An interesting quotation from Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) is ‘We all live by leaving behind.’ This may be found in his short story Funes the Memorious.
This is a somewhat poetic phrase; it may be understood in numerous ways and will mean different things to different people at different times.
From my perspective - from my way of studying the human body - it brings to mind how we are made of transient material. Stuff that we take and then excrete - leave behind. We are made of atoms and molecules borrowed from the world around us for a limited time. We continually replace them with a complete turnover taking an estimated seven to ten years.
Thus, our physical lives may be characterised as a constant ‘throughput’ of material while somehow we remain the same person.
