Impermanence as a world view
(untitled) (c) D Harris I mpermanence as a world view is either denied or frightening to most people. As a core concept of Buddhist thought, it posits that every manifest thing is in a process of change, and that nothing in and of itself, is enduring. Everything that is compound, arises from conditions, continues for a duration, declines and ultimately disperses. All conditioned things depend on other causes and conditions for their arising, duration and cessation. Part of this view originates from observing nature. The implication naturally is that if all things are impermanent, then the self must be impermanent too. Thoughts in the mind, which give rise to the sense of self, the “I”, arise, continue for a duration, subside and cease. Observing this process is the basis of meditation in its classical sense. "Who am I?" "What is this ‘I’"? In the process of meditating on who I am, I bec