Why impermanence is empowerment
A basic credo of Buddhism is that everything has three marks: impermanence, dukkha (suffering) and non-Self. What may sound like a very pessimistic outlook on life at first glance is actually a message of hope and empowerment.
Non-Self does not imply that nothing exists, only that there is no such thing as an unchanging inner essence (see article What is a person?). And this is good, because otherwise we would never have the chance to change our fate; evil beings would forever be evil, and unhappy people would always be unhappy. The second mark, ‘suffering’, likewise does not imply that there is no joy in this world, it only warns us that everything has the potential to cause us distress – because even the most joyful moment will inevitably pass, and we may feel sad when it does. Which brings us to the third mark, the credo that everything in this world is impermanent. Let us look at why this is actually a good thing rather than a problem.
Of course, it is true that even the happiest moment will always just be a moment, and it is bound to pass. However, the assumption that a happy moment must inevitably be followed by a sad moment is erroneous. The Buddha never said that a person must experience a sad moment after a happy one. Just like when you’re tossing a coin and you will not necessarily get heads after you have had tails; instead, you might get tails several times in a row. Likewise, it is absolutely possible to experience a happy moment, and then another, and another, in a row (it depends on you, actually, and your attitude towards the circumstances which present themselves before you – remember the articles about reality and the eight consciousnesses?).
Self-Reflection: Recall some happy moments from your life, and observe how recalling them influences your current mood.
Impermanence implies that everything, including our presumed ‘Self’, is a continuum of moments rather than a fixed entity. The five skandhas, if you remember the article What is a person?, recombine incessantly, and the seeds in the subconscious store of memory keep arising, growing, proliferating, and perishing. This is what enables us to develop physically and mentally, and isn’t this a wonderful thing? Imagine what it would be like to be stuck in your three-year-old Self forever!
Self-Reflection: Compare yourself today to yourself from ten years ago. In what ways have you changed? And what kind of 'seeds' (experiences) have brought about these changes?
Impermanence is what allows us to batter OCD; because, though it may feel like you are bound by invisible heavy chains, what you experience is actually not a fixed condition, but a series of OCD moments which arise and proliferate, because they each build on the preceding moment. Each moment alone could never have power over you, it is much too short-lived. It is the proliferation of moments, and their building up a chain which causes trouble. The key to freeing yourself from OCD is to perceive each OCD thought as only a fleeting instant, which will inevitably pass. In the section OCD in terms of the CWSL, we will look at how to do this and how to break the chain by ‘cutting out the present’.