Thales asked a question both simple and profound: what is the primary principle of all things?
His answer was water. Today, this cannot be taken as a scientific conclusion. The world is not made of water alone, and life does not emerge simply from water. But the important point is not the literal answer “water,” it is that he first understood the world as a unified system that could be explained. He no longer relied on myth, no longer saw lightning, storms, life, or death as arbitrary acts of gods, but sought a common principle within nature itself.
From the perspective of Sustenesis Theory, the question cannot be answered by any single material. The primary principle is not water, fire, air, number, or any hidden entity behind things. Sustenesis Theory says that the reason the world can exist as a world is not that it comes from one same thing, but that differences are able to form sustainable structures under constraints.
The focus is not on “what exists first,” but on “what can persist.”
An entity exists not because an immutable essence supports it behind the scenes. An entity exists because internal and external differences are organized by constraints, and the structure can remain relatively stable through change. Water, stone, trees, animals, humans—they are not isolated objects, but structures maintained through Sustenesis.
Thus, when Thales said “everything originates from water,” in Sustenesis Theory, he was not touching water itself but a deeper question: why are things not just a heap of chaos? Why is the world not completely disordered? Why does change not immediately scatter everything? Why can different things still form relations, shapes, order, and recognizable existence?