Explication 1: Heraclitus

The assignment: read the following Heraclitus fragments and write a near 500-word paper answering the following question.

•                         What does "logos" mean for Heraclitus?

The Fragments:

• "Although this logos holds always humans prove unable to understand it both before hearing it and when they have first heard it. For although all things come to be [or happen] in accordance with this logos, humans are like the inexperienced when when they experience such words and deeds as I set out, distinguishing each thing in accordance with its nature and saying how it is. But other people fail to notice what they do when awake, just as they forget what they do while asleep." (1)
• "For this reason it is necessary to follow what is common. But although the logos is common, most people live as if they had their own private understanding." (2)
• "Listening not to me, but to the logos, it is wise to agree that all things are one." (11)
• "Uncomprehending when having heard, they are like the deaf. The saying describes them: being present they are absent." (15)
• "Thinking is common to all." (17)
• "For the waking there is one common world. but when asleep each person turns away to a private one." (20)
• "Those who speak with understanding must rely firmly on what is common to all as a city must rely on law, and much more firmly. For all human laws are nourished by one law, the divine law; for it has as much power as it wishes and is sufficient for all and is still left over." (23)

heraclitus paper



To explain something so complex can be really difficult to do in only 500 words. I know it was for me, but that's all I could fit onto one page. Since I did such a poor job on my paper, I'd like to take some extra time now to explain it in more detail, because I think it's something worth talking about, and interesting, so why not spend some extra time on it?

Like I said before, my interpretation of the meaning of the word "logos" was influenced by my upbringing and my own personal philosophies. Without being too offensive, I'd like to hopefully more successfully explain how I came to some of my conclusions, fragment by fragment.

Fragment 23: This is what caught my attention most. So, Heraclitus mentions some "divine law", and I understood this to be directly referring to the "logos". So I thought to myself, "What could the divine law be?" Then I broke it down even further and focused on what "Divine" meant to me. Omnipotent, otherworldly, metaphysical. Ultimately, I hear "divine" and think "God" right off the bat. I read a lot of papers and books on the metaphysical, in which I firmly believe, which is why I thought he may be referring to one of the chief beliefs when it comes to the Noetic Sciences. Basically, we all have His divine power to influence the physical world around us through the power of shared, concentrated thought. That could be the naturally occurring law of the universe. I believe it to be true to some extent. As a quick example, in elementary school, for those of us who grew up in the Midwest, how many times was there a big assignment that NO ONE did, and everyone secretly wished for a random fog day cancellation, when heavy fog wasn't even in the weather forecast? My experience has been that if enough people wished it enough, it happened. Crazy. But, don't dismiss it before giving it some thought.

Fragment 11: If I could say something quickly and get it out of the way without being laughed at and still taken seriously to some degree, I read fragment 11, and what I actually hear in my head is:

• "I am he, as you are he, as you are me, and we are all together."

We all know John Lennon wasn't shy about his engaging in "mind-expanding" activities. All kidding aside, I believe that this "logos" is something we all subconsciously know is true, but not all of us have unlocked the information yet. I'm not sure how closely it's related to Carl Jung's work, but in my mind, it's the same sort of idea as the Theory of Archetypes. We need to not listen to his words, but listen to what is inside all of us and embrace it. Then, of course it would make perfect sense to all of us that we are all one and connected as a human race by an unbreakable band or mind link, or however you feel like looking at it. We then also share a relationship with anything and everything in the world around it, as we are the ones who shape and influence it both directly and Indirectly. 

Fragment 1: I believe this "logos" is something that has existed since the creation of the universe, and it always will, and there will never be anything more true or more beautiful than the fact that we all share this unbreakable bond. We don't all consciously know this, and most likely, when the idea is introduced, and individual will dismiss it for whatever reasons. I most commonly find it difficult to talk about with other Christians, understandably. To say that a human could be god-like will tend to flare some tensions and receive less than kind words. For those who don't realize, yes, they don't realize what they do or what they could do. That seemed redundant. Sorry.

Fragments 2, 17, and 20: To avoid saying the same thing over again, I've lumped these three fragments together here, because that's what I did in my head. We all have the ability to think, therefore we all have the divine ability to create. This is something beautiful that we all share, yet people are still living lonely lives. On another unrelated note, I'd like to say quickly, that if so many people live lonely lives, are they not together in that? That seems extremely profound to me...."where do they all come from"?

Fragment 15: Finally. This one I thought was really interesting, and it evoked a lot of thinking from me. What I took it to mean, is that people listen without really hearing. And to the people that don't hear, they are physically present in the world. They were conceived, they exist, there's no getting around it. But, without embracing our God-given abilities, they are not actively participating in our vast, and still growing world, so they may as well not even be here. I don't personally believe that. I would never wish anyone out of existence. We all surely deserve to be here. I think that might be Heraclitus was saying.

That's all I have to say about that at the moment. I hope I was able to better explain my paper in more than 500 words. Definitely open to discussion, in fact, I welcome it.
Take care of yourselves, and of each other, guys. =)