Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.
~ a Chinese Proverb.
Often, we attach to the illusion of completeness, yet life whispers otherwise. When we think we have everything figured out, the universe tests us to see if we actually do. If we move through it calmly and with mindful consciousness, we can pat ourselves on the back, tallying one more lesson understood. Yet, don’t rest on your laurels too long; the lessons never cease, and when we think one has undoubtedly passed, it may come back disguised as another.
We must be careful not to think we have arrived, for we are always in a constant state of becoming.
A key element in understanding this concept is how Bob Dylan expressed it: You always have to realize that you’re constantly… in the state of becoming, you know? The word ‘realize’ conveys the precision of the thought. What Dylan intuited, creators across all disciplines embody in their restless pursuit of refinement.
Most artists will admit they are never delighted with their finished work. Writers can’t fathom how they let that sentence slip past into publication; painters, sculptors, and musicians have said that I could have, or should have, changed a stroke, angle, or note. They epitomize the deeper knowing that nothing is truly complete. This creative unease mirrors a more profound spiritual truth: impermanence is the only constant.
According to Buddhism, everything in human life, all objects, and all beings are constantly changing, in constant flux, undergoing a rebirth and death, which ends the cycle when a person achieves Nirvana.
Until then, we are living in a world of temporality. And yet, despite wisdom and practice reminding us of change, we still fall prey to the idea that we’ve arrived.
Yet we are repeatedly fooled into believing we have reached the pinnacle of success in business, athletic ability, and scholarly achievement, only to be disappointed when another overshadows that accomplishment. Or we stop striving and moving towards a new bar and instead fall into the trap of despair. The classic, clichéd examples are the high school quarterback or homecoming queen who stopped pushing for achievement once their glory days had passed.
To be in a constant state of becoming does not suggest we cannot find contentedness nor enjoy accolades for achievement; it is to caution us, understanding that it is a fleeting moment. Glory in the spotlight, but don’t let the light blind you into thinking this is all that is.
The unceasing change is evident when we look to nature to guide us on our journey; nothing in nature stands still. Just as the earth rotates and the waves ebb and flow, so do our lives, no matter how desperately we resist. To recognize life is not a finished act but a process, the realization I believe Bob Dylan referred to.
How we think today may change tomorrow as experience and perspective color our thoughts. To allow such variation is the beauty of understanding the flow of life.
And this, too, shall pass. Even when the artist puts the final strokes on a canvas, it only records the moment. But as light, air, and age affect the canvas, we see it is constantly becoming. We will never reach the final becoming until the becoming is no longer. To resist becoming is to resist life itself, mistaking stillness for permanence.
Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.
~Anais Nin
Her words remind us that becoming is not a burden but literally the pulse of existence.
