台北市氣功文化學會製作Change is Constant
Joel
The only constant is change.
Each day, as we rise from our sleep, we greet a slightly different set of circumstances than we did the day before. How each person responds to this change is be different, and the change itself may even be imperceptible. What are these changes and at what level do they occur? At a very large scale or on a very small scale? The answer would be both. What these forces are and the nature of their influences may still lay in the realm of debate, but to those sensitive to their impact, at a personal level, these changes can be felt, and even mapped.
That change is the only constant may rule all, however, change is itself, inconstant. Sometimes the rate of change may slow. Slow to the pace where it seems as if change has ceased. If one is in a period of 'feeling down,' or being depressed, the lack of change itself can reinforce the sense of hopelessness, or weakness. As well, when this rate of change slows down while one is in a more positive or energetic period, it may lead one to feel overly confident or reckless, which in itself may cause one to have an accident or get sick. The truth is that just before great changes in the forces, people may be the most unbalanced as there is a very strong surge of forces just before great changes occur. So our previously strong feeling changes very rapidly to a weak feeling, or the other way, each representing instability.
Balance is the goal we strive to attain, but as we know, in reality, balance is not achieved, rather it is a constant battle to Maintained, not Attained. Even in the moment balance is achieved, the constant change that is affecting our balance will not let us rest in our efforts. We don't fall over as we stand, because we are constantly adjusting our position relative to the ground. In general we require our sight to maintain this balance, or by training ourselves we can stand resonably well, or even walk in total darkness. Maintaining emotional stability in an ever changing environment may be difficult when the proverbial lights go out, but also with proper techniques or personal abilities even this type of balance can be maintained. Family, friends, a job, are all elements which give us a handle to hold onto when we are in periods of instability.
As each year passes, patterns begin to emerge, and it becomes ever more obvious to the keen observer that the pattern of each year's passage is very similar, though changes may be sooner or later, stronger or weaker, one year from another. The observer's response to these changes are largely predictable, if not in intensity or duration, but generally in quality.
Therefore in commenting on any aspect of Chi practice, including Kung Fu, it is necessary to keep in mind that the commentor is at the moment of participating, observing and commenting, subject to slightly different forces, and will be a slightly different person at each of those moments. Even more so is the commentor vastly different at different times of the year, or year on year. So, for the reader, any comments must be taken as momentary impressions. Ideas and feelings are subject to the state of the person's mind at any one time. For example, the hopelessness of an unhappy commentor on his lack of progress, during a period of unfavorables forces will eventually be supplanted by a proud sense of success, when a different more auspicious set of forces sets in, and advancement occurs, by leaps and bounds.
Realizing that these circumstances, be they more positive, more negative, or mostly neutral, are themselves fleeting, is a good way to humbly make progress when the forces are favorable, or even help to pick one up when one's feeling weak, and by commenting on these changes the patterns themselves become clearer and lose their destructive powers as they are discovered and described.