ReInvention and the Queen of Mood Swings

Listening to the political talk shows this morning, I hear a non-sequitur quote from some com-mentator: "No one really changes. They just become more of what they are."

Is that true?

For better and worse, I think so.

I have a corollary to it: "You take yourself with you wherever you go."

I think there is a core self that, no matter the changes in relationships, in jobs, in environment, eventually manifests in behavior. And that there is baserock consistency to that behavior.

I think the reason for that is that we -- on a spiritual level, sometimes consciously, mostly unconsciously -- have determined that we have certain objectives to accomplish within a lifetime, and we assiduously work toward accomplishment of those objectives.

This isn't to say the objectives are always noble, or even desirable. Or that our behavior is either noble or desirable. It's just that we have a manifest destiny and one way or the other, we are determined to realize it.

Sadly, that destiny can be a failure of a life. That may actually be the lesson we set out for ourselves to learn.

I want us to be able to change, to modify our reactions, to alter our behavior. I don't want to think that we are in some sort of instinctive lockstep, heading toward the edge of our respective cliffs.

But, hey, maybe it's not so bad to be bent and broken on the rocks below. Might be edifying.

photograph by Ansel Adams