Dealing With Change

Human behavior is so unique but also so diverse; so common, but also so unpredictable. Consider why even after so many years of scientific advancement, psychology, among all the medical sciences, continues to fall more in the domain of interpretational wisdom than being a well defined science. Our mind is such a spring-board of chaos and wild imagination that it constantly urges us to change, to try new ideas. But we, do not want to change. It is a paradox that most of our socio-psychological problems stem out of our natural stubborn tendency to follow that one law of the Universe – The Law of Inertia. We so often avoid what we do not know. We do not want to know because that would change our beliefs. We do not want to change our beliefs because we see it as a threat to our well-being. We resist change. We fail to see that the Universe is a journey of transformation, of continuous morphing, of unending evolution, of constant change. As one popular quote goes, “change is the only permanent thing in the Universe’. But we, the common folk, are so slow to recognize and follow the right tide of change that by the time we come out of our inertia to encounter it, the water has already passed over our head, and we find ourselves being swept away by the tide that otherwise we were set to ride. We are helplessly inundated at a time when we should have been swimming ahead downstream favored by the giant wave. Fortunately sometimes, we do have tides that push us back to safe shores without even a bit of our deliberate effort. It leaves us in admiration for its power that, though beyond our control, been so benevolent to us. The irony is, whatever the drama, most of us are silent spectators who do not gear up to face change as it comes. We instead get tossed at the will of the Uncontrollable.

Out of every million of the human population, only one prodigy turns out to become a thought leader. Only a handful of the human race, play a pivotal role in transforming the society. Yet so often is it seen, massive social changes are initiated at an insignificantly small scale... just like the nuclear fission that makes a humble beginning with one tiny neutron; but given the critical mass, it can see such explosive growth that we humans could get wiped out along with a slice of earth! Such immense power at the mercy of so tiny a particle! Master that power and you have all that it needs to run a whole next generation! The point is, our future depends every time on how we recognize and deal with the most powerful ‘Agents of Change’, before it steers our civilisation without our consent!

Those few men and women who are set to turn around our social beliefs display such phenomenal speed in empowering human minds that we do not know when they would become a blessing or a boon to our existence. If that handful of change-agents are not content with Today and set out constructively, then we, the common folk, would be blessed. If otherwise, we would be cursed. Nelson Mandela and Bin Laden are the contemporary examples of favored and unfavored change-agents. But who takes over which of the fresh inquisitive minds remains a matter beyond the scope of our control. Only a sound moral, social leadership can guide the response of the masses onto the path of constructive growth and prosperity...

More on this in days to come...

With Luv,

Chiraag