The Blackberry Walk

"No man ever steps into the same river twice. For it is not the same river and he is not the same man." That's what Heraclitus said many, many years ago. The very water you step into is different each time. We understand the idea of the 'river' since the matter that makes up the river changes as the water flows downstream. Man is similar - we have the same identity yet our personalities and interests are in flux. Not to mention how we replace just about every cell in our body over a 5 year period. The only constant is the identifier, yet both the physical and psychic content changes. Yurikuma Arashi expressed this idea in an episode wherein the teacher displayed a cannibalistic affection for Kureha's mother. She consumes her, as her friend/lover, after revealing herself to be a kuma, and forever stores her in the box known as her stomach. The teacher wanted a snapshot of reality, a snapshot of love, to last forever. Consuming her body into her stomach and her soul into her mind meant she couldn't stand the idea of an ever-changing love. She denied the eternal constant of change. Any kind of relationship, whether it be romantic or platonic, will inevitably change over time. Once you and your wife hit 50, you will no longer be the same people who first met up 25 odd years ago. Yet to always see her as the 25 year old you once met is pathological, always setting false expectations and not really seeing someone for who they are. Matters will only get worse when they way they act and the image you project lose such focus that you are no longer able to recognise them. Love, like the rest of the world, is in constant flux. You can't put love in a box in an attempt to treasure it forever. The dead love, which pass it's expiry date, will create a stench in your box - and rotting love suppressed in the stomach and the heart is sure to poison you.