I was reading another person's blog the other day and he was discussing the fact that thoughts and photographs are similar in that they are permanent. I agreed in his comments section that they are indeed similar, but disagreed on the subject of them being permanent.
Neither of the two are permanent. Thoughts come and go and vanish faster than you can read this. Photographs fade, and eventually turn to dust if they do not get lost or destroyed in some other manner. Photos may indeed outlast the lifespan of the subject of the photo, but again they do not last forever.
The author of the blog responded by saying that photos are "pretty permanent."
I still disagree and don't see his logic.
Either way, this started me thinking about the fact that nothing
lasts forever. People, places, cars, memories, language, pets, shoes,
the planet, love and yes, even thoughts and photos eventually change. If
everything is capable of change then it is not permanent.
When I began looking into Buddhism I discovered that Buddhists believe
that all is in flux. This means that nothing stays the same. Everything
changes and is always in the state of changing to something else. I
agree and I found it rather eye-opening.
Think about it. You are not the same as you were yesterday, when you were
two years old or when you woke up this morning. We change constantly. So if you agree with that, you must accept that your thoughts change and that objects change too.
If you accept the idea that all is in flux then you learn that nothing
is permanent. Since being permanent means that it does not change, it remains that way forever. Which of course isn't possible.
The belief in permanence may create warm, fuzzy feelings and may be
romantic, but it is naive. Even those warm, fuzzy feelings will soon pass
and romance will come and go just as we die.
That naivete will stop you from enjoying what is there for you today. Live in the moment and have hope for the future.
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