Heraclitus

Although the references to Heraclitus’ work were written thousands of years ago, his conception of nature is the same to those of modern ecology. On Friday we defined ecology as the “interactions of organisms in a shared environment” or a way of looking at the whole interconnected system, rather than just the individual parts of nature. In the context of that discussion, here are my reactions to the thoughts of Heraclitus.

194: When Heraclitus uses the word Logos, he is referring to a principle of order and knowledge. He believes that everything, and in this case nature, comes into being without the knowledge and understanding of humans. Everything is connected in a balanced system. In the context of a balanced ecosystem, many humans fail to realize what impact they are having on this balanced and connected system.

195: Although it is necessary for humans to view nature as a whole, or to acknowledge that it is a series of logical connections linking every entity to another, humans continue to live their lives as though they have a “private understanding” of what nature is and how they fit into nature.

196: If you take the time to observe nature and “listen” to it, you will realize that all things are connected and can be seen as one.

199: Nature is made so that everything has its place. We can think about the sea as a whole and then more specifically what makes up the sea and what is our place in the sea. For the fish the sea is pure because it provides life. However, for man the sea is “polluted” in a way that man cannot survive in the sea the way fish do. However, humans are still connected to the sea and still contribute to the sea as a whole.

201: The difficult things in life help us to appreciate the good things we have. Without suffering and pain we may not be able to appreciate fully a life of health and happiness.

207-209: Often times the obvious connection is not immediately apparent. If we must work hard to understand the connection between two things, we may be more likely to appreciate that connection. Things that come easily to us are not always appreciated to the same degree as when we must work harder to achieve that thing. If Heraclitus was known for having such convoluted teachings, maybe his goal was to force the reader to work hard to understand them so then perhaps they appreciate his teachings more. Similarly, some of the most important processes such as global warming are not obvious to the human understanding, yet may prove to be more important and vital to life than those connections that are more immediately obvious. Often times what we think of as nature is only touching the surface of what nature actually is and the rest of it is hidden from our understanding.

214: There is an ever-present change in the universe forbidding anything to remain the same. A river will still be a river the next day, but it will have changed and will have been impacted by everything else in nature. Since everything in nature is connected, what leaves the river becomes something else just as other elements are constantly added creating a new river.

Whether or not Heraclitus was referring to nature and ecosystems, his concepts are applicable to our studies today. He supports the notion that everything in nature is interconnected and so nature as a whole must be understood before its individual parts can be known.