Winds of Change and Those of Us Who Are Swept Away – II

Winds of Change and Those of Us Who Are Swept Away – II

What is really needed is a fundamental change in our attitude toward life.
—Viktor E. Frankl

We are in need of truths that will serve as an unchanging and unshakable support and point of attachment. Is there, in our lives, a truth that does not change and will not change? When everything changes at every moment, is there a wisdom by which I will not lose myself?

Yes—this wind is so fierce that one can face it only by using what is unchanging as a shield. Otherwise, for those who possess no unchanging foundations, being swept away by the winds of change—tossed from place to place, sometimes lifted up and sometimes slammed down—is inevitable. We can see examples of this in our own lives and, unfortunately, in the lives of the majority of people around us.

Before turning to what these unchanging foundations are, let us try to understand how those without them are shaped by the winds of change:

1. A person who is swept in whichever direction the wind blows begins to take shape according to the conditions of the time. What is popular, what is profitable, what everyone is interested in—without regard for right or wrong, lawful or unlawful—he melts into the conditions of the age, takes every shape, and then evaporates and disappears. Unable to remain himself, he is molded by the gears of time and eventually discarded like refuse.

2. A person who is swept away along with others makes those same people his point of support. Saying, “I am like them, and there are many like me,” he actually declares that he does not know what he is doing. “Everyone is doing it, so I am doing it; therefore it must be right.” In this way, he shifts the burden of responsibility onto the crowd and feels no weight of it himself.

3. A person who has surrendered himself to other forces imagines himself to be aimless and ungoverned, and shapes his life accordingly. After all, the driving force of his life is the force of change itself. Seeing the world through this lens, he attributes every change to chance and begins to perceive life as a game. As a result, nothing retains any real value in his eyes. He wastes his life carelessly, irresponsibly, without concern.

4. A person who has thrown himself into this vortex of change, overwhelmed by its speed and abundance, becomes unable to question causes and consequences. Everything in his life begins to lose meaning, and he sinks into the darkness of a terrible loneliness. God forbid, this path can even lead to denying the existence of the Creator.

As we can see, the danger is not a simple one. The result of being swept away is the loss of oneself and of one’s faith. This danger is always present. The fierce winds of change—through people, events, ideas, and images—constantly grow stronger, straining the human heart and belief in order to carry it away.

Therefore, against this danger, we must build within our hearts certain truths that never change, never waver, never transform—like a fortress. We must strengthen our faith continually and take our position and our shelter. Everyday information, current news, fleeting data, trivial pursuits, temporary amusements—unless they open a door to the purpose of creation, they cannot lay even a single stone in the structure of truth we are meant to build in our hearts. On the contrary, they begin to blur and weaken those fixed truths. Such content is read and forgotten, rarely revisited, produced mostly for worldly gain.

But knowledge that concerns humanity and faith is always remembered, contemplated again and again, needed at every moment like bread and water. Just as our bodies constantly require food, water, and air, our hearts constantly require the light of truth and a spiritual strength. That light and strength are found in the truths repeated again and again in the Qur’an—truths we must also repeat through reading, contemplation, and action. At any moment we may be dragged into the swamp of falsehood, fall into the well of despair, or find ourselves in the void of meaninglessness. The realities of the world and its changes confront us with this threat every day—through deaths, separations, and events.

Against the four points of being swept away we have described, we must understand four unchanging truths:

1. Death. Everything may change, but the fact that death will occur does not change and cannot be changed.

2. Human frailty and need. Human weakness, vulnerability, and endless desires. Even today, humanity has not been able to extend the average lifespan indefinitely or fully overcome even a microscopic germ. Nor can we form a certain prediction about the future or escape the anxiety of uncertainty. This remains an unchanging reality.

3. The human search for truth. Unless a person abandons reason altogether, he must continually question the realities of life and seek a truth upon which to base and give meaning to his humanity.

4. Belief. Belief is a natural human need; it is not possible for a human being to remain without belief. Even one who claims to believe in nothing believes in not believing. By witnessing the cycles of existence and disappearance in himself and in the world, a person inevitably comes to accept some form of transcendent belief beyond reason, whatever name or content it may take.

As chaos, speed, and excess increase like a catastrophe, they throw both the human mind and heart into turmoil and plunge life into disorder. Against this overwhelming assault, simplicity has become a great value. The most fundamental unchanging elements of our lives must stand firm as pillars upon which we build anything new. Otherwise, whatever we build will be doomed to collapse in this turmoil, and each collapse will return us to the beginning. For this reason, we must first establish our unchanging and indestructible values firmly and sufficiently.

This does not mean that we should become rigid, fall into dogmatism, or create a comfort zone for ourselves against change. No. In order to understand and evaluate all the changes within and around us, we must first comprehend and stabilize these four unchanging truths. Only then will every change become a form of growth for us. Without these fixed points, however, it seems difficult to remain safe from the four dangers we have described.

So how can we understand these four unchanging truths and develop a fruitful attitude toward change?
(To be continued, God willing.)

stone: one does not change horses midstream
scissors: the world may end, but falsehood does not end
paper: if the world were flooded, it would not trouble the duck