Nothing is Stable, All is in Flux
5 Quotes by Heraclitus that will immediately force you to think differently about your life
5 Quotes by Heraclitus that will immediately force you to think differently about your life
The majority of us have, at one point or another, felt as though life was rushing by. We have, also, at some point or another looked around and realized that life was ever changing, that it was, if you will, in flux.
This is what the early (535 BC) Greek philosopher Heraclitus thought. Most people who have heard of Heraclitus know him through his famous quote, “No man ever steps in the same river twice.”
Unfortunately for us, Heraclitus’s single work, On Nature, only remains in fragments. But even through these fragments, we can see an amazing mind at work, one that cared more about the individual recognizing the paradoxes of life, the nature of things, and the ever changing or “becoming” of the world, hence, his “No man ever steps in the same river twice” metaphor.
Unlike Lucretius’s own work, On the Nature of Things, which spoke of the world being comprised of atoms, Heraclitus’s work, or what remains of it, was focused on the individual and their thoughts. In describing the style of Heraclitus’s work, James Hillman has referred to the declarations as being “self-contradictory, relative, subjective.”
Heraclitus’s name for this ‘all things change, all things flow’ approach, or “flux” if you will, was “fire,” which Hillman describes as “a metaphor for the shifting meaning of all truth. Therefore, the verbal count, or logos, of the world is also fire. Truth, wisdom, knowledge, reality — none can stand apart from this fire that allows no objective fixity.”
Heraclitus also believed, as you will see, in the “unity of opposites.” While Heraclitus’s fragments may, at times, seem confusing or paradoxical, they should be pondered for a lifetime.
Here are five that you can immediately begin thinking about.
Wisdom Quote #1
Diogenes Laërtius once summarized Heraclitus’s philosophy as “All things come into being by conflict of opposites, and the sum of things (“the whole”) flows like a stream.” In other words, the world is in an utter state of change.
“For wisdom, listen
not to me but to the Word,
and know that all is one.”
“Word” here by Heraclitus means logos (λόγος) or reason. This was the pantheistic belief everything combines to form an all-encompassing divinity or god.
Wisdom Quote # 2
How often do we spend our time talking rather than listening and seeing?
“People dull theirs wits with gibberish,
and cannot use their ears and eyes.”
Drawing on inspiration from Heraclitus, the Stoic philosophy founder Zeno of Citium once stated, “We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.”
If we want to expand our knowledge, we have to learn that we need to listen more than we speak. We also need to see and analyze that which is before us rather than taking things on first impression.
Wisdom Quote # 3
Science is built around the concept of understanding the underlying principles to all things within life. We are curious creatures with consciousness — we are always searching for answers to the things around us.
“Things keep their secrets.”
If one takes a step back from things they know, they can begin to determine that they may in fact not know everything there is to know about the world. Attempting to discover the first principles of things in life is the goal of philosophy, learning how the world functions and how to live our best lives.
Wisdom Quote # 4
As conscious beings, we each have the tools we need to succeed in life, albeit some may have it better than others.
But we have the ability to ask questions, not just of the world, but also of ourselves. Self reflection is critical to growth.
“Applicants for wisdom
do what I have done:
inquire within.”
Similarly, Marcus Aurelius once wrote to himself in his Meditations, “Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.”
Wisdom Quote # 5
With the right tool, things that are opposites can actually become the same.
“Under the comb
the tangled and the straight path
are the same.”
Bonus Wisdom Quote
As reported by Plutarch, Heraclitus’s most famous line delves into the aspect that everything in life is constantly moving, always changing, and never truly stable.
Nature is always in the process of being born and while simultaneously being in a constant state of decay.
“It is not possible to step twice into the same river according to Heraclitus, or to come into contact twice with a mortal being in the same state.”
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