Do you ever have the sense of déjà vu, the feeling of having lived through this present moment before?
The ancient philosopher, Heraclitus, wrote:
“No man ever steps into the same river twice.”
A profound observation about change and impermanence.
And in our lives, we sense the flow and movement that time brings. We are not the same as we were yesterday, last year or ten years ago.
However, back to Heraclitus, it is the same man and river.
This is a glorious paradox, but not one we need to solve. Instead, we are invited to enter the mystery of life. Or, as T S Eliot wrote in his poem Little Giddings, from Four Quartets:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
Welcome to the circularity of life.
Pause. See differently. Re-story 🌿
This week
A sense of movement, accompanied by poems, including a further one below.
- Monday: Being ready for the shift… (poem)
- Tuesday: Being accompanied in this moment (poem)
- Wednesday: On being surprised by joy
- Thursday: What is the shape of water?
- Friday: What might we see through the other’s eyes? (poem)
A Few Good Words
COMING TO REST
When the striving of spring and
restlessness of summer has ceased,
there’s a place we approach
finally at rest in who we are
and why we are here.Finding the familiar
yet unknown space
we know is ours.Knowing that acceptance
marks the gate,
and welcome the door.Where we can remove
our coat and
take off our shoes.We have no more need
of outer garments.We are home.
+ Sue Heatherington