“All things are changing; when a man reflects on the changes and transformations which follow one another, like wave upon wave, and their rapidity, he will despise everything that is mortal.”
— Aurelius.
AURELIUS, ANTONINUS , or MARCUS AURELIUS, "The Philosopher," born, April, 121 A.D.; the sixteenth Emperor of Rome; he was a philosopher from his earliest years, and though in after life his time was taken up with state affairs, his greatest pleasure was derived from philosophy and literature; the greatest blot on his memory is the severity with which he treated the Christians; died in Sirmium, now Vienna, March, 180 A.D.
From Cambridge Dictionary reactionary, adjective, POLITICS, disapproving.
Definition: opposed to political or social change or new ideas:
Example: Reactionary forces/elements in the industry are preventing its progress towards greater efficiency.
A phobia is an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal. Phobias are more pronounced than fears. They develop when a person has an exaggerated or unrealistic sense of danger about a situation or object.
Cenophobia, or the fear of new ideas, is a subset of neophobia. The fear halts progress and can make it difficult for people to accept new ideas and change. While it is smart not to accept every idea at face value, new ways of thinking about a situation are critical to success, innovation, and effective problem-solving.
The fear of change or changing things is called Metathesiophobia. Causes of Metathesiophobia: The fear of change is evolutionary in humans. Since times immemorial, man has liked routine. Our internal predispositions (heredity and genetics) teach us to resist change mainly to ‘always feel in control’. But the normal fear of change becomes a full blown phobia when it is irrational, persistent and very intense. Personal emotional distress caused by many life changes can trigger such a fear of change.
Change is hard for all of us with no doubt, and to assume a fear is a phobia is of course not necessarily accurate, it only up to those qualified to determine,
But through observation I have observed what might be considered reactionary worldview, for example trying to return to a 1950s culturally, seeming quite irrational in character, unrealistic, improbable to reenact within a democracy,
It seems that our ideas of modern American conservatism, may have a large component of reactionary ideas engrained, perhaps making up a preponderance of the totality of thinking,
Without any judgment attached I think it valuable to understand those so processed with displeasure of change, and to contemplate the modern ideas of American conservatism with eyes opened.
As one who has had thinking disorders I perhaps am more sympathetic to others with comparable difficulties, than with a criticism based only up on ideological differences, although I certainly have them,
So I think it worth the risk in this writing, to possibly be incorrect in it, in part or wholly, if it is so,
I have no professional experience in diagnosing phobias, but it is my understanding that fear is on a spectrum, with a phobia being more intense,
And to belittle one to imply a disorder also is not my aim, I am following my gut in this writing, as I have learned.
So is an unrealistic vision of a past America in culture a cenophobia or a metathesiophobia, as defined above, perhaps not,
Is a obsession driven ideological nature to return to another time period, willingly ending democracy in order to realize such a vision in an oppressive manner a disorder, possibly yes in my opinion,
I tend to wonder very seriously that there is indeed a disorder in operation, in a person perhaps incapable of recognizing it, and surrounding oneself by others so afflicted, where such reactionary views are not only accepted but rewarded for,
Recognition of one’s baseline defects is extremely hard to do with much guidance and work, but the recognition is certainly a major step,
As in the first step of a twelve step program,
Would one expect one’s ideological being to change with such recognition, perhaps this is quite unrealistic in itself to expect,
For as the conservative Edmund Burke once remarked - “In the several parts of nature there is an infinite variety,”
Different viewpoints are essential in society, so I agree with Burke in this regard extending to a collection of human natures.
Do those absolutely convinced we must return to the 1950s have an actual sense of fear of actual danger in not doing so,
Or are they only convinced our current culture is too decadent, too morally devolving, a fear of gender fluidity recognition as a direct physical threat,
Do they fear God’s wrath for more sin which they perceive is occurring, do they fear God’s retribution upon all for the perceived sinfulness of others outside their control,
Do they only wish for an America that they grew up in for their children or grandchildren, and they reject today’s diversity as only an impediment for happiness for their family, do they fear reprisals from those who have been oppressed by this nation of imperfect democracy and equality,
It may be that the fully expressed fear may not actually be what they think it is, they are mistaken due to lack of personal experience,
I am only asking the questions now, as I truly don’t understand it,
If a form of phobia, or near a phobia in intensity, I have no idea,
But I only wish for shared serious conversation, self-searching thought and seeking of understanding.
“All desire improvement; yet many are averse to change. We forget that though there may be change without improvement, there cannot be improvement without change.”
— O. B. Pierce.
O. B. Pierce not found in the reference index. Unknown, but a very fine quote in my estimation.
For improvement there must be change, this seems very elemental, yet quite profound, and useful to remember on our life’s journey,
Change requires action, for this we should all agree on, to wish for no change in itself requires action as well perhaps, and here may be where ideals collide, where the current divide lies,
To rewind the clock back to the 1950s would seem to me to require much more effort, energy, and action than adjusting to the future, in fact it would seem to take an atomic energy level to do so metaphorically speaking,
And taking away rights has not played well in America since the Dodds Supreme Court decision, there will only be strife taking this approach to try and realize a certain worldview widely shared among so many,
So I can’t improve upon the quote above in my personal philosophy of change, and I can only agree.
“Conversion is to be distinguished from regeneration thus: regeneration is a spiritual change; conversion is a spiritual motion; in regeneration there is given us a principle to turn; conversion is our actual turning.”
— S. Charnock
CHARNOCK, STEPHEN, born in London, 1628; an eminent English Non - conformist divine and writer; died, July 27, 1680.
I reach near the end with the concept of spiritual change, surely most reactionaries would not discount the importance of true spiritual change,
Should we not collectively consider many forms of change within the spiritual realm,
I cannot see how they can be separated in my understanding,
Are there phobias or extreme fear of spiritual change today, fear that such a thing will endanger us,
My understanding of spirituality says that there probably isn’t such a phobia among those who truly have a form of faith, be it religious or otherwise, those who have spiritual health,
So I conclude in stating that we should consider all positive change to be spiritual change,
This ends my thoughts on this day on change, my understanding has grown, but I still have changes to make, I know this,
Tomorrow will be very slightly different than today, and the next day a little more, and so on and so on,
I must make the adjustments, and not fight the process, I’m not in control, nor should I be.
27th posting, March 19, 2023