Impermanence

"Impermanence" is the name of this blog because this ancient principle is worthy of contemplation. There used to be a different blog title and description here, but now it's gone. This picture used to look exactly like me, but now now. We remember Heraclitus couldn't step into the same stream twice, but we forget his name: Ηράκλειτος. China's "I Ching" 易 經 Book of Changes is an ancient classic, but even before that, Sanskrit already had a word for the principle of impermanence: अनित्य

used to be me

used to be me
the golden age: 1.618 years old

10/21/09

Greek and Sanskrit, oh my!

The day after I started this blog, I got some friendly feedback that my use of Greek and Sanskrit letters in the header was obscure and maybe pretentious. Ironic. "I strive for simplicity and clarity" - that exact phrase is actually on my resume.

I claim no classical scholarship. My resume's education section declares I am an autodidact, which is a fancy way of admitting that my teacher was ignorant but curious. If I sound like a polymath, it is only because I ask so many questions, I'm bound to remember some of the more beautiful answers. But like the game where the child keeps asking "why" after every partial answer, answers soon run into the dead zone of human ignorance.

The big questions remain unanswered. I can't even prove whether reality is really real or just some simulation, nor whether that distinction is ultimately useful. I can't define "consciousness" in a way where I feel complete about it. I can't even remember the exact same thing twice.

The principle of impermanence means my brain is measurably different at the atomic level moment to moment. Memory is the partial recreation of a complex mental state, and no two mental states can be identical. It is well known that most people have some important memories that have degenerated into utter confabulations, yet the people remain convinced they are remembering correctly, even when shown contradictory journals in their own handwriting.  

I love the look and feel of these beautiful Greek and Sanskrit letters. I am an amateur who plays with metaphor, and these letters are also germane. I play with the idea that Heraclitus, who is still famous for his doctrine of "change is central to the universe", is no longer recognized by his own actual name: Ηράκλειτος. I play with an ancient and beautiful language that has mostly died out after being perhaps the first to label impermanence a fundamental principle: अनित्य

If you read my header again, visualize me laughing at the irony of it all, and at the same time, crying over the tragic impermanence of our individual human existences.

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