Panta Rei -- Pánta rhêi hōs potamós, everything flows like a river, meaning that everything is constantly changing, from the smallest grain of sand to the stars in the sky. Only change itself is real, constant and eternal flux, like the continuous flow of the river which always renews itself. This famous aphorism used to characterize Heraclitus' philosophy actually comes from Simplicius, a neoplatonist, and from Plato's Cratylus. "Panta rhei" either was not spoken by Heraclitus or did not survive as a quotation of his. Heraclitus is famous for his insistence on ever-present change in the universe, as stated in the famous saying, "No man ever steps in the same river twice". He believed in the unity of opposites, stating that "the path up and down are one and the same", all existing entities being characterized by pairs of contrary properties. His cryptic utterance that "all entities come to be in accordance with this Logos" (literally, "word", "reason", or "account") has been the subject of numerous interpretations. This video came to me from nothing as magic, while biking along the river Po near the Ostiglia power plant (Mantova, Italy) I found this couple extremely expressive, communication in the incommunicability, closeness in the distance. While I was recording unnoticed, the music I used in this video was playing in my Ipod. The scene, the couple, the powerplant, everything seems still, but actually everything slowly flows by the river The birds, the ship, my fellow bikers, my thoughts synchronize moment by moment. I didn't tell anybody to do anything, everything just slowly happened at the right moment. Magic moments happen. video & edit Fabio Di Donato music Alpha - A Perfect End - Stargazing (2003) lyrics: "I can't believe you're here Did you know you found me alone? If I could count the years I end and you begin I share your dreams It's like I see for two people Did I give up on mine? You can do much better I can't believe we're here Or I'll fall much further than this The terror lies in us But tells the truth in me He's overrated And though it appears to be I make my home in thee It's out of my hands, it's out of my hands Can I break the mood If there's nothing left to break? And what of night and day?" (following lyrics have been cut in this shortened video) "I never need more It's such a perfect end A constant when I dissolve There's nothing left to hold I don't believe you're here I came home with nothing left to hold" This video has been made while I was on a biking & trekking initiative called Milano Venezia Slow towards the 3rd International Conference On Degrowth Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity held in Venice, September 2012 http://www.venezia2012.it/?lang=en http://www.youtube.com/user/MilanoVeneziaSlow?feature=watch More quotes from Heraclitus: ποταμοῖσι τοῖσιν αὐτοῖσιν ἐμϐαίνουσιν, ἕτερα καὶ ἕτερα ὕδατα ἐπιρρεῖ. Potamoisi toisin autoisin embainousin, hetera kai hetera hudata epirrei "Ever-newer waters flow on those who step into the same rivers ." τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν" Ta onta ienai te panta kai menein ouden "All entities move and nothing remains still" "πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει" καὶ "δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης" Panta chōrei kai ouden menei kai dis es ton auton potamon ouk an embaies "Everything changes and nothing remains still ... and ... you cannot step twice into the same stream" The assertions of flow are coupled in many fragments with the enigmatic river image:[35] Ποταμοῖς τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐμβαίνομέν τε καὶ οὐκ ἐμβαίνομεν, εἶμέν τε καὶ οὐκ εἶμεν. "We both step and do not step in the same rivers. We are and are not." Compare with the Latin adages Omnia mutantur and Tempora mutantur (8 CE) and the Japanese tale Hōjōki, (1200 CE) which contains the same image of the changing river, and the central Buddhist doctrine of impermanence.

• published: 10 Sep 2012
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