Things do not change; we change

“Things do not change; we change.” – Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Do we ourselves cause change in our lives by making certain decisions, or are we acted upon by events that happen around us?

Robert Frost in his poem, “The road not taken” states that “I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference” and “ages hence I shall remember it with a sigh.” Yes the sigh could be of fervent euphoria or a cynical penitence but the bottom line cries out from the verses that it was ‘I’ who decided to take the road less traveled by. Hence it is the personal decision of an individual that affects or afflicts him or her!

The entire human race has got an intelligible nerve to shake off all the responsibilities off its shoulders. We the couch potatoes – lying under snug, cozy bed sheets – blame the distant planets and constellations for marring our destiny, which is nothing but an act of complacency.

The circle of causes and effects is bewildering to the non-initiated. Osho in his book the ‘My way: The way of the white clouds’ lucidly mentions that ‘act as if the actor isn’t there and in the very acting will you become free of the despotic, tyrannical secondary causes beyond you.’ Thus it is solely our decision to do or to refrain from doing something that changes us and not the secondary cause (Events of life)!

The sheer force of human will has obliterated the most intimidating of the obstacles and has penetrated the darkest valleys of oblivion.  Medical science has combated fatal diseases such as T.B., astronauts have traveled far beyond our own solar system and the oceanographers have illumined the heretofore unexplored hearts of the ocean. Where there is will, there definitely is a way (and perchance if it isn’t, it shall be concocted)!

This ambidextrous creature has almost demystified this so-called unfathomable universe! Bible says, “Let the weak man say I’m strong!” The quintessence of every soul has the capacity to manifest unprecedented grandeur! Thus to assume a demeanor of a sheep and to bloat that the events shape our destiny and not our conscious decisions is an affront to our own divine nature!