This is a post about you. See, I would like your input on something that I have been thinking a lot about lately. Although few of you comment (a faithful few friends whom I quite like), my site meter account tells me that many many more of you are reading what I post. In that case, I ask that you consider coming from the woodwork and giving me your opinion.
Here is the thing:
I have been challenged quite a lot this summer with whether or not people can really change. This is an issue that is of great importance to many things I believe, including how to trust others, and what to expect of myself.
In "Walden" Thoreau touches on this as he writes:
"I confess, that practically thinking, when I have learned a man's real disposition I have no hopes of changing it for the better or the worse in this state of existence. As the Orientals say, 'A cur's tail may be warmed, and pressed and bound round with ligatures, and after a twelve years' labor bestowed upon it, still it will retain it's natural form.' The only effectual cure for such inveteracies as these tails exhibit is to make glue of them . . ."
Along with whether or not we can actually change our nature, is the issue that is seems only a very few people are able to hold to, and diligently pursue what they believe. Most people comfortably confess their array of opinions that should naturally distinguish them from others, while living in lifestyle camouflage. So why are some people (like Thoreau or Ghandi or Mother Theressa), more inclined to actually do what they say , while others like myself are passive idealists. Are some more inclined, and the others unable to change?
Here is my question, if you have gotten this far, to you my Reader. Do you think that you actually do what you say? Do you think that it is possible to fully pursue the things you believe? Finally, are some people simply naturally more inclined than others to pursue the change they hope to see in themselves and the world?
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5 comments:
Do you think that you actually do what you say?
no, well, only in measurement of a small percentage would i honestly say yes.
Do you think that it is possible to fully pursue the things you believe?
yes, i do. i find much of the reason i do not is often selfish reasons involving my own comfort, or reasons related to insecurities i might have, which may also be connected to my comfort and what i think i need. i do think it is possible if i were to consciously make the initiative...but then again this reminds me of a situation my life was in within this past year...and i only do a small percentage of what i say..
Finally, are some people simply naturally more inclined than others to pursue the change they hope to see in themselves and the world?
i might venture to say yes. there are some who are more passionate and restless and do not allow themselves to become comfortable and consumed and let those ideas just be ideas.
I cannot form my thought into a detailed paragraph like ^sarah did. But I must say, I do have an opinion and I would be more than glad to share when we skype soon. :]
hmmm...
i believe in trasnformation, but of the soul and not of the person. change of habit and change of clothing and change of location means little.
the way a thorny rock can become a marble sandstone. regardless of desire, time and temperature erode on man. every man. some take the batter for better some for worse. but not all come out a marble sandstone. some are still thorny rocks with a few pointy pieces missing. others halfway smooth.
but, not all are conscious of this evolution even as it takes place. most do not. only great men will plunge into the deepest of waves for the severest of discomforts.
some ask God for leverage. others, God pushes towards a leap. further from the bank where the water laps over them and into waves. and there are some God pick up and hurl.
people dont change. things change, circumstances change, and life changes, but people...no, never. Sure we can make different choices than we would normally make in an effort to change (because someone or something has told us that changing is somehow imperative), and while i wouldnt say it was all for nothing, because even small changes can be good changes, they wont ever matter enough to change who you are. but the idea that haunts me is not "can people change?"...i dont really care if anyone ever changes, but rather, why do i have to spend my whole life trying to change into someone or something else? As far as im concerned there are two types of people in the world: those who are constantly trying to change everyone around them, and those who are constantly trying to change who they are to fit the expectations of others. One is delusional and the other, pathetic. pick your poison.
i am pursuing what i believe in a LOT more than i was 5 years ago.
i'm in it for the long haul.
i have 'wanted' to dance and swim and work out regularly for about.... 3 years?? have i done it? no.
i have also wanted to learn more about who i am, and become more authentic and honest. am i? yes.
so..........
both.
(but i think i WANTED the latter much more. which is why its being done.)
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