Flashpoints of Change

In a world that’s changing fast, it’s time to challenge how we think of change. We’re a species capable of inventing technology that brings us to the moon, yet we can let years pass without speaking to our loved ones after a fallout at the dinner table. For all we’ve accomplished in the outer world, internally, our suffering persists. This struggle is paradoxically self-engineered, deeply rooted in our attachments. The ultimate attachment? Our sense of identity. We live our lives jumping from problem to problem, quick to apply bandaids to our emotional wounds. Anything to alleviate the pain. But the pain remains, perpetuated by thought, and will continue for as long as we fail to address the root cause; ourselves.

Change is a constant, interwoven with the very fabric of time. But for the sake of this blog post, I’m less interested in evolution and the limitations of the material world, for this world is the product of us. So instead, let's look upstream at the projectors of reality; you and me. This focus on the individual is not at the expense of the collective. In fact, the systemic issues that exist today are created by people; so to change what’s outside, transformation begins within. However, a common error of introspection is to carry our beliefs of gradual, incremental change into the realm of the mind, preventing the existence of a more instantaneous, transformative kind of change. A change through insight—an immediate, enlightening shift that occurs when your mind unexpectedly flips the script, accepting a new way of seeing. In other words, “aha” moments.

Consider your own narrative, the story of you. In childhood, our internal world is a canvas, and the painters are our loved ones, our peers, the media we consume, and the society we live in. As we grow and change with our inputs, the canvas gets crowded and the paint dries. We suffer because we attempt to navigate our lives with these hardened beliefs, sailing the seas of life with outdated maps. And as we encounter problems, we jump to solutions that exist within the same environment, failing to see that no path will take us where we want to be if we are looking at the same map.

To open ourselves up to insight that can change our behavior, the first step is to acknowledge the limitations of the mind. Then, we can identify and dissect each belief, unearth its origin, and hold it up to the light of scrutiny. In that space of questioning, we see ourselves clearly as the accumulation of the past. With this insight, we are free to refresh the canvas from moment to moment, creating something new.

These flashpoints of change prove that we do not know everything. They allow us to open ourselves up to more aha moments by perceiving directly without judgement. For me, a defining moment of insight came suddenly through a startling Facebook message that changed my reality; a DNA discovery. Maybe for you, a betrayal, the loss of a job, or a shattering revelation that contradicts a former belief. Insight strikes in various ways, but the shift is universal; a change outside the realm of time.

The journey inward is a selfless endeavor. If the alternative is ongoing suffering, this journey serves a greater good not only for yourself, but through relationship. Here’s an idea to weave into your day: the next time you find yourself dropping F bombs in bumper-to-bumper traffic or raising your voice with a customer service representative, stop to notice your reaction and opt for a moment of wonder. Ask yourself if you didn’t have the same desires and attachments, would your reaction be the same. Consider how someone you deeply admire might react in your place. And recognize the absence of context that may change your reaction if you had it. See that the person on the other end of the line has their own complex life and feels the same emotions of joy and suffering that you do. They are not your enemy; they're just doing their job within a system as convoluted as you.

By acknowledging and stripping away our layers of conditioning, we reveal our authentic selves. This unmasked version of us is the ground we all stand on. And oddly enough, it's this absence of clinging to fixed identities that broadens our capacity for empathy, allowing us to extend compassion rather than aggression, understanding rather than judgment.

Witnessing the architecture of thought is the beginning of change. To see it in its entirety, we must be willing to illuminate the dark corners of our mind to reveal its skeletal framework. This not only allows for immediate transformation, but creates a ripple effect, modifying how we act in the outer world and connect with others. The sum of these relationships ultimately reshape the society we inhabit. Therefore, the catalyst for widespread change is the spark within each individual. There's no other effective starting point. Anything less is like trying to put out a forest fire with a garden hose and ignoring the one with the flamethrower moving from forest to forest.

For all our interest in the external; our obsessions with technology, career ladders, social statuses, we spend a fraction of our time contemplating our inner worlds. Yet as humans, we possess the unique faculty to wonder and choose something else. So I challenge you to opt to not just react out of habit, but to perceive directly, in the present moment, with a profound awareness of our shared essence.  It’s this awareness that allows us to be more empathetic, more understanding, and ultimately, more human. With this unchanging foundation, we remain undisturbed by the constant flux on the surface of our lives, and as a result, bring an end to our psychological suffering.