have. As my dad would say, “people believe they have control until they get hit with Montezuma’s Revenge.”
So, if the world is fluid, flowing, and marching towards the future, if control has always been just an illusion, how are we going to cope with the lack of stability?
Ancient thought-leaders exhorted their followers to not be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind” (Ephesians 4:14). Yes, history is a river, and yes, its full of wind- caused waves. The development of human history has not been a pleasant journey.
Here are three things you have to do if you’re going to not be tossed to and fro:
1. Name & Grieve The Loss Created by the Change
What did you love that is being taken away by the change? Often the reason we can’t handle change is that we haven’t done the work the grieve the loss the change is forcing us to process.
Unprocessed trauma or loss, especially of or from family and friends, is at the root of the inability for form and maintain meaningful relationships. You cannot process what you haven’t explicitly named!
2. Identify and Resist Recency Bias
The most common word I heard during the Covid-19 pandemic was “unprecedented.” We get it! This feels unique! Yet, it was, in fact, precedented.
What was unprecedented was not the fact that there was a pandemic, but that media saturation made it such that over-coverage and chronic fixation on the virus was possible.
Recency bias is the temptation to give disproportionate emphasis or significance to current or recent events.
“I am a part of a long chain of change and development in human history.” Repeat that statement to yourself until you believe it. This might feel completely new, but it is only partially new. We humans have overcome tremendous things in our brief history. We will do it again!
3. Cling to that which is truly unchanging.
God reveals himself to humans as “I AM WHO I AM” in Exodus 3:14. He is the only uncaused, non-dependent, and unchanging being.
Having a fixed point of reference is vital when orienting yourself in the midst of a moving reality. This is true whether you are trying to land a plane, balance on a beam, or navigate the transitions of life.
Without a sense of connection to the Author of history who transcends time itself, history will remain a dark and unsafe storm that steals our sense of stability.
Yet, the I AM has made himself known so we can truly know him. Not fully, but truly, we can cling to immoveable mover.
Additional Resources:
For a deeper dive on ‘Does God Change?’, consider reading: Immutability of God by Herman Bavink
For a more in depth discussion on positive changes, check out: Changes That Heal by Henry Cloud
