“There Is Nothing Either Good Or Bad, But Thinking Makes It So” — William Shakespeare, Hamlet
I have become a great fan of anti-depressants. Better living through chemistry. Well, the living may not actually be better, but at least we are better able to cope. Actually, if the last study I read was correct, we are all consuming anti-depressants and a host of other drugs simply by drinking the water.
The reality is that we are living in “interesting” times…facing incredible social and financial challenges…and trying to cope with a pace of change that human beings are ill-suited to handle. I remember the statement that the only thing that likes change is a wet baby. Probably true.
And in trying to cope with our ever-changing conditions, I remember something I read quite a while ago — though, with all apologies to the author, I cannot remember who said it.
We are caught between our hopes for what will happen and how the world will be, and the realities that we must daily confront. As humans, we don’t want change because the familiar gives us a sense of security. But in the grand scope of Creation, change is inevitable. Nothing can ever possibly stay the same. How we face the changes defines us. Security isn’t all that secure; rather it is learning to ride the ongoing flow of time and space. We need to appreciate the past without being beholden to it. We must love what has come before enough to let it go with grace when it is time to move on.
And maybe, if we struggle too much, we need help to move on.
B’Shalom
Rabbi Stanley Halpern