“You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you.” I’ve heard a few variations of this great quote, and wanted to know who was responsible for it. Funny how we can say something without always thinking where it comes from. And that’s what I’ve done with this one, until now. Turns out we have Greek philosopher Heraclitus to thank. Living from 540 BC – 480 BC, he was apparently “known for his doctrine of change being central to the universe.”
Knowing this makes his river quote just really sound like something he would say, makes him more familiar in a way, like someone we actually knew. And not some guy who lived 2,500 years ago that we never met. But then again maybe we have, for don’t we in some way come to know, or feel we know, those who have come before us through the words they’ve left behind for us?
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And so Heraclitus shared his words of wisdom about change. After taking a first step into a river, even in just the briefest moment it takes to bring your rear foot forward, new water has continued to flow on by, and the banks have altered ever so slightly. While the changes may be incredibly subtle, the river is not the same it was when your front foot took its first step. I’ve always liked that idea, that reality I guess.
While a metaphor for the constant of change, for some reason what strikes me today is more the dichotomy between this ever-changing river analogy and that which never seems to change. Or if it does, it does so slightly and so slowly that we aren’t personally aware of it. Obviously I know that changes are happening to the moon or the stars or the sun…how strange and eerie and unimaginable to think that one day the sun will burn out and shine no more. But when I look up at the sky, especially the night sky with its glowing moon and twinkling stars, it may as well be the sky my ancestors saw, that people have been seeing since they first looked up. The same man in the moon has been watching us all since time immemorial.
A link to our past, and a link to our future when people not yet born, will look up and see the same North Star, much the same Big and Little Dippers, the same far off companions we now see. We will be gone one day, gone at least from walking this earth. But I take some solace in knowing that just as the rivers flow and ever change, some things feel like they will never change. Even after I have long moved on, they will still be known as I know them now. How lucky are we? Here for a time to be a part of it all, a step at a time.
