Adapting to the changing world

What is the thing that has never ever changed throughout the history of the universe? The answer is change. “There is nothing permanent, except change.” Let’s understand what this quote is trying to tell us. Let’s take an example of a tree. When it is planted in the ground, it is just a small embryo within the seed. After a few weeks, a small sapling starts to grow in the spot where we planted the seed, which is just the embryo of the plant that has started growing. After many years, that small sapling turns into a huge tree. After some point, the tree dies and dries up. Now, let me ask you a question, has the tree remained in the same state throughout its life? The answer is no; it changed from an embryo, to a sapling, to a tree. So, from this example, we can conclude that this tree continued to witness changes until it was alive. So, does the tree not face any change when it is dead?

The answer is still no. Microorganisms slowly decay the tree and the tree slowly disappears from the location. The tree’s remains are now in the soil, making it more fertile. Now, that tree has always existed, and will always exist, but will keep on changing from one form to the other. Sounds familiar, right? We have also studied that energy is neither created nor destroyed, but it is changed from one form to the other. That tree was also a form of energy. You are also a form of energy, I am also a form of energy. Anything that you see and not see around you, is a form of energy. Wind, water, fire, soil, trees, organisms, atoms, molecules, protons, neutrons, electrons, all are a form of energy. Something has some use in some form, it has some other use in some other form, and some other use in some other form, etc. For example, when the tree grew up, it provided us with fruits and shade. But when it died, the microorganisms decayed that tree and finally it turned into manure for the soil. A tree and manure are not the same things, but the same things became a tree and then became manure. So, it changed from a tree to manure. 

Another example, let’s suppose that you have a banana, and you eat it. What happened here is that you take in that banana and that banana was changed to the nutrients that your body can consume and these nutrients made your cells grow and multiply? So, effectively, your digestive system turned the banana into a human being. The banana was in a different form of energy, which has been changed/turned/converted into a different form of energy—a human being, by your digestive system.

As you can see, anything from a minuscule atom to a massive galaxy, everything undergoes some changes in its physical and chemical state to turn into something else. Hence it has proved that change is the only thing that is permanent in this universe. There is nothing that can stop changing something into something else. There are a few changes that are good for us, but there are also some changes that are bad for us. For example, industrialization as a change was helpful for us, but global warming is the change that this new technology created, which is not good for us. So, even the same thing can be good as well as bad for us at the same time. Hence, we must be adapted to face these changes.

We humans are undergoing changes that are creating other changes in the world that are both beneficial and also harmful for our world as an ecosystem. Even at the times of the electric vehicles, we still operate on the fuelled ones. This is the main problem with the human nature. When we believe in something, we tend to not change the decision until something forces us to do so. As you can see, it does not fit with the rhythm of change as we tend to dislike change rather than welcoming it. It is my recommendation that rather than trying to stop changes to occur, we should try to understand how to deal with the problems of the changes so that we can understand how changes work. Hence, don’t be resistant to changes, be amazed of them, as we can never stop something that has to happen, at any cost. If something has to start, then it will start, no matter whatever force something else tries to stop it. On the other hand, if something has to end, then no matter whatever we do, we can do nothing to stop it from ending. This is the cycle of life. Hence, we must adapt to the changes and welcome them to survive ahead, rather than trying to stop the change in the first place.