Heroes Not Zombies

Can you see that sort of whirlpool in the middle of this stream? It’s a vortex, created by the flow of water itself.

When we look at a stream, or a river, we can often see a disturbance, usually caused by stones or sticks or something interrupting the flow of the water. But that’s not what this is. A vortex is created by an asymmetry within the flow of water itself. A resistance is set up and a vortex appears.

A vortex can be very brief, lasting just a few seconds, but this one continued as long as I stood watching it. I tried to take several photos but it was tricky. There’s always something lost in the still image of whatever is moving, morphing before your very eyes.

A vortex is a good example of how objects are not things. We focus on only parts of the world around us and we separate out elements within the flow to see them as objects. But the underlying reality is that nothing exists outside of the flow. There are no separate fixed objects, just areas in the flow which change more slowly than others. It’s the rate of change which allows us to see them as things. Nothing lasts for ever. You just have to consider a larger timescale and even whole continents shift shape and location.

Is this important?

I think it is. Because the view we take of the world influences how we experience our everyday. If we see the world as a collection of separate disconnected objects, some kind of giant machine that we are not part of, then we will act in certain ways. However if we see the world as a whole and massively connected, ever changing flow, then “things” become more transient, and we realise that we, too, are vortices appearing in the flow.