By Adam Phillps
Interpreter: Ashkan Beheshti
This article explores the complex and often paradoxical human relationship with change. It argues that while we are constantly changing, we are also driven to actively design the changes we desire.
The author traces how the concept of profound personal transformation, once epitomized by religious “conversion,” has evolved in the modern era into a series of psychological “cures” and therapeutic approaches. The piece draws on thinkers like Freud and William James to illustrate how psychoanalysis and pragmatism both work to overcome stagnation and empower the individual to see change as a deliberate choice rather than an unavoidable fate.
The central idea is that our understanding of what change is, and why we want it, is itself always in flux.
To read the original article, please change the language of the page to Persian.
