A paradox for you to consider…

Theseus was an ancient hero of Greek mythology, the supposed founder of Athens, and the conqueror of various monsters, including the Minotaur.

According to Plutarch in Life of Theseus,

“ The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalerus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the phisosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same.“

Some random thoughts…

• The ship remained in the harbour for centures. As parts and boards rotted they were replaced. If all the parts and timber are replaced, is it still the same ship? If not, at what point does it cease being the original ship?
• Taking it one step further, if a person gathered up all the old boards and timber that was replaced and reconstitutes them into the ship again, is that the original ship?
• Even our US Senate, given its staggered elections, could be said to have never been fully turned over. Is it the same body formed in the days of George Washington?

This is not just an abstract mental exercise. Just as the ship is altered, so people alter as we age, grow in knowledge, change our situations. There is no fixed, immutable identity for each person. We are not like fixed and solid statues, but are malleable and ever-changing.

Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilber put it so well: “Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished.”

Our nails grow and are cut and keep growing. New skin replaces dead skin. Old memories are replaced by new memories. Are we still the same people? Are the people around us the same?

Let’s be grateful that the river continues to flow and we continue to change!

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