We are daily bombarded with new information as to the nature of reality. If we are to incorporate this information, we must continually revise our maps, and sometimes when enough new information has accumulated, we must make very major revisions. The process of making revisions, particularly major revisions, is painful, sometimes excruciatingly painful. And herein lies the major source of many of the ills of mankind.

There was a time in my life when I was uncomfortable with being called an artist or a writer. Back then I used to cringe at being identified as anything other than the person I imagined myself to be, which at the time I thought was only an engineer who dabbled in taking pictures and jotted down mundane thoughts in a text file.

Eventually I realized the problem. You see, back then I didn’t recognize who I was becoming and I tended to cling to who I used to be. I was living in the past — attempting to be my former self, even though everyone else recognized I was someone different. Fear held me back.

We must first acknowledge change to be aware of it; then we must succumb to it and question our fears. Clinging to the past can often be a source of stress, but it doesn’t have to be if we are honest with ourselves about the insignificance of our perceptions.

For the entirety of our lives we must continually assess and reassess where our responsibilities lie in the ever-changing course of events. Nor is this assessment and reassessment painless if performed adequately and conscientiously. To perform either process adequately we must possess the willingness and the capacity to suffer continual self-examination. And such capacity or willingness is not inherent in any of us.