How Does Heraclitus Change

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Heraclitus was a member of a wealthy aristocratic family, but he refused to be submissive to such a lifestyle and became disillusioned to the society he lived in. This made him flee to live in the mountains. It was here that Heraclitus came to discover/believe that the universe was moderated by a divine logos (logic/reason). Heraclitus noted that the logos kept the universe within perfect balance between opposites, such as day and night, hot and cold, or wet and dry. The reformations made Heraclitus conclude that everything is in a constant state of flux (all things change, except change itself), and that this flux is the fundamental Arche (reality/beginning) of the cosmos. …show more content…
He says that, "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." (p.34). This demonstrates that the very second one steps into any river, the flowing water is displaced and new water takes over, reforming the river permanently. The example also expresses how a person is also in a constant state of changing. The person ages, the person's physical and biological structure changes, and so on. These unpredictable and unavoidable reformations, ever so slightly makes the river and the person different from how they were in the past. Thus, the person and the river are not the same and the person is not really stepping into the same river for a second time. This shows Heraclitus's belief that everything is consistently reforming and that the flux of all things is the single fundamental law of the