The Greek Philosopher Who Laid The Foundation For Christianity And Stoicism
Here’s a hint: he’s grumpy and it’s not Socrates
Philosophy has a barrier. Or at least it seems that way when you go through its history and foundations within the Western world. You’ll usually see its Greek origins divided between the time before and after Socrates. Like before and after common era in our dates, but add a big “S” instead of an “AD,” or “BC.”
I was always told it’s set this way because Socrates was such a dynamic and influential character, he changed the nature of philosophy. But that explanation has unintended consequences. It makes you think those before were lesser, and philosophy begins after Socrates.
But what if I told you a Pre “S” philosopher had his writings stored in one of the ancient wonders of the world for posterity? The Temple of Artemis might have been the only place enormous enough to contain his larger-than-life ideas.
They inspired base principles of both Stoicism and Christianity
His thoughts from 500BC parallel Darwin, Nietzsche, and William James of our present age.
He intentionally made his work vague, like the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, so readers would be encouraged to think, not just repeat ideas of a chosen enlightened group.
To make this character even more unique, he became a total misanthrope, eventually moving away from a traditionally tight-knit Greek community to live by himself like a hermit. He also bashed every “wise” philosopher of his day.
Imagine a grouchy old man, yelling at kids to get off his lawn, while formulating the very nature of our universe, which he’d leave for later years as those children grew. As adults, those grown kids would realize the grouch had a point, and the words he yelled and left were actually pretty wise.
All this sums up Heraclitus of Ephesus. But to truly understand the magnitude of his thoughts, it’s best to navigate through his four base principles: Fire as the First Cause, change is eternal, the unity of opposites, and a reason for the whole (logos).
Fire As The First Cause
Joshua Mark at the World History Encyclopedia says the pre-Socratic philosophers all tried to find the First Cause for the creation of the world. While others said water or air, Heraclitus picked fire. After all, it can create and destroy.
But historian Will Durant in volume two of The Story of Civilization, says the philosopher’s choice of fire stretched far beyond the element we use to cook our food.
Durant says Heraclitus made no separation between fire, soul, and God. In fact, he describes fire as a sort of energy behind all things. It’s the energy within us.
Although things around you are always bound to change, the soul is immortal. It’s that fire or energy. All things can be a beginning and ending, particularly death, because our souls are made of that fire.
Since the fire never dies, it continuously consumes. Consequently, one day it will consume all things and proclaim a final judgement, separating the good and bad.
So, fire is inseparable from God. But it’s so much more than that, linking this energy with Heraclitus’ other principles.
Eternal Nature Of Change
Joshua Mark notes the philosopher is known for the idea of Panta Rhei, or “life is flux.” In Heraclitus’ obscure way he’s stating all things are similar in that they’re bound to change. He wouldn’t say things “are,” but are continually becoming something else.
The philosopher is also credited with saying, “It is not possible to step twice into the same river.”
According to Durant, this makes perfect sense. Look at fire. The flame continually dances and changes shape — either rising and consuming, or declining and softening. The energy continually changes. As do we.
The father of psychology — and philosopher in his own right — William James mentioned something similar. He believed the universe to be “unfinished.” In other words, there are so many “crosscurrents” of influence touching each other, so the universe can’t be complete or fated.
But while Heraclitus relays change as a constant, there’s also another — conflict. However, this is a positive thing
The Unity of Opposites
“Strife is the father of all and king of all. Some he has marked out to be gods and some to be men…In the end, strife is justice. The competition of individuals, groups, species, institutions, and empires constitutes nature’s Supreme Court, from who’s verdict there is no appeal.”
— Will Durant, The Story of Civilization, Volume Two
In his best “get off my lawn” posture, our grumpy genius points out those who want peaceful lives with no stress are idiots. Durant explains Heraclitus sees harmony as “tension where neither element definitely wins,” not the end of disagreement.
The strife caused by disagreement forces the proponents to better their argument, selves, or products within the competition. Heraclitus explains both the bow and harp display this. Without the tension of pulling on their string, you get nothing useful out of the item.
The very world you see around you is a continuous struggle.
Animal versus animal
Man versus woman
Religion against religion
Ideas battle with ideas
Social classes push against each other, nation-states as well
As these struggles continue, it forces all to become better, or at least to strive to become better. It’s the universe’s version of that Greek staple: the Olympics. Surprisingly, the ancient thought also sounds a lot like Darwin. But it goes beyond this.
Without strife, we can’t be complete. In fact, it’s better in life if you don’t get all you wish. Illness makes good health more appreciated, evil makes good more wonderful, and without work, rest would be boring, not relaxing.
Our favorite grumpy philosopher isn’t done yet though. All these elements need to link together.
A Reason For The Whole
I’d mentioned earlier Heraclitus talked about fire eventually consuming all things. Sounds terrifying, doesn’t it? But not in his view. When we think of fire, we think of a chaotic inferno engulfing something and destroying it.
Heraclitus sees order in this fire. If we could study this energy behind all things and come to understand it, we’d see an unbiased natural order everywhere. It’s a reason, a word, or a logos.
However, our grumpy sage thinks we should do more than notice it. We should adopt this reason as our own. Durant sums it up neatly, saying:
“We should try and mold our lives into accord with this way of nature. This law of the universe…this orderly energy, which is God.”
This whole concept of a divine word or reason behind all things sounds a bit familiar, doesn’t it? Then again, I’m sure many of Heraclitus’ ideas do. There’s a good reason for this.
Heraclitus’ Wide-Reaching Legacy
There are events in history I’d pay a lot to see. One of these would be watching someone explain to Heraclitus that current historians consider him lumped into a grey category of “Pre-Socratic.” One could only imagine what the crotchety thinker would say.
I’d put my money on him shaking his fist and claiming it was B.S. This wouldn’t be an obscure reference to “Before Socrates” either.
While most philosophy books tend to brush over Heraclitus, his ideas left a profound legacy within the thoughts of the Western world. You can see it many places.
Mark points to his influence over both Plato and Aristotle, but Durant sees the ancient thinker’s ideas incorporated far into the future.
The historian finds the idea of the divine fire and obedience to nature within the resurgent philosophy of Stoicism. Furthermore, the concept of a final judgement and divine word are foundational elements of Christianity.
But Durant also sees the benefits of strife echoed in the pillars of Darwin’s evolution. Also, Nietzsche mentions the benefit of struggle, telling his readers to love their fate — both the good and bad.
Unfortunately, Heraclitus wasn’t exactly a joy to be around. While the Athenians executed Socrates, he left enough friends to carry on his name and ideas. The same can’t be said for the grumpy wise man.
All we’re left with are about a hundred fragments of his work, written in his obscure way. But you can see the shadows of his thoughts everywhere. He was truly a man — er, hermit — before his time.
-Originally posted on Medium 6/16/22