"Life is like dancing. If we have a big floor, many people will dance. Some will get angry when the rhythm changes. But life is changing all the time"
About this Quote
Ruiz sneaks a social critique into an easy metaphor: the dance floor looks democratic, but the minute the music shifts, you find out who was there for the movement and who was there for control. “If we have a big floor, many people will dance” flatters our optimism about opportunity: make space, invite participation, watch life fill up. Then he pivots. The conflict isn’t scarcity or exclusion; it’s adaptation. People don’t just dislike change, they take it personally, as if a new rhythm is an accusation.
That’s the subtext: we narrate our preferences as principles. When the tempo changes, the angry dancer can claim the problem is the DJ, the crowd, the “new” culture. Ruiz implies the real discomfort is interior. You can’t keep dancing without surrendering the fantasy that your timing is the timing. The line “life is changing all the time” lands like a gentle rebuke, but it’s also a permission slip: you’re allowed to miss steps, to look awkward, to learn again.
Context matters here. Ruiz’s work (often adjacent to Toltec-inspired self-help) aims to translate spiritual practice into everyday behavior, and dance is a deliberately non-academic image: embodied, communal, impossible to “win.” The intent is less to romanticize change than to normalize it, while quietly diagnosing a modern pathology: we treat stability as a moral right, then weaponize our frustration when reality refuses to keep a steady beat.
That’s the subtext: we narrate our preferences as principles. When the tempo changes, the angry dancer can claim the problem is the DJ, the crowd, the “new” culture. Ruiz implies the real discomfort is interior. You can’t keep dancing without surrendering the fantasy that your timing is the timing. The line “life is changing all the time” lands like a gentle rebuke, but it’s also a permission slip: you’re allowed to miss steps, to look awkward, to learn again.
Context matters here. Ruiz’s work (often adjacent to Toltec-inspired self-help) aims to translate spiritual practice into everyday behavior, and dance is a deliberately non-academic image: embodied, communal, impossible to “win.” The intent is less to romanticize change than to normalize it, while quietly diagnosing a modern pathology: we treat stability as a moral right, then weaponize our frustration when reality refuses to keep a steady beat.
Quote Details
| Topic | Embrace Change |
|---|
More Quotes by Miguel
Add to List
