Changelessness Quotes

Sometimes it takes a miracle to remind us that the only permanent condition is that of impermanence. ~ Eric Micha'el Leventhal

The essential nature of samvit is the subtle stir of spanda. The introverted and extroverted movements of spanda cause samvit to manifest itself in both the noumenal and phenomenal aspects of creation. These two aspects of samvit are known in Shaivism as Shiva (transcendent) and Shakti (universal). Shiva and Shakti are the two names given to the monistic Absolute (Paramasiva) when it is being considered in its dual aspects of eternal and transcendent changelessness (Shiva), and the ever-changing and immanent manifestation of universal appearances (Shakti).

- B. N. Pandit, Specific Principles of Kashmir Shaivism (3rd ed., 2008), p. 17–18. ~ Balajinnatha Pandita

The Offices rerooted me in a tradition where, monk or not, I would always be at home. From long ago I knew the power of their repetition, the incantatory force of the Psalms. But they had an added power now. As a kid, the psalmist (or psalmists) had seemed remote to me, the Psalms long prayers which sometimes rose to great poetry but often had simply to be endured. For a middle-aged man, the psalmists' moods and feelings came alive. One of the voices sounded a lot like a modern New Yorker, me or people I knew: a manic-depressive type A personality sometimes up, more often down, sometimes resigned, more often pissed off, railing about his sneaky enemies and feckless friends, always bitching to the Lord about the rotten hand he'd been dealt. That good old changelessness. ~ Tony Hendra

Only the fairy tale equates changelessness with happiness ... Permanence means paralysis and death. Only, in movement, with all its pain, is life. ~ Jacob Burckhardt

Guilt is not a response to anger; it is a response to one's own actions or lack of action. If it leads to change then it can be useful, since it is then no longer guilt but the beginning of knowledge. Yet all too often, guilt is just another name for impotence, for defensiveness destructive of communication; it becomes a device to protect ignorance and the continuation of things the way they are, the ultimate protection for changelessness. ~ Audre Lorde

Our lives are full of separations that shake us up, force us to attend to our emotional selves and to learn new ways of being in the world. Although many of our losses are painful, they encourage our gains. The lesson life is trying to teach us is that, regardless of the challenges and changes in the physical world, we will abide in peace by aligning ourselves with our inner changelessness. The power of God in us is more than equal to any moment-no matter what it brings. We live in a loving, supportive universe that is always saying yes to us. ~ Susan L. Taylor

Changelessness is decay."
"A paradox. There is no decay without a change for the worse."
"Changelessness is a change for the worse ... ~ Isaac Asimov

Not until the lamp is utterly shattered," she said, "and all pages everywhere sealed up in mildew - but then one would only cease to be, wouldn't one? Till then, simply changelessness. How deliciously restful. It's what one wanted, isn't it, what one had prepared for and sought after - what one had invented out of all the terrible longings and dissatisfactions, never knowing that this exactly was what one was inventing - and yet having no other reason, all along, but this. How pleasant and odd that it should be so ... . ~ John Crowley

Happiness is never really so welcome as changelessness ~ Graham Greene