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Change and the Power of Knowledge

“We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses. Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and remove yourself from the unacceptable.”

Jung

How do we bring about change in ourselves and in the world? To change a Rubik’s cube requires knowledge of the object and the way it moves. You must also know how to use your hands and how your movements effect the cube. If you study the patterns carefully, you can learn to put the cube in very particular states. If you study the inner workings, with the right tools you could even take it apart and reconstruct it.

If we wish to bring about change, we must first come to know that which we hope to change. Knowledge begins with observation. Unbiased and non-judgemental observation is a skill that helps us to perceive things as they are. We can direct this attention within to learn about our own nature and habits, or without to gain insight about the movements of the world. Hidden within this ability is the necessity of acceptance. In order to observe things clearly, we must release our preconceptions and have the courage to accept things as they present themselves.

In the martial art Aikido, we learn to bring about change without opposition. Techniques in this art seek the path of least conflict. (Ai) means harmony, (Ki) means energy, and (Do) is the way; Aikido is the way of harmonizing energies. So when the energy of an attacker is thrust upon you, rather than contend the attack directly, you step off center and align your own energy with theirs. From this place of alignment and balance, you can direct the flow of your attackers energy. You have the power to bring about peaceful resolution. 

Aikido teaches us the counterintuitive lesson that opposition is not the best way to bring about change in ourselves or in the world. Instead, knowledge, acceptance, alignment and balance will be our tools for transformation. To bring about change within ourselves, we must first come to know ourselves and find acceptance for who we are. We must align our perception of ourselves with reality and find a place of balance from which to move.

It helps to loosen our grip on narrative and identity. Instead of attaching to the story of who you are and why you feel the way you do, simply ask yourself, “where am I feeling this emotion in my body? What is the real substance of that feeling?” and open yourself up to the experience.

Most of the suffering of challenging emotions arises from resistance to them. Just as blocking a punch with an opposing force is more likely to damage your material body, blocking a negative thought or emotion with an opposing force is more likely to damage your mind and spirit. So when we can open up to the emotion and feel into it, we harmonize with things as they are. Rather than trying to deny the reality of our experience or wishing for it to be another way, we can find acceptance.

It is from this stance, in balance and present with the truth of things, that we can start to direct the flow towards peaceful resolution. By accepting challenging emotions in our hearts, we can relax some of the tension that amplifies our suffering. If one wanted to change the state of a Rubik’s Cube, but they could not accept the reality of its current state, they would have no success.

Let us learn to accept ourselves and the world as it is so that we can align and move towards the positive change we wish to see. Let us not oppose that which we despise, but rather seek to understand it, for it is not through aggression and destruction that we find resolution, but through acceptance and realignment.

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Why Seek Truth?

‘Do not think by merely wishing for peace, you will have peace, when in your daily life of relationship you are aggressive, acquisitive, seeking psychological security here or in the hereafter. You have to understand the central cause of conflict and sorrow and then dissolve it and not merely look to the outside for peace. But you see, most of us are indolent. We are too lazy to take hold of ourselves and understand ourselves, and being lazy, which is really a form of conceit, we think others will solve this problem for us and give us peace, or that we should destroy the apparently few people that are causing wars. When the individual is in conflict within himself he must inevitably create conflict without, and only he can bring about peace within himself and so in the world, for he is the world.’

Krishnamurti



In our modern age, we are faced with an enthralling world of possibility. There are so many ways to fill a life that it can be daunting to choose what matters most. I want to propose that the most valuable pursuit in life is the pursuit of Truth. Does this mean you have to abandon all your hopes and dreams? No. In fact, if you choose to probe into the foundations of Reality, you will meet much less resistance on your path to actualizing those dreams.

To pursue Truth means to align your understanding about the way things are with the way things actually are. In other words, it is essential that we develop a worldview that aligns with Reality. By harmonizing with things as they are we won’t feel so pushed around by life. Just as the surfer studies the movement of the ocean, we humans can study the movement of mind and spirit.

By quieting down and observing carefully (meditation), we can become familiar with the patterns of thought and behavior that govern our experience.  Once we see these patterns in effect, we can eliminate the various roots of our suffering and turn our energy to more fruitful endeavors. When we have no clarity of these causal chains, our behavior remains discombobulated. 

Let’s say for example, you want to create some happiness and you have been told that happiness is attained by accumulating large shiny objects, achieving a particular body type, or earning a title like PhD. You may be at this for some time before you realize you aren’t after the right stuff. It is as though you wanted to light a fire so you started rubbing ice cubes together. 

Science has given us a very clear mapping of cause and effect on the material plane. Our reward for having a map that aligns with material reality is technological advancement. We can create computers and rockets and cameras all because we developed a deeper understanding of the way things actually are. How? We took away the chatter of human opinion and looked at reality very carefully, twisting and turning it about to see how it behaves (the scientific method). 

By eliminating the consideration of consciousness, perhaps the most fundamental aspect of Reality, science has made great leaps in understanding the material plane. This method proved successful because consciousness introduces variables that clutter data and make for inconsistent measurement. But somewhere along the way we forgot that every bit of science is still done and observed though consciousness. Finally, with the advent of Quantum Mechanics we have come back around to the fact that the observer is fundamentally inseparable from the world it observes. 

While the scientific community is fumbling over this truth, trying desperately to keep our study in the material plane, spiritual practitioners continue to stare unflinchingly down the rabbit hole of sentient awareness, as they have done for millennia. To seek Truth we must look at all dimensions available to us and so it is natural to develop some sort of science of the mind. 

Buddhists (and many, many others) have been at this since… well, for quite some time. The main issue today is that esoteric discussions of enlightenment have pulled meditation too far away from practicality in the western mind. As a result, our spiritually bankrupt society attempts to frame Mindfulness like any other over-the-counter medication designed to alleviate symptoms. “Stressed? Try some deep breathing!” But many who try meditation half-heartedly recognize that, though they may feel temporary relief, their suffering returns. “If I can’t get enlightened in this life, and meditation doesn’t seem to fix my problems, why practice at all?” they wonder. 

Practice stillness to see more clearly, do it so that your understanding of reality can align with reality. By understanding the mental landscape more clearly, we can clarify and direct our energies more efficiently. In this way we can live a life in greater control of our own experience, we can understand the root of our suffering and take reasonable steps towards peace and stability.

When we live outside of Truth, we exist in opposition to Reality and we generate suffering for ourselves and others. We see conflict in the external world and run about in a frantic mess trying to “fix” things, all the while missing the fact that the conflict we experience originates within. We yell at the person who cut us off in traffic, we are impatient with our children, we say hurtful things to our partners, we lash out because of our pain and in doing so, we reinforce our deeply rooted sense of isolation.

The issues that face our global community will not be overcome until each individual looks courageously within him or herself and strips away all traces of misunderstanding. “I am separate”, “money is equal to security and happiness”, “the universe is fundamentally made of matter”, “I have no control over my health or emotions”, etcetera etcetera. All of these misapprehensions cause us to behave counterproductively. To seek Truth is to come into direct contact with our interconnectedness. It is to see clearly that pain can bring peace if you open up to it. It is to see that all of our efforts to become “successful” are only fueling our dissatisfaction.

Truth is a worthy pursuit because it can produce a value not tied up in paper slips. It can produce a harmonious life marked by joy, freedom and appreciation; a life where it’s easier to act in accordance with our values, find motivation when we’re down and help to bring others up out of the darkness. It takes courage, dedication, intuition and practice but the option is there for all of us. You don’t have to quit your job, but you do have to set up a lifestyle that includes regular reflection and careful observation of the content of your experience.

Meditate and read books or watch videos by people whose words resonate with your deepest being. Within our depths we already know all there is to know. Strip away your assumptions and there Truth will be, patiently waiting for the heart to see it.