Embracing Change

Children have a tendency to think under the realm of simplicity. For this reason, we are encouraged to be in our mentality as a child, so that we maintain the humility necessary to receive the discipline of wisdom. Especially since there’s been awhile since many of us were children, so we have to be reminded of this kind of meekness, and to understand that most of the answers to the questions we look for are right here before us, but that we miss seeking “profundity”. Indeed, some of us need to seriously regress back into childhood and understand how simple things really are. But children also have a tendency to be unstable in their ways. They are more apt to move from place to place easily, despite danger. But as adults who have gained a certain level of experience, we cannot afford to be led astray by the elementary matters of childhood, in which we continue to trip over the same mistakes over and over again before we attempt to change them.

 
Change itself is difficult, for it is buried under years of routine and tradition. However embracing change when it is occupied by truth can cause great discipline, and create a greater understanding for the individual who is willing to grow up. It is a light that comes with maturity, illuminating the path of the elder. But not everyone of age is wise, for many of us are still easily led astray and stuck in our ways; plagued by the unchanging traditions of our youth. (There are countless old fools) And as some children are afraid of the dark, so are we who have yet to put off the instability of childhood; still heavier than darkness are we to ourselves. We can remove this burden however, if only we are willing to embrace change, and all of the gifts that come with it.

Struggle

“We must embrace struggle. Every living thing conforms to it. Everything in nature grows and struggles in its own way, establishing its own identity, insisting on it at all cost, against all resistance.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

 
What I love most about this quote is that struggle is such a powerful teacher. It passes down the knowledge of self, which without such cannot be obtained. If not for the hardships many of us have been through we would not have understood who we were as individuals. It is a healing experience to transform the mind by having endured struggle, pain, obstacles. No discipline seems pleasant at the time we receive it, but what in creation produces a greater reward than enduring struggle? Show me a better teacher than pain.

The Mis-Education of the Negro

9781940177120_p0_v1_s260x420

“When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his “proper place” and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door; he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.” – Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro

Revolutionary Youth

tumblr_lnrw6r2DOr1qmnxqeo1_500

 

I notice that young people like to engage into conscious conversation nowadays….
a mind heavy with questions a…..
bed of regret too slippery to hold onto any longer we linger on the brink of activism and righteous revolution but…..
like wild bulls in a net we are caught ironically by the same thirst for consciousness…….
breathtaking words and artificial intelligence that sound almost like life….
a quick fix of metaphors glossed over with the shine of illuminated intelligence
a mere ignorance in disguise
it is my hope
that before we start to think
we may first search the graveyard of our ancestors closets where we buried our minds
because it is evident….
that though we are inebriated of the euphoria of information….
we have yet to be informed.

The Happiness of Seeking Wisdom

wisdom1

Happy is the person who meditates on wisdom

who reflects in his heart on her ways

and ponders her secrets

pursuing her like a hunter

and lying in wait on her paths

and listens at her doors

who camps near her house

and fastens his tent peg to her walls

who pitches his tent near her

and so occupies an excellent lodging place

who places his children under her boughs

who is sheltered by her from the heat

and dwells in the midst of her glory

– Ecclesiasticus / Sirach 14:20-27