This reading describes three ways you meet reality and change. First, you may crash into reality through your own choices, when denial, distraction, or overconfidence collide with facts. Second, reality can crash into you through forces beyond your control, such as illness, accidents, or economic decline. Third, you can choose to participate in reality, working with its patterns instead of fighting them.

In the first scenario, suffering is largely preventable: ignoring limits, warning signs, or feedback leads to painful, humbling collisions. In the second, you may act responsibly and still face loss, discovering that control is always partial. M. Scott Peck calls it emotional sickness to avoid reality at any cost, and emotional health to face reality at any cost.

Participation means learning the rhythm of events and moving with them, like an eagle riding air currents or a surfer balancing on a wave. You do not try to dominate life, but to see clearly when to act, when to wait, and when to adapt. By practicing honest contact with what is happening now, you build resilience and give change a healthier direction.