From Hericlitus to ‘who moved my cheese’

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This is a random connection that has come from a combinatorial collection of ideas and searches. It started from a post in the course discussion forum from a reference by A. who mention the book Who Moved My Cheese. As I was reading this Wikipedia entry, I was struck by the notion of change being a constant. It linked to a quote I’d heard that the only thing you can count on is that change will happen, which led me to a search for that quote. It surprisingly connected back to a Greek philosopher and thinker named Heraclitus. So there we have it…. the winding path from Heraclitus to Who Moved My Cheese. So what does this have to do with cognition and learning? Why should these random connections matter to my learning?

First, I listened to this video summary of the thinking of Heraclitus. From the 2:30 to 4:00 min mark I learned about his notion of truth and individual thought, since Heraclitus believed “one must find truth on one’s own”. The ending section, where his influence on Nietzsche rings true, and connects to thoughts from Parker J. Palmer’s notion of living in paradox, balancing the push/pull relationships within each of us as we live our lives, in teaching and learning, e.g. open vs closed, public vs private.

Then I read the article Heraclitus of Ephasus to further discover the work and deepen my understanding of this philosopher and his conception of “logos” – “The Logos is rational, natural, universal `thought’ through which the universe came into being and by which it is maintained” (Mark, 2010).  The belief that ‘life is flux’ emphasizes the conception that what I know to be truth, cannot be known by others since “into this river it is not possible to step twice” (Academy of Ideas, 2012, Video timer 4:49).  There are challenges to realize knowledge since if “nothing remains the same for two instances, then knowledge of the sensible world is an impossibility” (Academy of Ideas, 2012, Video timer 5:44).

This reading and viewing linked me to another video for a bit more about Heraclitus as shared by Angie Hobbs at the University of Sheffield: Heraclitus – Angie Hobbs.

Which brings me to the whole ‘moving my cheese’ thing.

This book and story [Who Moved My Cheese] is an analogy to how people react to change, either in their workplace, or in life. The premise is that there are characteristic ways that individuals handle and adapt to ‘flux’ in their lives and adapt to changing conditions. These include:

  • “Change Happens – They Keep Moving The Cheese
  • Anticipate Change – Get Ready For The Cheese To Move
  • Monitor Change – Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old
  • Adapt To Change Quickly – The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese
  • Change – Move With The Cheese
  • Enjoy Change! – Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!
  • Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again – They Keep Moving The Cheese.” (Wikipedia). 

Since I’m a lover of all things cheesy, this really resonates with my thinking and I love metaphors and analogies. If I put this analogy to the work of this week, and the PhD program in general, then I can see that moving the cheese around can be helpful, healthy, and leads to greater understanding, knowledge and productivity. If the cheese we’re talking about here is the acquisition of a doctorate, then all of these ‘negotiations’ with cheese will need to be made in the coming years. Keep shifting the question, keep moving the ideas around, keep pulling in new ‘flavours’ and I’ll keep adjusting my trajectory to acquire that cheese! If it’s the river of the PhD process we’re referring to, then I know that each time I step into it, it’s going to be different. I’ll have changed, the waters will have changed, the rocks and landscape will look different, and the weather will have changed. But underneath it all, there will be an element of Logos, some truth to be learned and shared. That will be the elusive goal – the cheese worth acquiring.

Image attribution: Katrin Leinfellner on Unsplash Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/v9deD75EaRw