The Real Axe?

In discussion with some friends, this was presented:

"This is the axe of my father..."

Same principle applies. Is it still the same axe, even after the original head and handle have been replaced? If I replace the handle of the axe of my father, from my perspective, it is still the handle of the axe of my father. The identity of the object has become a concept separate from the item itself. "The axe of my father" is now a different thing than the axe in my hand.

Such things are among my favorite topics, so I had to respond:

It seems obvious that the label is being applied to a different set of physical components. That is the source of the fascinating flexibility of labels, though: they are really being applied to concepts that represent objects.

The label Dad's axe is stuck onto a mental model I created to represent my father's axe. The model is also composed a physical axehead and the handle. New handles and heads over Dad's lifetime are simply absorbed as components of the model - the concept is considered unchanged. Even more interesting is that if the axe is bequeathed to me when I grow up, it can still be represented by the same model: this is Dad's axe. In fact, even my concept of the axe can change as I attach emotional memories of my father chopping wood or as I grow from being unable to lift it to swinging it with one hand.

To me, it seems important to understand that neither the concept nor the label is the external reality they model. To remember that in all things I address my mental representations of reality. When I feel hatred for the enemy, it is an emotion directed at my construct of that concept. Not considering this, if the enemy reforms or is proved innocent, I might tragically not update my construct correctly and so continue to condemn the man inappropriately. This type of mistake can be carried to many situaitons in the average day.

I think many would be comfortable with the idea of evaluating their own understandings of reality - sometimes it is the wording of all this that gets in the way. From that phrase, it is only a small step to the view that each of our "realities" is made from its components - the things we put together to make the snapshot. In practical terms, the axe is a concept and it would behoove us to remember that a new handle may change the balance. Or that from one chop to the next, the axe may develop a hidden defect, with painful repercussions.

So with all reality. We freeze our concepts, or models, as snapshots of reality. But the environment does not freeze along with them. It continues to express its transient nature in each moment. To react skillfully to phenomena, it seems sensible that we would need to see clearly what is now rather than what was when we took the snapshot.

D