NOTES FROM THE AWARENESS: 391

Permanent doesn’t exist.

Please reflect and share. How does this play out in your life?

We like to believe some things are forever—romantic love, our faith, adequate food and shelter, the bounty of the natural world. We hold fast to the idea of constants in our existence and may even take them for granted. And yet, divorces and breakups occur, we have crises of faith, many in the world lack basic needs, and the environment is negatively impacted by our modern lifestyle.

Benjamin Franklin said, “In this world nothing is certain except death and taxes.” From the perspective of our bodies, death is a permanent end. From the viewpoint of our souls, it isn’t. Taxes—once estate taxes are paid—also end with the death of the body. We haven’t yet figured out a way to tax the soul. So even death and taxes aren’t permanent.

Knowing nothing is permanent, the only true constant is change. Change, although many of us fear and resist it, is our safety, our reassurance that existence is ongoing. Where there is change there is growth, and where there is growth there is continuity. Change is our insurance that there is more to come.

Today’s message asks me to find the value in impermanence. When I am excited by change and its inherent opportunities, I am most alive and present in my life. Impermanence keeps my existence fresh.

How about you? What, if anything, seems permanent to you?