Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Panta Rhei ... Everything flows

I know for certain that Heraclitus, the Greek Philosopher, who lived between 535 and 475 BCE
never had a chance to visit Algonquin Park.
And yet he claimed that "Everything flows" and that "No man ever steps in the same river twice".
Although "Heri", as his friends called him, or "Clitus", as his rivals referred to him deprecatingly,  was not referring just to a river, or any other body of water, but to all things on earth.
When he said: "Panta Rhei" he spoke of life and existence, which, forever changing, confronts man always with a new world, a new Universe, yes, a new life.
Had he been lucky enough to visit Algonquin Park and Arowhon Pines, he might have added "Eureka" to his pithy sayings.(as it was, he had to leave this one to another Greek) as he stood at the edge of the new dock,
(in his time the dock was brand new) marveling at the reflection of the partly rolled up sails, in the deep green water of "Little Joe Lake". He might have noticed that the reflection never stayed the same but changed constantly, timelessly. And since reflections are simply the mirror of  reality, he would have concluded that  reality is in constant change. Therefore: "Panta Rhei"... "Everything flows" ... and no man can ever dive from the same dock into the same Little Joe Lake twice.
Below here is the proof : Quod erat demonstrandum.


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