CHESMAYNE
Change – flux, stability
01 Everything keeps turning into something else. This is the trick of the universe in order to renew itself,
and stay the same. This is a recurring
theme in symbolism, not only in the form of magical transformations, but also
in all the different symbols which contrast the
ephemeral with the enduring. Change to
us is ‘fear’. Various pressures are
directed against anyone who tries to push against familiar limits. Because they are pushing, new boundaries
open. Butterfly: symbol of
change/transformation - it follows the wind yet arrives at the flower - its
flight is spontaneous and free and does not wear itself out fighting the forces
of nature.
To change one’s hat: to change your view.
“Even a god cannot change the
past”.
“Vorsprung durch Technik” –
“Progress through technology”.
02 Proteus: could change his
shape and figure, like later magicians and witches. Symbolism speeds up the process, as the
magician who can change one thing into another. It changes continuously in order to renew
itself, in order to stay the same. The
main principle of this change is the parts separating and regrouping. Distinguishing the
different parts in order to reassemble them in different combinations.
“Vintage at Chateau La Grange”, Jules Breton
“If we want things to stay as
they are, things will have to change”.
03 Time: the Father of the Gods: it is time
which effects the changes.
04 Edmund Burke: “A state
without the means of some change is without the means of its
conservation”. “Change is the law of
life and those who only look to the past or present are certain to miss the
future” – J.F. Kennedy.
05 “Now, here, you see, it takes all
the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must
run at least twice as fast as that!” - Lewis Carroll.
06 Richard Hooker: “Change is not made without inconvenience, even from
worse to better”.
07 Emerson: “Motion or change
and identity or rest are the first and second secrets
of nature: Motion and Rest. The whole
code of her laws may be written on the thumbnail”.
08 “Growth may mean change and
change can be painful”.
09 Cauldron: Symbol of change, renewal,
initiation, transformations - full of boiling and bubbling substances.
“The
quickest way to change the world is to be of service to others. Show that your love can make a difference in
the lives of people and thereby someone else’s love can make a difference in
your life. By each of us doing that and
working together we change the world one inner person at a time”. Dannion Brinkley, a near-death experiencer.