\u201cThis is reality, to which you have to adjust.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThis is how people are.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the way of the world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Etc. etc.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I do not agree.<\/p>\n Apparently, I never came out of my \u2018monkey years\u2019, which in my country is another term for \u2018puberty \/ adolescence\u2019\u2026 and I see no reason why anyone should. \u2018Monkey years\u2019 are there for a reason. I think the best way to put this reason is: to not<\/u> just comply with a given situation \u2018because people say so\u2019.<\/p>\n Adolescere = \u2018to become adult\u2019, \u2018to grow up\u2019<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Thus: not yet adult, still growing.<\/p>\n I think people \u2013 especially nowadays \u2013 should be eternally \u2018growing\u2019.<\/p>\n Part of this shows in the concept of \u2018eternal student\u2019 as an emerging ideal in Western culture, even worldwide.<\/p>\n It\u2019s technology-driven<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n You might be reading this text on social media \/ blogging on your mobile. Your father at your age might have been looking at \u2018Star Track episode one\u2019, in which even this would be science fiction.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also culturally-driven<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n technology being a huge driver of this too. Living in an ever smaller world with many different influences etc.<\/p>\n There is also resistance to this ever-quicker-change.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n And rightly so:<\/p>\n \u201cPlus \u00e7a change, plus \u00e7a reste la m\u00eame chose.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n [French for: \u201cThe more it changes, the more it stays the same.\u201d]<\/p>\n This has a negative connotation, being about the superficiality of much \u2018change\u2019 that thus has little to no consequence: \u2018not worth the effort, nor the commotion\u2019. So better leave things as they are\u2026<\/p>\n There is certainly a point in this. However, I wouldn\u2019t see it as an endpoint. My alternative take on the proverb is: \u201cThe more it changes within a changing environment<\/em>, the more it can stay the same at a deeply valuable level<\/em>.\u201d Otherwise said: \u201cThrough going with the flow in a qualitative way, you can keep what is really important at the deeper level.\u201d<\/p>\n The deeper flow has another momentum.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is also why I value staying an \u2018adolescent\u2019 (in an adult way). I want to respect the deeper flow as much as possible. This may appear much more stable. But it does also change. People change. I change. Cultures change.<\/p>\n The world changes.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s OK. Nature continually changes. One shouldn\u2019t resist change where it\u2019s important. That\u2019s real \u2018growth\u2019. If you resist it, it\u2019s more readily like a decay.<\/p>\n And decay can readily be misused for the sake of ego-power.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is reality, to which you have to adjust.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n can be seen as: \u201dI don\u2019t want to change and I don\u2019t want you<\/em> to change because that might prompt me<\/em> to also need to change.\u201d<\/p>\n This prevents growth.<\/p>\n \u2018Ego\u2019 wants to be itself for eternity, unchanging, unchangeable. It wants to be the \u2018I\u2019 that lives forever. Even if it needs an imaginary bulb to do so. [see: \u2018The Story of Ego<\/a>\u2019]<\/p>\n Politico-economics<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The powerful (very rich etc.) can \u2018stay the same\u2019 by prompting the powerless to also \u2018stay the same\u2019, using for instance religion or all kinds of us-them-divide. This dynamic has always been present in history. There is no need even for the powerful to energize this spiral consciously. As with many things, it\u2019s just a matter of turning in circles that happen to come along, in combination with an utterly not-caring for the deepest welfare of others and even of oneself.<\/p>\n Rich and poor having the same basic ego-driven attitude, things will remain indeed how they are for quite a long time. The rich-poor divide even becoming starker in the future. You see:<\/p>\n \u201cThis is how people are.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I still do not agree.<\/p>\n\n