River of Time.
“Everything changes and nothing remains still … you cannot step twice into the same stream.”
“πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει … δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης.”
- Heraclitus’ reference from Plato’s Cratylus (paragraph 402, section a, line 8)
The first time I stepped into a river, I was a child. I didn’t know what I was doing, how to swim, or how to talk. I was just a boy who’d never seen rushing water before, having no clue of its profound analogy.
Quantum physics measures reality in units of energy, not solid particles of matter because, even on the most fundamental level, there exists countless degrees of appearance which are always in motion.
Nature never stops changing.
Everything around and within you is a process, vibrating through a universal manifold, causing ripples and waves like an eternal river….
Teleology is the study of phenomena in terms of non-linear dynamics; process and change; function and purpose.
When one thinks teleologically — in terms of process and change — philosophy and science can be bridged at the point of abstract behavior of thoughts and their purpose in the world.
The river analogy — that is, “reality as a process of constant change” — is both a spiritual and scientific idea, rooted in the assumption that unseen forces govern the world.
Looking at the river analogy from my perspective, I see it as a soapbox for more important meta-scientific axioms:
Nothing is eternal except change.
Time, space, and matter are fluid: flowing, churning, reorganizing according to eternal law.
Change is time: It’s the key to existence, as without it, nothing would ever happen.
Time is everything: It’s the nature of reality, the canvas where perceptions can become fixed.
