Life is a process of developing our innate skills acquired by observation, experience and inquiry. We’re all born with these qualities and cultivate them to one degree and another. The more we use the gifts of observation, experience, inquiry, play and intuition the greater our skills become. Change therefore is a Life process, a shift, an exchange, an interruption and continuity that creates something new. It’s the flowing river and rooting tree of Life. It’s the verdancy of Creation with its evolutionary ebbs and flows.

Where would we be without change? How would we be if in our trajectory through life we maintained the same size, shape and awareness of a child? What if our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual growth stopped at age five, ten, fifteen or even twenty? Unfortunately the mental, emotional and spiritual growth does stop early in life for many  which causes great difficulty and disappointment. Change as Impermanence causes resistance because of fear which creates closed minds, hard hearts and clenched fists.

Up to this point I sense that all of us are agreeing that Life is Change and Change is Impermanence. It seems a bit of a stretch however to say Impermanence is Stability so let’s take a look. Impermanence is permanent transient ongoing Change. How can this be stability? Ponder a world without birth, growth, flowering, decline and death. Picture a life where nothing grows, where everything is fixed, where there are no surprises, learning, gains and losses; where nothing passes in and out of existence.

Isn’t the Impermanence of everything actually the Stability of the planetary system? Isn’t there permanence in the ever present Impermanence of physical reality? Isn’t there Stability beyond the visible in the invisible energies that create all and everything everywhere? Aren’t the deep spiritual traditions and the quantum sciences finally coming together in their recognition of the interconnectivity of everything and the hidden Essence in all that is, has been and every shall be? Isn’t this the Art of Being, Belonging and Becoming for the whole of creation as we know it?

To see Stability as Art is to recognize the enduring and ever changing nature of the Universe. Have you seen the many amazing artistic images sent to us from the Hubble telescope that’s been traveling through space since nineteen ninety? The magnificence and grandeur of our solar system, galaxy and beyond are testimonies to the creative Art of the Great Creating in our midst. This Art of each sentient and non sentient being in the Universe is beyond measure and comprehension. This Art is Life itself.

We now come full circle from Life, Change, Impermanence, Stability and Art to continue this persistent and ongoing cycle of stability and change. Through it we can choose to recognize the beauty and transform our transitions. To know the Art of Change is to rise above the externals that cause anger, fear, disappointment, grief, suffering, blame and indifference. It’s a lifetime journey that affirms, trusts, accepts, understands, loves, enjoys and reveres the wonder and wisdom of Creation flowing in, around and through us always and everywhere. It’s the unconditioned Lovingness and Art of Life that transcends and includes everything, especially in the midst of Change.

• As you practice sitting with the rooting tree beside your flowing river of Life, breathe in the passing moments that flow by. As you see the images in your thoughts; react not, resist not, retain not and return to an inner awareness of Life breathing you.
• Sit deeply and feel the stability of your impermanence. Drop into the Boundless Base of your Being, the Groundless Ground, Soulful Source within. Rest here…. Experience the infinite, beautiful, creative Art you are at your core. Embrace this Essence that’s Always Here; this Infinite Who that’s Truly You beyond your ego’s impermanence.
• Be still, know, grow, and flow with the Art of Change. Use it as a spiritual compass…