The World Does Not Change
Everybody tends to agree that we live in a fast-changing-world, but this is a myth and a lie
Obvious truths are the ones that we accept without further thinking. In the end, they are truths, and obvious ones at that!
Red flag raised!
Among all these suspect truths, there is a specific one that I want to dismantle here. It is the widespread belief that “the world is continuously and fastly changing”.
Following the Cambridge Dictionary, a change is
The act of becoming different, or the result of something becoming different
This definition is far enough to demonstrate how fluffy is to say that the world is ever-changing.
Let’s start!
Change is relative
A change is made up of a difference. For something to be different, a reference is required, which means that the difference is relative to that reference.
The statement “the world is changing” is usually relative to the world as it was at some point in the past.
World means society, economy, and feelings, as well as means environment, climate, and any non-human facet of the world.
So, we, as humans, look back and say: “how different (and better) we are compared to a century ago!” Can you imagine a more used mindset than this one? Probably you cannot, and this makes it an obvious truth. Anyway, let’s forget for a while our mental habits, and focus on logic.
The logical truth is that we are comparing the world now with the same world in the past. The same world. But, to be the same world, it does not have to be different.
No difference no change.
Am I playing with words? Sure! But the same kind of joke would be to say that the world now is something different compared to the past, but it is also enough the same to be recognized as a different version of it.
So, what?
Back to the belief of a fast-changing world, the most relevant question is “Why do we use such a description of the world?” At the end of the day, it could be a trifle.
The standpoint is the human one. Whatever change we might refer to is grounded on humanity. So, the real focus is not on the world but the humankind.
No difference no change.
On the other hand, the same humankind invented the words to say that the world is constantly changing.
So, what?
To be intellectually honest, saying that “the world is continuously changing” is neither true nor false. It simply is a lie or a myth that gives a name to the feeling that we feel while experiencing the world.
Not only change, even fast change
Again, fast is relative. Saying that “the world is fast-changing” is a sort of double-myth, whereupon the myth of the change we build the further myth of the fast-change.
All that is a fascination and an expression of pride in who we are now compared to the past. There is a powerful need behind that, the need to assert oneself as a human.
Yet, the need for something does not imply that this something exists, is true, or even makes sense. This is why I say that “Change is a lie”. We, as western human beings, assume that our mindset is the only possible one, so the words that describe it must be true.
Following the Cambridge Dictionary, a lie is
something you say that you know is not true
By saying that “The world is fast-changing” is a lie, I mean that we lost the sense of the truth, and we intimately know it. Nevertheless, we state what we want the world to be, regardless the statement makes sense or not.
We need it, that’s it!
Conclusions
What happens when we lie? Before we feel fear of being exposed, we experience a great sense of freedom. What is known to be true is extremely limited, but beyond the truth, a limitless field of freedom reveals.
This is what happens while stating that “The world is fast-changing”.
Yet, it is a lie.
