On life and time

One of the most fascinating and deep concepts I have recently chanced upon is Ship of Theseus.

The ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus’ paradox, is a thought experiment that raises the question of whether an object that has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object. The paradox is most notably recorded by Plutarch in Life of Theseus from the late first century. Plutarch asked whether a ship that had been restored by replacing every single wooden part remained the same ship.

And when you think about it, all of us and the world around us is a manifestation of this concept.

Every passing moment, as we interact with the world outside and the thoughts inside us, we are evolving, changing, chipping away our older self and becoming something new. While it might look like some people never change over decades, still the very act of going through the experiences of life is enough to transform us into a different being.

The new us could be better or worse and that is not what I want to delve upon. But I find it fascinating to think about. The friends we have since childhood, the person we once fell in love with, the people we have interacted with for many years, are all different people now. But somewhere we want them to be the same as when we found them or as when we hit a note with them. We ourself too are a different person. The world we live in has evolved. The cities we lived in or live in have changed.

Earth itself, after completing a full rotation around the Sun, doesn’t come back to the original point in space, because our solar system itself is moving in the vastness of space.

And at the root of this concept is the seed of disappointment. Human nature does not adjust well with change, while change is the nature of the universe. We find it hard to believe that people who once laughed at our jokes are now uninterested in what we are saying, cities we grew up in don’t resemble that idea anymore, love itself doesn’t give the high it once did, people who reached out to you all the time don’t respond the same any more, jobs that once felt like a dream turn into a drag now, and the list goes on.

No doubt nostalgia feels so warm and special. Because it is the only place, though imaginary, where things are the way we imagined or experienced.

Life is brutal in this sense that our internal nature and the nature of the universe do not match up (I wish I could word this sentence better).