The Process of Change is the central focus of Hermetic Philosophy and Alchemy. Heraclitus understood that the world as we know it is not fixed and simple, but is a process of continuous change (“Everything Flows”). Heraclitus also understood that the only way to perceive any finite idea at all, was to understand the idea as one of a pair of opposites, which only have meaning when understood together (up and down, expansion and contraction). As all of life is constantly in flux, trying to fix upon any single point as “real” is like what happens in quantum mechanics theory when you “look at” a particle ~ only then does it “exist.”
Hermetic philosophy describes the different levels of being and consciousness suspended between the changing states of Life and Death, Being and Nothingness, One and Many; but the significant Mystery is not just an understanding of all the different illusions of life on every level, but an understanding of the process of change between these illusions.
But treating all of these illusions of apparent reality as if they were real substance, captured like a snapshot, or a still frame of a moving picture, is very useful ~ in fact, it is the only way we can make sense of the world at all. We can study any one of these still frames and analyze it carefully until we feel we understand what it’s all about. The Mystery, however, is in the space between all of these still frames ~ the Process of Change, itself. The Process of Change is a very powerful mystery, discussed at length in many of my books and articles, but there are some points about it which I can discuss here.
Political change is a matter of attitude and opinion at each of the levels of consciousness. But Political Opinion is a very elusive concept. If you ask someone what one’s opinion is on any subject, 85% of respondents will consider what is the prevailing opinion (in general, or in their particular milieu), and that will be their own “opinion” too. Another 10% of respondents will be contrarian, and, whatever the prevailing opinion, they will support the contrary. That leaves about 5% (give or take about 4½%) who will consider an issue and figure out their own original opinion.
The consequence of this is an oppressive conservative bias against any change in the status quo of any idea. In other words, the more widely held a belief, attitude, opinion, or idea, the more resistance there will be to any change. Any change must come from that very small percentage of the population that actually considers any idea and arrives at an independent and original opinion. But whenever any new idea comes along to those 5% (or .5%) who actually come up with their own original ideas, there is an immense countervailing avalanche of resistance from the side of the prevailing view.
Whenever change does come, it starts out very, very slowly. It is one of those exponential curves ~ at first, change is hardly perceptible at all. Then there is a very long period of what seems to be almost total stasis, as the needle doesn’t seem to be moving at all. Then, finally, at long last (and, of course, way too late, e.g.: climate change), a very few points of change begin to appear, here and there. Suddenly things begin moving along with a noticeable uptick in tempo. Then, when it is almost entirely too late to make any difference at all (climate change again ~ did we miss the boat ?), the exponent begins to kick in, and the change rapidly rushes the pendulum to the other side (usually way too far to the other side, depending on the context, but what can you do ~ that’s the way of pendula, after all).
Let me illustrate all of this abstraction with a concrete example. Since the end of the Second World War, Jews and the State of Israel have enjoyed widespread support. Without reviewing all of the relevant events on the ground in Palestine over the last 75 years (it is all so revolting that I can no longer look at any news about Israel), let me just say that we are finally, at very long last, beginning to see the change in attitude entering the period of rapid and accelerating change to the contrary opinion ~ that the State of Israel is not only a pariah state, a rogue state, a failed state, but it is the largest smoking vortex of negative energy on the planet, hopelessly lost in that end-of-life whirlpool (Red and Purple) that drags what remains of life down into the cesspool of Black death (and the United States is not that far behind). None of this should be construed as antisemitism, as quite a large percentage of Jews (especially outside of Israel, not under the immediate spell of that negative vortex of energy coming out of the State of Israel in Palestine) are just as horrified by the events going on in Palestine (and now Lebanon and beyond ~ today Lebanon; tomorrow the world) as I am. Nor am I unpatriotic ~ I love my country ~ it is just the government that disgusts me ~ the President, Congress, and the Supreme Court ~ send them all out on a fleet of leaky rowboats.
It has taken (and is taking) so very long for this self-evident truth to make its way past the conservative barricade of resistance, and to come finally out into the light at the other end of the long tunnel of change. Most of the rest of the world has known this for a long time, and even in America it has become increasingly clear to a rapidly growing majority, but Congress is hopelessly constipated under that immense and ponderous conservative resistance to any new idea, and the Executive Branch, whose Chair is now tenuously and erratically occupied by our poor Donald, lost in confusion and way out of his depth, is past all hope, leaving the rest of the world holding its breath and standing on one foot, just waiting for the Donald to make his exit line and get off the stage (one way or another, into which, of course, nothing should be read.)
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