The first sentence from the preface of the book:
“EVERY MOMENT IN BUSINESS happens only once. …” reminded me of that saying about the river, which I thought is a buddhistic piece of wisdom, but just found out it’s from the greek philosopher Heraclitus:
“No man ever steps in the same river twice.” or “You cannot step into the same river twice.”
The fragment “It is not possible to step twice into the same river” is often taken to be a statement of the first principle of Heraclitus’ physical theory of the universe. He disagreed with the Melisians and held that an answer to the question of a first principle was impossible as long as the one is taken to be a material thing. He has been represented as building his philosophy around the notion of change, but the extant fragments do not support this.
He sought to find the one behind the many and so to explain the multiplicity of the world. “If you are a monist,” he would say, “you deny change.” Is this logically possible? Heraclitus sought to unit these two by answering the question of “what is change?” His theory at first seems contradictory.
1. There is a first principle of all things. This is unity.
2. The senses tell us that everything is in constant flux or change. This is variety.
3. This problem is solved by understanding the unity of opposites, the interdependence of contraries, the harmony of strife.
For Heraclitus the answer was Eternal Fire. This is the synthesis that solves the whole problem. The many are the One. The One is the many. There is no dividing point.
Here is the official site: http://zerotoonebook.com/
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The first sentence from the preface of the book:
“EVERY MOMENT IN BUSINESS happens only once. …” reminded me of that saying about the river, which I thought is a buddhistic piece of wisdom, but just found out it’s from the greek philosopher Heraclitus:
“No man ever steps in the same river twice.” or “You cannot step into the same river twice.”
The fragment “It is not possible to step twice into the same river” is often taken to be a statement of the first principle of Heraclitus’ physical theory of the universe. He disagreed with the Melisians and held that an answer to the question of a first principle was impossible as long as the one is taken to be a material thing. He has been represented as building his philosophy around the notion of change, but the extant fragments do not support this.
He sought to find the one behind the many and so to explain the multiplicity of the world. “If you are a monist,” he would say, “you deny change.” Is this logically possible? Heraclitus sought to unit these two by answering the question of “what is change?” His theory at first seems contradictory.
1. There is a first principle of all things. This is unity.
2. The senses tell us that everything is in constant flux or change. This is variety.
3. This problem is solved by understanding the unity of opposites, the interdependence of contraries, the harmony of strife.
For Heraclitus the answer was Eternal Fire. This is the synthesis that solves the whole problem. The many are the One. The One is the many. There is no dividing point.