Almost all of us will have been told that we shouldn’t just remain static, but always be moving, changing, learning and growing. This is good advice, but it can create daunting challenges for us. Let’s look at the instructions given in the simple teaching, each of which creates questions. We are told we should always be
- “moving”
- To where should we move,
- and from where?
- Doesn’t this require that we have an understanding of where we are relative to everything else?
- “changing”
- What should we be changing?
- How should we change it?
- What does “change” mean?
- “learning”
- What should we be learning?
- Don’t different kinds of learning require different skills?
- Where do we go to learn these things?
- From whom do we learn them?
- “growing”
- Doesn’t growth eventually end when people reach a stasis?
- Growing in what direction?
- Growing in what ways?
- How does growth relate to change?
- Does growth happen through “learning”, “moving”, “changing” or some combination of these things?
Suddenly, the simple advice becomes very difficult to put into practice, almost as difficult as advice to “show someone you love him”.