The Aversion to the Expected

There exists somewhere deep down in the DNA an aversion to the expected. For some of us "cosmic rebels", it not only became a central feature of our approach to life, but our entire lives reflect it. It, in and of itself, can be a sort of prison of the mind--just as any ego attachment to resistance can be.

Part of the architecture of this aversion is fear of no change. If things stay the same for too long, those with this affliction start getting anxious and eventually become depressed. We are suspicious of people with the opposite affliction: fear of change; judging and accusing them of being over-controlling, desperately conventional slaves, or control freaks. We see this because in our own way, we are being and doing exactly the same thing--just on the other side of the fence.

My conjecture is that for evolutionary reasons, this feature was embedded in the DNA, just as fear of change was, but for different reasons that were exploited to create slaves. The F.O.N.C.'s (Fear Of No Changers) acted as liberators for other F.O.N.C.'s, while the F.O.C.'s (Fear Of Change) people kept to themselves, preferring the soothing regularity that constant routine affords.

In society we cater to this Fear of No Change feature by allowing "vacations", and other distractions from work routines, but to the true F.O.N.C.'s, these activities are looked at suspiciously as transparent manipulations designed to salve the impulse to bolt from work routines.

In my own case, as a dyed in the wool, F.O.N.C., I could never maintain a work routine unless I created it--and even then, I end up rebelling against that at some point. This is frowned upon by the master-slave culture inherent in capitalist-industrial-consumer societies.

I bring all this up as a way of de-constructing my incessant wanderlust, and I hope it may shed some light for certain readers. The point is, there is no "right" or "wrong" end of this particular spectrum. But, just as in any dualistic panorama, the more extreme swings one way or the other, seem to create pain and suffering. This was noticed by the great Zen masters who, as a result of this awareness, promoted the "Middle Path", and I ultimately embrace that--even though my ego attachment to wanderlust acts up sometimes.

In light of quantum, non-dualistic living, the F.O.N.C. person must come to the awareness that everything is changing all the time, and that the illusion of "no change" is just that: an illusion. We get impatient and antsy, as the monkey mind runs around its self-imposed cage, shaking the bars, kicking the food tray, and splashing the water trough. We too easily, sometimes, forget to look beyond the cage to observe the rest of the world inexhorably transforming itself in order to realize our hopes and dreams.

The key is noticing the changes, and hanging in with the time loops, apparent time drags, and all the other sensitivities we F.O.N.C.'ers have about change. We must remember that one's entire life can change in an instant, and that most of perceived change is happening underneath surface perceptions.

So, fellow F.O.N.C.'ers, stay the course, keep the head and chin up, and sally forth in the ultimate certainty of a greater life ahead.