Arguing Against Progress

     There are many things that I am afraid of - one of the more curricular ones is the quasi-inevitable heath-death of this field. Sarcasm and hyperbole aside, the lack of forward development in the field is of huge concern. What does a lack of change really mean? It means that the answers have been found and/or no one cares anymore. A good parallel is language: language develops until another is created from its ruin or something better or more efficient takes its place. I do worry about this because I don't see as many people asking the important questions in the field and engaging in deep introspection and supervision, in order to develop themselves. This baffles and hurts me. Without each member of our field asking questions that further themselves and the field as a whole, we will stagnate and possibly start to see what we have already accomplished as enough. This would surely be the death of the field. As our culture, society, and clientele change, so must we. One could say that culture, society, and clientele will always be changing, so the field will as well. The added component here must be pride. Man is full of pride (and laziness) in his work, wanting the effect to stop when homeostasis is reached. It is important to never feel lazy in this fight. To some degree, there should always be someone who is the nay-sayer or the devil's advocate; someone who is ready to push the envelope, point out the weaknesses, or instill doubt. One could almost say that we are not looking for a Unified Theory (as this would surely mean the end of the field), but rather the continued dialogue and struggle to find that within ourselves that helps another - and surely each of us can contribute something (a lesson, perhaps) that is wholly our own, wholly subjective.
     To argue is to seek continued survival; to find perfection is to encourage death. This is odd, in that one could think that I am purposefully undermining a perfect theory - but that is the exact problem: there is no perfect theory! We each must continually question how we practice in order to be better ourselves.