Wisdom and the Art of Adaptability
Human beings have always wrestled with how to adapt to the ever-changing world around them. Our societies are built on the premise that everyone should be able to adapt and adjust in their own way. In some cases, this can be beneficial for society as a whole, but it’s important for each individual to find their own methods of adaptation. When adapting, wisdom is key: making sure you know your strengths and weaknesses so you can avoid falling too far on either side of the spectrum, no matter what decision you make.
The principle of wisdom is arguably the most important thing to remember when it comes to adapting. Being wise means being able to understand both yourself and your situation, so you know how to best change. This is especially critical in a world that continues to change rapidly, leaving many people struggling to catch up with the ever-shifting sands beneath them. Without wisdom, it's very difficult to adapt; making mistakes becomes much more costly if you don't know what you're doing wrong, and the faster society moves around us, the harder it becomes to keep up with these changes.
That said, there's also an art in knowing how and when to adapt. I often see those with the most wisdom being broadly flexible and open to changes in the world around them, without seeming to get too deep into anything. This is very useful for people who are constantly adapting, but it's also important for people who are trying to navigate something a little less dynamic. The ability to adjust and adapt is critical at all times, but when there's something specific you want to change about yourself it can be even more important.
One of my favorite passages on the art of adaptation comes from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
In this passage, Sun Tzu is essentially saying that if one knows themselves and their environment, they won't be afraid of losing battles or becoming overwhelmed by each new obstacle. It's also said that if you're willing to adapt to whatever comes your way, you can overcome anything. This idea is a simple truth that's easy to forget amidst our everyday struggles.
Many people find themselves in difficult situations when trying to adapt: they try things out and then get frustrated when the results are less than ideal. This happens for a number of different reasons, but a lot of it comes down to an issue of patience. It's very easy to get frustrated when you're trying something and it doesn't work out right away. If you're not willing to stick with something, it's very easy to get discouraged by the little things that go wrong (and there will be little things that go wrong).
People often call this being flexible or "going with the flow", but I think those are both pretty misleading ideas. When someone says they're flexible and "go with the flow", that usually means they don't have any principles or values and will adjust their positions on anything. They're often willing to put in the work and energy necessary to change themselves, but they don't have any real instincts or inherent ideas. These are the people who complain about how life is unfair and deny that there's an inherent order to most things.
But the best adaptations of all are "self-made" ones: if you know yourself and your situation, you'll be able to see exactly what needs changing, and you'll take action as soon as possible. When you know yourself well enough you'll be able to understand your strengths and weaknesses, which is essential for both personal growth and adapting in general.
This leads me back to Sun Tzu (who also wrote The Art of War). Sun Tzu believed that to know yourself was to know your enemy, and vice versa. This seems like a pretty obvious statement, but it only applies if you really look at yourself and try to understand each aspect of you – so you can see where your weaknesses are. The most important thing is to make sure you understand all aspects of your own personality so that they don't overwhelm or overtake you. This doesn't mean you need to be an expert in everything about yourself, but it does mean knowing when something needs changing and why.
The other side of this idea is knowing your enemy well enough so that they don't surprise or overwhelm you: the best way to overcome an obstacle is being prepared for it. You need to know exactly what you're dealing with before you can come up with any kind of solution. This is especially important for adapting to a world that's always changing around you. If you're not sure what kind of situations you'll be dealing with, it's very difficult to know how to respond.
It's also necessary to pay attention to societal and cultural changes around you, so that they don't overwhelm or overtake you. People often say that if you understand the basics of the world, there are no real surprises: everything fits into a greater order and makes sense because of this order. When you're looking at history, the best way to look at it is in terms of cyclical patterns that repeat themselves over and over. This is also true for technology and society: when things are constantly changing, the only way to avoid being overwhelmed by them (and adapting too far in either direction) is knowing what they ultimately lead to, so you know where they came from.
This can come down to a variety of things: if you're religious it might mean understanding your faith to an almost-obsessive degree; if you're not religious it might mean understanding history and societal norms so well that you can see exactly how each situation will pan out. Either way, the idea is to pay attention to trends and patterns and be able to tell when something is going to happen again. The best way for a person to predict the future is knowing how the world works as a whole: if you know this then any change you see will make sense in context because it'll be part of a larger scheme.
Thus we can now return back to adaptability. Adaptation doesn't have to mean changing every little thing about yourself at once, but it does mean knowing your weaknesses and understanding what changes need making at any given moment. If you know these things you can adapt in real time – no matter what kind of situation comes your way – without losing yourself or falling behind.
Conclusion
Adapting is a difficult process, but it's also a necessary one. We have to constantly change if we want to grow and avoid getting overwhelmed by circumstances. If you're willing to adapt, you'll be able to overcome almost anything and come out stronger than ever.
When you can adapt, you can overcome any obstacle – no matter where it came from – because you'll be able to understand exactly how it fits into the larger scheme of things and how it will eventually pass on. But when you're unwilling or unable to adapt, your own weaknesses will become overwhelming obstacles that prevent you from growing stronger or moving forward in life.