“I have explored myself,” says Heraclitus, who was no one’s student. He searched for the truth about life deep within his mind, carefully examined the data given to him by his five senses, and recorded his findings, in his own special way that resembles no other.
1. “Self-control is the most important virtue, and wisdom is to speak the truth and act in accordance with nature, after gaining a deep knowledge of it.”
“What is my place in the system I live in, what are my special characteristics, how do I resemble and how do I differ from others around me? What do I consider important, what leaves me indifferent, what amuses me, and what makes me hurt?” The answers to these and similar questions reveal “who I am.” Not what I like to show, but what I really am. Accepting the truth is the first big step.
Of course, by discovering myself, I do not solve the mysteries of the world, I do not give answers to questions that concern all people. I simply recognize a part of the whole, me. How does this help me to understand the whole, that is, to become understood and to understand what is happening around me?
2. “Those things that the Word reveals they do not understand when they come across them by chance, nor do they learn them when someone teaches them, but they think they know them.”
According to Heraclitus, there is a regulating factor of the world, a common intellectual path on which we all walk, despite our particularities and our different destinations. If we ignore its existence, we walk outside the path, we go around ourselves without ever going anywhere. This, let’s say, intellectual Principle is the same for all people, wherever and however they live, and it is called the Word.
Heraclitus did not use to give definitions, and so he does not give us an analytical description of the Speech-Word. But he gives us signs and guides us in the search. Before we see these signs, we can learn a lot from the very word he uses to name this Principle. For, Logos is a word that carries many meanings. And when it is joined with other words, these meanings multiply.
3. Listen, speak, judge and think
Speech-Word is words, what we say and what we write to communicate with others. And when I talk to someone else, I engage in dialogue, while in everything I say there is a counter-speech. So we discover the rules of common speech by discussing and listening or reading.
Speech-Word is also calculation, what we today call analogy. An analogy allows me to compare two opinions or two situations, to find similarities and differences, and thus to make an assessment, to judge. This process forces me to reflect.
Speech-Word is also called the cause. When we say “why did he speak to me like that?” we wonder about the cause. The search for the cause behind the events and intentions helps us to have a clear picture of what is happening around us, and of course it is part of the previous process, reasoning.
Speech-Word is also called logic, which is ultimately what is sought. The purpose is to recognize the logical connection of things, so that we do not wallow in fantasies that are of no use. When Heraclitus urges us to keep pace with the universal Reason, he urges us to become logical. Not to let the irrational guide us, but to form a well-founded opinion.
4. How can one know exactly what the Speech-Word reveals?
Heraclitus says that, potentially, we all have access to it. But as you will see later, in reality, only those who are willing to explore themselves and their environment can discover it. People do not understand the Logos because “each one lives as if he had his own opinion,” indifferent to the whole to which he belongs. But he who is willing to make this exploration (because only in this way is the Logos learned), will have to accept certain truths, which we often prefer not to think about.
5. “No one can step into the same river twice”
Let’s not get trapped in an illusion of stability. We create this illusion because we don’t see the constant changes that everything around us is subject to. Consider the surprise when you meet a childhood friend who is now middle-aged. You have also gone through the same time, and yet, as if you expected to see him as you left him and you wonder “but how did he grow up so much?” And then you are overwhelmed by this deep melancholy and the question “how much better it was in the past”, “how quickly time passes”, “where are the good old days” and other such sorrows.
This happens because we do not remind ourselves that no one stays the same, neither physically nor mentally nor intellectually. Your childhood friend will always be the same person, with the same name, but every moment that passes he is shaped into a different person. And of course, the same is true for you and me. This constant modification of people, circumstances, and the natural world around us is largely independent of us. Demanding complete control over everything or being terrified by every change we see are sources of unnecessary anxiety.
6. “Justice is a conflict and everything is shaped by conflict and necessity”
This conflict occurs between opposing elements, it is what causes the eternal change in the world and through it the balance is maintained. The apparent peace hides deep down a war that never stops and in which neither of the opposing forces ultimately prevails. Because, if one of the two were to prevail, the world would collapse. This is how human society works, and if Heraclitus is right, then a world without conflicts and unrest, in a state of absolute peace is not possible. If we have placed our hopes in such a development, time will disappoint us.
Of course, somewhere deep in our minds we know this, but we need to believe that there is a way to escape from the annoying tensions in various areas. It is time to focus on how to manage them instead of just begging them to disappear. Heraclitus did not believe that some positive energy or some deity would come to save us from difficulties.
“God for man is his morality,” he said, because he was convinced that this universal regulatory Authority, the Speech-Word, will certainly take care to balance a situation that disrupts order, but it is not certain that the solution it provides will please you. Because, for God (as Heraclitus understands him) “everything is good and beautiful and just, but people perceive some as unjust and some as just.”
7. “They are unable to observe what happens while they are awake, just as they forget the dreams they see when they are asleep.”
In another passage, Heraclitus says that when we are awake we are all under the same law, that is, we share a state common to all, while when we sleep, each one is immersed in a world exclusively his own. No one can share the same dream with us, is that right? During the day, however, such absolute isolation is not possible. Therefore, because, whether we want it or not, we all share our common world, we have the opportunity to conceive of our common Word, which is the ultimate goal. How?
Heraclitus does not propose any method of meditation or prayer. To be honest, he does not propose anything. He only notes that the only means at our disposal to approach the immaterial Word are our senses. Everything we touch, everything we hear, smell, taste, but especially everything we see gives us information about our environment. And each such information contains a little of the knowledge we need to understand the Word. It is enough to realize even for a little while what our senses perceive, because in this way we regularly train our logical faculty.
8. Capture every little moment of your life
Think about how much time we spend every day automatically repeating some everyday movements, without realizing what we are doing. Every time you wonder if you locked the door when you left the house, it is because at the time you locked it you were not participating in this action consciously. You were looking, but you did not see the hand locking the door.
This automation does not allow us to study every new information that appears. We close ourselves off in an internal, solitary world, like the one we live in while we sleep. If you try to make it a habit to stop now and then, for even a few seconds, to observe yourself, the houses and trees on the route you take every day, the details in the room where you work, the other people around you, you will notice a lot of things that you had missed.
Just a few seconds, two or three times a day if you strive to do this, it will slowly become a habit. This is a way to consciously cooperate with our senses, so that we keep up with what is happening, what is changing around us and learn from them. Just as our body is trained to move respecting natural laws, so too is our mind, through the senses, trained to function in harmony with the Word.
9. “This world, which is the same for all, was not created by any of the gods or men, but was, is and will always be an eternal fire, which lights up and goes out in moderation.”
What is this Word after all? It is the law that governs the world. It is not a god-person, it does not create anything, it does not intervene on our behalf. It regulates, but does not determine. It is like the conductor of an orchestra, who has neither written the music nor played any instrument himself. He only takes care of the harmonious performance of the piece.
You and I are members of the orchestra, we play the instrument that we choose, we study the piece, but, if we want the music we produce to blend harmoniously with the music of others, we must recognize the importance of the conductor’s movements. Outside an orchestra we can play our own music as we please, but with a single instrument we will never achieve the full effect of an orchestra.
Whether our life bogs down in the boredom of everyday life or becomes more interesting and satisfying every day depends on us. The laws of the world do not change. We must harmonize with them.
Heraclitus
Heraclitus lived for 60 years, all in his homeland of Ephesus, a city on the coast of Asia Minor, which was then inhabited by Greeks. At the end of the 6th century, the city was under Persian occupation, but it maintained a relative autonomy. Although of aristocratic origin (he was a descendant of the founder of Ephesus), he did not seek the rich and glorious life that his origin ensured, but preferred isolation and contemplation.
He remained in history as the dark philosopher, who deliberately formulated his thoughts in vague terms, so that only the few, the chosen ones, could understand him. Perhaps, however, he did so because he knew that only those who want to learn learn, and that someone learns best what they discover for themselves. As a wise teacher, he showed us where to dig to find the treasure he first discovered.
