• Repetition is a Form of Change

    by Alexander Becker on October 05, 2006 | Link

    Nothing ever repeats exactly the same way it happens the first time. The surest way to change a situation is to attempt to recreate a previous one. Willie Tyler, the ventriloquist, captures the beauty of the theory --

    The reason lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place is that the same place isn't there the second time.

    Why is repetition change? Why is repetition not performing a perfect copy?

    By its very nature:

    • Repetition cannot take place at the same time as the original action.
    • Repetition is deliberate and introduces different circumstances.
    • Repetition remains static while everything else evolves over time.
    • Repetition has to follow and preserve the form, style, or shape of the initial action as close as possible.

    Repetition modifies the original action, it is a form of observation and changes the subject being observed simply by drawing attention to it.

    In order to repeat an action, to start all over, you have to end the initial occurrence, you introduce a change of state simply by preparing the repetition. Repetition changes the nature of the original, the singular action.

    Repetition becomes part of the action itself -- introducing an infinite loop. This suggests to not even trying to exactly reproduce a given situation since you won't be able to get out of it.

    Naturally, and with far less serious implications than those of an infinite loop, the repetition substitutes the original, unreachable action.

    While it is true that you learn best through continuous repetition until you achieve excellence in your field, there will never be any true mastery if you exactly repeat your exercise every time, over and over. Compare the changes across repetitions in order to determine progress and to evolve through the resulting feedback.

    Good or bad: You cannot reproduce any one thing with absolute accuracy. Repetition is always a function and an expression of evolution. While repetition attempts to imitate itself, change is introduced through the process of passing from one state to another over time. Repetition does not mean to do again but instead to do -- better or worse.

    Repetition is the most elaborate form of change.

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