HERACLEITUS
THE RIDDLER
What can we Know?
"This one thing is wisdom, to understand Logos as that which guides the world everywhere... There is a Logos that exists forever and is universal, but men fail to comprehend it. All things come about in accordance with this Logos." Seekers of wisdom come to recognize the underlying unity in apparent diversity through understanding of the Logos. It is to the Logos men should listen, not to Heracleitus.
His association of this Logos with fire is an important part of his vision of the cosmos. Creation can thus be seen as a constant process of rarefaction and condensation. More importantly, fire so beautifully expresses the harmony of contraries, the unity of opposites. It is life giving and destructive; it is ever changing but has harmonious shape; it is living but dies to cold ash. It is, like Heracleitus, hypnotic and fascinating.