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An autonym is the real name of the author of our time —changes. It sounds deceptively simple, yet it is beyond any competition. Any discussions around changes are reduced to clichés or snippets from coach texts, although the distinction between these two categories is rather elusive. Nevertheless, a much greater interest lies in the interaction of a person with them. Despite the variety of attitudes towards transformations, it’s worth acknowledging that everyone is dependent on them. Without them, only non-being is possible, so it’s quite mistaken to confuse stability with the absence of change.
Any transformations overlay a layer of the old by craquelure to unveil a new layer of alternatives. The gradual process ensures conditional calm, which, in turn, is compensated by a reduction in potential. Since it’s significantly easier to react to events with ingrained and well-polished actions. Breaking this cocoon of stability is always associated with risk and higher energy costs, hence automatic resistance kicks in at the basic level.
A separate aspect is the territory of Ukraine, as it can be marked as a transformational-pathogenic zone. Each decade is characterized by serious socio-political changes. Each of them is marked by rapidity, extremeness, and non-linearity. Under these conditions, the fake Chinese curse “may you live in interesting times” is naturally brought to mind. However, hybridizing its original*, a more relevant formulation now is:
it’s better to remain human in times of change than a dog in peaceful times.
Despite the conditional visibility of its causes, change doesn’t possess a charge of +/-: in perspective, it’s always X. And escaping this ambivalence is impossible due to this inevitability. Metamorphoses permeate everything around.
Everything transforms, but only changes remain stable.
The closest Chinese expression is “宁为太平犬，莫做乱离人” (níng wéi tàipíng quǎn, mò zuò luàn lí rén), which is usually translated as “Better to be a dog in a peaceful time than a human in times of chaos”.