The River Flows

The River Flows

Every now and again I'll find myself running across a phrase or possibly a quotation in something I'm reading that will begin to spark the hidden philosopher in me. Not too often, but once in a while it'll hit me in my sweet spot and start the old synapses firing.

Most of the time I'm pretty prosaic and down-to-earth and try not to second guess the universe as it flows past me. Things are as they are and most processes and situations generally have their own inertia about them and tend to go on being what they are. Habits become ingrained and my mind starts to become dull. However, once in a while, as I said before, I'll see something that rings so true that it pulls the veil from the eyes of my everyday life and makes me say, “ Of course! That's so true! How could I have been so blind!”

Perhaps if I'd studied philosophy as a younger man these occasionally uncovered gems might not be as enlightening or surprising. But my education in that area is sadly lacking, so when I do discover those ideas they are as refreshing as a cool rain shower on a hot July afternoon.

Tonight I ran across another one.

Way back in the Golden Age of Greece there was this gentleman by the name of Heraclitis. The history books say he lived from 535 BC to 475 BC. (And, as an aside, don't you wish the years of your life were counting down instead of up?) Anyhow, he was a famous Greek philosopher who was known for his doctrine of change being central to the universe.

Sort of an early-day Einstein stating a counterpoint to his explanation that all things are relative.

The quote of Heraclitis' that I ran across tonight was, “No man ever steps into the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.”

Something to really reflect on, isn't it? Not only do all things change in the outer world, but you yourself change day by day, hour by hour. You're not the same person who you were this morning. Not only physically, but mentally also – maybe even more so mentally.

Each day we learn. We discover new things. Our minds can change. We may find out that things that we accepted as true or which we thought were “set in stone” are not necessarily so. We might now even be willing to accept that those things might now be polar opposites of what we used to think! And whether we accept it or not, the world does moves on and does carry us, willingly or unwillingly, to wherever it's heading. Perhaps it might not be as apparent on a day-to-day basis, but think back to last year, or five years ago.

Or ten.

Is the world the same as it was then? Are you? If you're not living with blinders on you have to respond in the negative. Things change. Always and forever.

Look at a photo of yourself from a decade ago. Now look in the mirror. If you see the same face looking back at you, you better make an appointment with your optometrist! That fact may make you sad or may make you happy but it should always be apparent.

It's phenomenally easy to fall into a rut and think that life is same-o, same-o. You go to work, eat, sleep, etc., etc. You see generally the same people, the same faces, the same tasks placed before you. It may be the habit that humans are best in – falling into ruts and making them deeper and deeper until they're too high to see out of.

But same-o, same-o is not reality.

As an example, consider this:

I work at a job that requires me to watch a monitor which displays the condition of a group of public water systems. The levels of their water towers, the speed of water being pumped out of their pumps and into those towers, the amount of chlorine being injected into each of the water systems to make the water safe, the water flowing out of the towers as demand increases. When I'm training a new operator in this particular job I always make sure to tell them to look at the monitor right then and take notice of it. And I then tell them that they will never see it look the same again. Never. The reason for this is that the display shows a snapshot of a dynamic system. Not a static system. A dynamic system is always changing and is never the same.

I guess you could compare life to that dynamic display I watch five days a week. I've monitored it for almost 12 years now and have never seen it showing the same screen. Never. There is always something different. Something is always moving up or moving down. The gallons-per-minute displays are always moving – a little faster now, a little slower later.

We even used to play a game where we would watch to see if ever three certain towers might be at the same level at the same time.

I saw it happen once for about 5 minutes.

In 12 years.

But everything else on the screen was different.

I guess the parallels with the world and yourself as compared to my microcosmic world of county water systems are pretty evident. Life is a dynamic system, not a static one.

It might even be like taking a rifle shot at a moving target from a moving train during a heavy wind on uneven terrain. In the dark. That particular shot will never present itself the same again.

So when you wake up tomorrow, take a good look around. Take a mental picture of your world and put it in your mental box of keepsakes. Because when you wake up the next day the world and YOU will no longer be the same.

The river and you will have moved.

For better or for worse...