The other morning I was listening to the radio and heard Kinky Friedman asking Don Imus if he had ever heard of Heraclitus. Imus said no. I would have answered the same. Kinky then paraphrased what Heraclitus said: A man can’t step into the same river twice. Because the river changes. And so does the man.
Thanks to the internet, I was able to learn that Heraclitus lived from 535 to 475 BC, in Ephesus, somewhere near what is now Turkey. According to the internet, the exact quote is: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
Both the paraphrased saying and the actual quote make the same point. It’s the same reason you “can’t go home again” – you can’t go back in time because, as Heraclitus said, “everything flows.”
I recall a saying from my youth: Life can only be understood backwards; unfortunately it must be lived forward.
Maybe that’s why anticipation is 90% of the fun and when the event finally arrives, it usually doesn’t live up to its billing.
Okay, I have to admit this is all a little too deep for me. I guess I’d have difficulty making a living as a philosopher. But then again, aren’t we all philosophers, even though no one employs us as such? We all have our own unique philosophy of life.
But back to Heraclitus’ statement. It’s probably more theoretical than practical. Of course you can step into the same river and of course, your DNA does not change. It’s like the physics theory that you could never reach the wall across the room because before you do, you have to travel half way, then half way again, etc., so you can never actually get there. But in reality, your face bumps into the wall even though you theoretically haven’t reached it.
I just returned from a vacation at a beach I’ve been visiting every year since my age was measured in single digits. The people have changed; the buildings have changed; but the sun still sets over the surf, and the sand and water still feel glorious, refreshing and relaxing. It was actually a better vacation than I anticipated.
So, even though, as Heraclitus pointed out, I’ve changed, maybe change isn’t such a bad thing after all.
