Heraclitus once said that one cannot step into the same river twice, yet he also said that the road up and the road down are one and the same. These two notions seem to be completely contradictory.

I don’t think he meant that rivers change whereas roads don’t, although the water in the river is changing as it flows by, and the material or dirt of the road usually doesn’t.

If I step into a river and then again later, I also have the memory of stepping into it before. If I travel the road up, then on the road down I remember the journey and what I’ve seen each way, and maybe what’s changed.

Perhaps he meant that the “road up” is the path of increased success and well-being, and the “road down” has those things decreased. Maybe you’re supposed to take both equally, like the Stoics.

Further Reading:

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heraclitus

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heraclitus/

https://www.albany.edu/~rn774/fall96/philos3.html

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