Nonchange is the background, as it were against which change is made possible.
For in regard to any change there must be some fixed point to which the change can be referred;
otherwise there can be no definite order and everything is dissolved in chaotic movement.
This point of reference must be established, and this always requires a choice and a decision.
It makes possible a system of co-ordination into which everything else can be fitted. Consequently at the beginning of the world, as at the beginning of thought, there is the decision, the fixing point of the reference.
Theoretically any point of reference is possible, but experience teaches that at the dawn of consciousness one stands already inclosed within the definite, prepotent systems of relationships.
The problem then is to choose one's point of reference for cosmic events.
For only then can the world created by one's decision escape being dashed to pieces against prepotent systems of relationships with which it would otherwise come into conflict.
Obviously the premise for such a decision is the belief that in the last analysis the world is a system of homogeneous relationships - that it is a cosmos, not a chaos.
This belief is the foundation of Chinese philosophy, as of all philosophy.
The ultimate frame of reference for all that changes is the nonchanging.
不变是背景，相对于这个背景，变化才有参照点。因为对于任何改变，必须有一些不动点用来参考；否则，就不可能有明确的秩序，一切都在混乱的运动中。因此，必须确立这一参照点。使其他一切都能融入到一个协调体系成为可能。
因此，在世界的开始，在思想的开始，是一个不变的参照点。虽然从理论上讲，任何参照点都可以是参照点，但经验告诉我们，在意识的黎明，一个人接近于这个确定的、超绝的系统关系。
因此，一个人要选择对宇宙事件的参照点。因为只有这样，由一个人所创造的世界才能避免被支离破碎，避免背离这个超绝的系统关系，不然就会在内心产生冲突。
显然，这样一个认识的前提是，相信世界是一个同质关系系统，世界是一个有序的宇宙，而不是一种混乱。这种信念是中国哲学的基础，也是所有哲学的基础。对于所有变化的最终参照框架是Nonchanging，不变。
