Young Woman Attacked by Death

Albrecht Dürer, Young Woman Attacked By Death (1495)

Sayings of Heraclitus 19

Knowing neither how to listen nor how to speak.

Pieter Bruegel, The Seven Deadly Sins: Avarice

Musonius Rufus, Lectures 4.8

What reason is there why it is more appropriate for a man to learn this? Certainly if it is fitting for women to be just, it is necessary for both to learn the same lessons which are in the highest degree appropriate to the character of each and supremely important.

If it happens that a man knows a little something about a certain skill and a woman not, or again she knows something and he not, that suggests no difference in the education of either. But about the all-important things let not one know and the other not, but let them know the same things.

If you ask me what doctrine produces such an education, I shall reply that as without philosophy no man would be properly educated, so no woman would be. I do not mean that women should possess technical skill and acuteness in argument. It would be quite superfluous, since they will use philosophy for the ends of their life as women. Even in men I do not prize this accomplishment too highly.

I only urge that they should acquire from philosophy goodness in conduct and nobility of character. Now in very truth philosophy is training in nobility of character, and nothing else.

Different people may have many particular gifts, and needs, and vocations, and so they may accordingly learn many different things, in many different ways. Men and women can find themselves following a variety of paths, though they are all ultimately in search of the same destination.

Whatever they may do, they are called to do so with a shared humanity, all made to be equally inspired by an awareness of what is true, good, and beautiful. A common education in virtue is what must bind all their differences together.

So of all the things we should learn, what would be the most important? I have heard it said that reading and writing are most necessary, or math and science, or the skill of what they currently call “critical thinking”. Yes, any man or woman can put these to good use, though they will produce nothing of worth without first knowing right from wrong. This is what will give everything else direction.

Philosophy, properly understood, is what we all need. But so that there is no confusion here, Musonius tells us that he does not merely mean the power of persuasion, the ability to craft convincing arguments, or a mastery of clever and profound words.

A woman doesn’t really need that in life, though before we immediately assume that Musonius is being just another sexist, he reminds us that a man doesn’t really that in life either. It may be quite helpful for a politician, or a lawyer, or an academic, but it will make little difference when it comes to living well as a human being.

No, the philosophy we all need will go far deeper than that, in the sense that it will determine the very content of our character. It will not exist to impress others, or to win worldly profit, or to humiliate our enemies. The philosophy we all need is about building habits of good character. How wonderful it would be if more of the politicians, lawyers, and academics could have that!

Consider all the qualities we like to say are essential for a happy life, but then look again more carefully, informed by the needs of Nature, and most of those qualities will suddenly seem rather shallow and meaningless.

We tell our children they can be doctors, and astronauts, and CEO’s, and one or two might even be elected as Presidents of the United States, if they really want to, if they work at it hard enough. Some may indeed be called to those roles, though that isn’t what will make them happy, and that isn’t what will make their lives worth living. Look beyond the preference to the principle, look past the particular to the universal. First and foremost, possess a soul that is able to understand and to love.

When men and women equally become philosophers, ones who actually live up to that first human vocation, who will seek to practice it in all they do, we are teaching what needs to be taught. 

Written in 6/1999 

IMAGE: An Allegory of Philosophy

Dhammapada 71

An evil deed, like newly-drawn milk, does not turn suddenly; smouldering, like fire covered by ashes, it follows the fool. 

Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy 4.14

Then I answered: “I confess that I think it is justly said that vicious men keep only the outward bodily form of their humanity, and, in the attributes of their souls, are changed to beasts. But I would never have allowed them willingly the power to rage in the ruin of good men through their fierce and wicked intentions.”

“They have not that power,” said she, “as I will show you at a convenient time. But if this very power, which you believe is allowed to them, were taken from them, the punishment of vicious men would be to a great extent lightened. For, though some may scarcely believe it, evil men must be more unhappy when they carry out their ill desires than when they cannot fulfill them. For if it is pitiable to have wished bad things, it is more pitiable to have had the power to perform them, without which power the performance of this pitiable will would never have effect.

“Thus, when you see men with the will and the power to commit a crime, and you see them perform it, they must be the victims of a threefold misfortune, since each of those three things brings its own misery.”

“Yes,” I said, “I agree; but I do wish from my heart that they may speedily be rid of one of these misfortunes, being deprived of this power of doing evil.”

“They will be rid of it,” she said, “more speedily even than you wish perhaps, and sooner than they think they will be rid thereof. There is in the short course of life nothing that is so long coming that an immortal mind can think it has long to wait for it. Many a time are their high hopes and great plans for evil-doing cut short by a sudden and unlooked-for end. This indeed it is that sets a limit to their misery. For if wickedness makes a man miserable, the longer he is wicked, the more miserable must he be; and I should hold them most miserable of all, if not even death at last put an end to their evil-doing. If we have reached true conclusions concerning the unhappiness of depravity, the misery, which is said to be eternal, can have no limit.”

—from Book 4, Prose 4

Yes, men will not only act like beasts, but they will actually become beasts. It doesn’t even require times of war or famine to bring that out in us, because you can see it on any given day, in the most ordinary of circumstances.

I still have a horrifying memory of watching a colleague being fired from her job by our mighty boss. I was asked to sit there and observe the whole thing, since I was nominally in charge of her department. Her only crime was that the Dean’s wife had taken a strong personal dislike to her, and this meant that she would no longer be of any use to the fine institution.

“You see, we’re like a family here, but we can’t be a family when some people don’t do what they’re supposed to do. It’s nothing personal, but we won’t be renewing your contract.”

Of course it’s personal; as soon it involves the lives of people, it’s automatically personal. There are no families when love succumbs to preference.

She was disposable to others, to be dismissed at a moment’s notice, thanks to the pettiness of pride. Did no one remember that her husband had also just lost his job due to corporate “downsizing”? Did no one remember that her son was sick, and needed the health insurance she was now going to lose? Did no one remember that she had always done her work with diligence, conviction, and character? No, her need and merit were not in question; merely the satisfaction of vanity was in question.

My horror came not only from having to cringe my way through the whole sordid affair, acting as some sort of twisted witness, but from my own cowardice in not defending her more adamantly at the time. Was the Dean an animal? Yes, because he was consumed by hatred. Was I an animal? Yes, because I was consumed by fear.

And I deserved every little bit of guilt and shame that came to me from it, just as that pompous bigwig deserved to rot in hell right next to me. When a man can no longer follow the dictates of right conscience, he is no longer a man. He has lost his right to that title.

Boethius is beginning to understand that those who live with evil in their hearts are ultimately consumed by that evil. Yet he still worries that such people continue to do harm, as my boss did harm with his action, and as I did harm by my inaction. It concerns me when others get away with their dirty deeds, and it concerns me even more when I get away with my own dirty deeds.

But there we go again, caught up in our old habits. We look at the harm folks do, thinking only of how we are oppressed. We assume others get away with everything, forgetting that there is nothing for them to gain. Wicked men die in their own wickedness; now might we instead live in our own excellence?

Why do the vicious still have the ability to do what they do? How could a loving God possibly permit it? Because love includes within it justice, not as vengeance, but as giving to all people what is their due. God will give us exactly what we want. If I can remember that, I will no longer complain about anyone getting away with anything. If virtue is its own reward, and vice is its own punishment, then no further judgment is necessary.

Once again, I remind myself that I have known many nasty types, the liars, the cheaters, or the abusers, and for all the glory they may say they have won, I have never known a single one of them to be happy.

They are always anxious, grasping, and incomplete. The very fact that they always want more is proof that they are in need and in pain. It all goes beyond my personal observations, and goes to the fact that a man without virtue is like fish out of water.

“But aren’t you in need and pain as well?” Well yes, I most certainly am. And so I need to finally fix myself. The only pride I can find right now is in knowing that, and in knowing what I must finally do.

Why can’t we remove the evil in this world more quickly? Let me think of it a bit differently than I have before. Seen from a larger perspective, it all will pass quite soon, as all worldly things will pass.

Does the tyrant tell you that he will rule forever? Laugh and smile, because he will die shortly, even if he takes you out first. Does the oppressor think himself invincible? His power will fade, and his flesh will rot, because you will both end up in the exact same grave.

What will be the only difference? The dignity of how we live, while we still live, will be the only difference. Rest assured that if you choose to live with decency, with wisdom and with love, that will always be your own, and no one else can take it from you.

Will another hate you? Quite likely, but rest assured that he is already stewing in his own juices. He only wants to take something from you because he is so lacking within himself.

What he suffers for his crimes is already more than enough of a burden for him, just as the joy of your own character is already more than enough of a blessing for you.

Now imagine, just imagine, if the fruits of either evil or good were eternal. More of a bad thing would be the worst thing, and more a good thing would be the best thing.

Written in 11/2015

Epictetus, Golden Sayings 113

Furthermore, the true Cynic must know that he is sent as a Messenger from God to Men, to show unto them that as touching good and evil they are in error; looking for these where they are not to be found, nor ever bethinking themselves where they are. 

And like Diogenes, when brought before Philip after the battle of Chaeronea, the Cynic must remember that he is a Spy. For a Spy he really is—to bring back word what things are on Man's side, and what against him. 

And when he had diligently observed all, he must come back with a true report, not terrified into announcing them to be foes that are no foes, nor otherwise perturbed or confounded by the things of sense. 

Stoic Snippets 4

Whatever this is that I am, it is flesh, and a little spirit, and an intelligence.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.2

Landscape with Diogenes

Nicolas Poussin, Landscape with Diogenes (1648)

Diogenes throws away his bowl when he sees a boy drinking water from his hand . . . 

Rembrandt's Philosophers

Rembrandt, A Scholar Near a Window (1631)

Rembrandt, Philosopher in Meditation (1632)

Salomon Koninck, Philosopher with an Open Book (c. 1645)

Stoicism and Me. . .

Stoic Snippets 3

We are all made for mutual assistance, as the feet, the hands, and the eyelids, as the rows of the upper and under teeth, from whence it follows that clashing and opposition is perfectly unnatural.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.1

Seneca, On Peace of Mind 3.2

“He whose object is to be of service to his countrymen and to all mortals, exercises himself and does good at the same time when he is engrossed in business and is working to the best of his ability, both in the interests of the public and of private men.“

We may sometimes assume that our only options in life are between doing something and doing nothing, and so there is the temptation to either fully engage the world or to give up entirely.

What is so easily overlooked is the power to discern the quality of the things we do, to do them rightly, and to be aware of the value in the reasons we choose to do them. Work does not have to be a burden, or a diversion, or a way to overcome our restlessness; it can rather be an expression of all that is good in this life, finding joy in service both to ourselves and to others.

Remember that Serenus is sometimes motivated to get things done, and at other times wants nothing more than to isolate himself. Whenever I have felt this way, it has been because I have lost a sense of the very meaning of work.

I may commit myself to a task in the hopes of winning all sorts of external rewards, or in the expectation of being appreciated and admired. If this does not happen, and I find myself disappointed with the immediate results, or with the responses of others, I can only think of crawling into a hole. I foolishly tell myself that I have tried again, and that I have failed again.

Yet it was my very expectations that were the problem. Instead of asking whether or not I should care, I should rather be asking how and why I could go about caring. Where is the worth? It is not in the achievement of owning anything, or in the acquisition of praise. These circumstances are completely accidental to the dignity of action.

It would be as if I baked a cake, while then worrying if the Moon still circles the Earth. As my wife likes to say, “What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?”

Life itself is a principle of action, and the life of a rational animal is action ordered by free judgment. The worth in what I can do, whatever it might be, is using all that is within my power to live according to Nature. Have I acted with sincere understanding and love? Then I have acted well, and in doing so I have improved myself, and I have offered others a chance to improve themselves.

Did I get the raise or the promotion? Did I win the affections of the girl? Did I stand before a cheering crowd? None of that ultimately matters.

Did I show a bit of kindness, offer a moment of compassion, or do something caring that no one else would ever notice? Good. That is a beginning. That is the very foundation of a virtuous life. Whether in public or in private, in big things or in little things, the merit of the act is in how it transforms my own soul, and how it reaches out to the souls of others.

Can I do this? Yes, of course I can. No more is asked of me. That is a good day’s work.

Written in 6/2011

Aesop's Fables 13

The Frogs desiring a King

Frogs were living as happy as could be in a marshy swamp that just suited them; they went splashing about caring for nobody and nobody troubling with them. 

But some of them thought that this was not right, that they should have a king and a proper constitution, so they determined to send up a petition to Jove to give them what they wanted. "Mighty Jove," they cried, "send unto us a king that will rule over us and keep us in order." 

Jove laughed at their croaking, and threw down into the swamp a huge Log, which came down—kerplash—into the swamp. The Frogs were frightened out of their lives by the commotion made in their midst, and all rushed to the bank to look at the horrible monster; but after a time, seeing that it did not move, one or two of the boldest of them ventured out towards the Log, and even dared to touch it; still it did not move. 

Then the greatest hero of the Frogs jumped upon the Log and commenced dancing up and down upon it, thereupon all the Frogs came and did the same; and for some time the Frogs went about their business every day without taking the slightest notice of their new King Log lying in their midst. 

But this did not suit them, so they sent another petition to Jove, and said to him: "We want a real king; one that will really rule over us." Now this made Jove angry, so he sent among them a big Stork that soon set to work gobbling them all up. Then the Frogs repented when too late. 

Better no rule than cruel rule.

  

Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ 3.5

Of the wonderful power of the Divine Love

 

1. I bless You, O Heavenly Father, Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, for that You have vouchsafed to think of me, poor that I am. O, Father of Mercies and God of all comfort, I give thanks unto You, who refreshes me sometimes with Your own comfort, when I am unworthy of any comfort. I bless and glorify You continually, with Your only begotten Son and the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, forever and ever. O Lord God, Holy lover of my soul, when You shall come into my heart, all my inward parts shall rejoice.You  are my glory and the joy of my heart.You are my hope and my refuge in the day of my trouble.

2. But because I am still weak in love and imperfect in virtue, I need to be strengthened and comforted by You; therefore visit me often and instruct me with Your holy ways of discipline. Deliver me from evil passions, and cleanse my heart from all inordinate affections, that, being healed and altogether cleansed within, I may be made ready to love, strong to suffer, steadfast to endure.

3. Love is a great thing, a good above all others, which alone makes every heavy burden light, and equalizes every inequality. For it bears the burden and makes it no burden, it makes every bitter thing to be sweet and of good taste. The surpassing love of Jesus impels to great works, and excites to the continual desiring of greater perfection. Love wills to be raised up, and not to be held down by any mean thing. Love wills to be free and aloof from all worldly affection, lest its inward power of vision be hindered, lest it be entangled by any worldly prosperity or overcome by adversity. Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger, nothing loftier, nothing broader, nothing pleasanter, nothing fuller or better in heaven or on earth, for love was born of God and cannot rest save in God above all created things.

4. He who loves flies, runs, and is glad; he is free and not hindered. He gives all things for all things, and has all things in all things, because he rests in One who is high above all, from whom every good flows and proceeds. He looks not for gifts, but turns himself to the Giver above all good things. Love oftentimes knows no measure, but breaks out above all measure; love feels no burden, reckons not labors, strives after more than it is able to do, pleads not impossibility, because it judges all things which are lawful for it to be possible. It is strong therefore for all things, and it fulfills many things, and is successful where he who loves does not fail and lies down.

5. Love is watchful, and while sleeping still keeps watch; though fatigued it is not weary, though pressed it is not forced, though alarmed it is not terrified, but like the living flame and the burning torch, it breaks forth on high and securely triumphs. If a man loves, he knows what this voice cries. For the ardent affection of the soul is a great clamor in the ears of God, and it says: "My God, my Beloved! You are all mine, and I am all Yours."

6. Enlarge me in love, that I may learn to taste with the innermost mouth of my heart how sweet it is to love, to be dissolved, and to swim in love. Let me be held by love, mounting above myself through exceeding fervor and admiration. Let me sing the song of love, let me follow You my Beloved on high, let my soul exhaust itself in Your praise, exulting with love. Let me love You more than myself, not loving myself except for Your sake, and all men in You who truly love You, as the law of love commands, which shines forth from You.

7. Love is swift, sincere, pious, pleasant, gentle, strong, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, manly, and never seeking her own; for wheresoever a man seeks his own, there he falls from love. Love is circumspect, humble, and upright; not weak, not fickle, nor intent on vain things; sober, chaste, steadfast, quiet, and guarded in all the senses. Love is subject and obedient to all that are in authority, vile and lowly in its own sight, devout and grateful towards God, faithful and always trusting in Him even when God hides His face, for without sorrow we cannot live in love.

8. He who is not ready to suffer all things, and to conform to the will of the Beloved, is not worthy to be called a lover of God. It behooves him who loves to embrace willingly all hard and bitter things for the Beloved's sake, and not to be drawn away from Him because of any contrary accidents.

Musonius Rufus, Lectures 4.7

Hence I hold it reasonable that the things which have reference to virtue ought to be taught to male and female alike; and furthermore that straight from infancy they ought to be taught that this is right and that is wrong, and that it is the same for both alike; that this is helpful, that is harmful, that one must do this, one must not do that.

From this training understanding is developed in those who learn, boys and girls alike, with no difference. Then they must be inspired with a feeling of shame toward all that is base. When these two qualities have been created within them, man and woman are of necessity self-controlled

And most of all the child who is trained properly, whether boy or girl, must be accustomed to endure hardship, not to fear death, not to be disheartened in the face of any misfortune; he must in short be accustomed to every situation which calls for courage. Now courage, it was demonstrated above, should be present in women too.

Furthermore to shun selfishness and to have high regard for fairness and, being a human being, to wish to help and to be unwilling to harm one's fellow men is the noblest lesson, and it makes those who learn it just.

We pride ourselves on our efforts to give the same quality of education to women as we do to men, in treating them equally and offering them the same opportunities. In that it proceeds from a respect for the dignity of the human person, and not merely from an attitude of conflict between the sexes, this is surely a noble thing.

Consider, however, what Musonius proposes as the proper end of education, and how this may differ from what we pursue over the many years we now send our young people to school.

Stoicism, working from our very identity as creatures of mind and will, establishes virtue as the highest human good, by which all other conditions should be measured. What makes any man or woman a success in this life? Whatever else they may do, they live well when they first pursue excellence of character.

Education, in turn, of whatever sort, fulfills its role when it works toward this goal.

Far too often, our attitudes diverge from such a respect for our true nature. We may see people not as having moral worth, but as having worth from what they consume and produce, from what they are capable of buying and selling. We replace a concern for what is inside of us with a concern for what is outside of us. According to this view, what makes any man or women a success in this life? It is sadly only the power of wealth and the prestige of honor.

Education, in turn, is then what makes us the most efficient managers, or the most obedient workers.

Do we pay lip service to the formation of character? Yes, of course, because such sentiments sell, but we usually don’t invite someone to give a commencement address because he is honest and caring; we ask him because he is rich and famous. We don’t usually publicize graduates who went on to practice small acts of kindness; we praise those who have ended up winning great positions of influence, who have learned the skill of impressing others.

Mouthing the words won’t be enough. Certainly, teach the best professional skills, but none of them will be of any use without a moral compass.

It is far more important to build a conscience, to be proud of doing right and ashamed of doing wrong, to discover meaning in life from the merit our own deeds instead of relying on our circumstances, to find the deepest satisfaction from loving our neighbors as ourselves.

No, we can’t use fancy statistics, or columns of financial profits and losses, to quantify a wise and loving soul. I would suggest that is precisely the point, since the qualities that make us noble and good are not determined by who dies with the most toys.

Giving women and men equal access to the best careers is all nice and well, but that isn’t the sort of shared education Musonius has in mind. He is rather concerned with something deeper, with women and men having a common calling to prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice.

Written in 6/1999

Hans Holbein, The Dance of Death 3: The Expulsion

Stoic Snippets 2

Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today inquisitive, ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All these things have come upon them through ignorance of real good and ill.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.1

Vanitas 3

Pier Francesco Cittadini, Vanitas Still Life with Violin, Score, Flower Vase, and a Skull (c. 1681) 

Seneca, On Peace of Mind 3.1

Chapter 3

You ask me what I think we had better make use of to help us to support this ennui.

"The best thing," as Athenodorus says, "is to occupy oneself with business, with the management of affairs of state and the duties of a citizen: for as some pass the day in exercising themselves in the sun and in taking care of their bodily health, and athletes find it most useful to spend the greater part of their time in feeding up the muscles and strength to whose cultivation they have devoted their lives; so too for you who are training your mind to take part in the struggles of political life, it is far more honorable to be thus at work than to be idle.”

Begin by committing to action. What is it that I know I must do to be a good man? Let me actually start by living well, instead of merely thinking about it. Pondering will not be enough.

There is that powerful line from Marcus Aurelius:

Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.

As Aristotle said, we become good by doing what is good, and our excellence increases through habit. Just like the athlete who exercises his body to grow in strength, speed, agility, and stamina, so too the man of virtue will practice good works to grow in prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice.

The text Seneca cites in this chapter, which I assume comes from the now lost writings of Athenodorus Cananites, refers specifically to the political life. This is quite suitable for Serenus, a patrician, who was already born to be in public service.

Remember how at one moment he is quite eager to engage in his career, and yet then at another he only wishes to retire, to run away from it all? What Serenus needs so desperately is to find that balance, the way to be a part of the outside world, while still retaining his inner peace of mind.

Seneca and Athenodorus may be speaking to a certain type of person, but the principles apply to all types of people, whatever their callings may be.

Have you ever wished you were born to wealth, to power, to prestige, like Athenodorus, or Serenus, or Seneca? Of course you have, because these are the things that the brutal and the base value the most, and you can’t help but notice how loudly and insistently the entitled tell you about their superiority.

Yet notice how such conditions did not make them any better or happier. What some consider benefits, others may see as curses. Seneca is trying to help Serenus come to terms with his character, regardless of his position.

Having anything fine never made anyone happier, though being someone fine has made some blessed.

So don’t worry if you didn’t go to Harvard or Yale, or you don’t have a financial portfolio, or you aren’t invited to cocktail parties in Lower Manhattan. I, for one, was never even invited to the keggers in college. Stoic wisdom is still for you, as it is for all of us. Replace any references here about being in high office with whatever it is you might do, wherever you may find yourself. You will discover the principles to be just as sound and just as helpful.

Thank God, there can be no snobbery in genuine Stoicism.

But remember, nothing will make any difference at all if you don’t first start with the doing.

Written in 6/2011

Stoic Snippets 1

He was a man who looked at what ought to be done, not to the reputation which is got by a man's acts.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 1.16

Stoic Conversations 24

"So it's official. I'm not going to practice Buddhism anymore. I'm now practicing Stoicism."

"Was there any paperwork?"

"No, but I'm going to change the stuff on my desk to keep me inspired."

"I didn't even know you'd been a Buddhist."

"Oh yeah, almost a whole year now."

"Why can't you learn something from both of them? They don't have to exclude one another."

"No, Buddhism was just getting me down. I need to stay focused."

"Yes, it must have been the Buddhism that was getting you down. Good luck with the Stoicism."

Musonius Rufus, Lectures 4.6

For all human tasks, I am inclined to believe, are a common obligation and are common for men and women, and none is necessarily appointed for either one exclusively, but some pursuits are more suited to the nature of one, some to the other, and for this reason some are called men's work and some women's.

But whatever things have reference to virtue, these one would properly say are equally appropriate to the nature of both, inasmuch as we agree that virtues are in no respect more fitting for the one than the other. 

The social trend in my own lifetime seems to have been one of an increased fracturing, a breaking of the bonds that we all share in common. Perhaps I spend too much time with too many people who wallow in too much division, but that has been my unfortunate experience.

A few years back, there was a story going around that one of our esteemed politicians had, during a passionate speech, mistranslated “e pluribus unum” as “out of one, many”. I laughed along with the rest, and I thought no more of it. I don’t even know if the story was true, and it hardly matters.

If that was the worst linguistic blunder the poor fellow had committed, he is a far better man than I am. There are moments when I am trying to write a rather simple word on the blackboard, and I suddenly have no idea how to spell it. I won’t even begin with my regular butchering of the Latin language, or my many failed attempts to manage Greek.

Yet then something odd started happening, something rather surreal, almost Kafkaesque: my students began using that old Latin phrase in that same confused way.

“Why can’t we understand that this country was made for the very idea of diversity? There was one at first, but now we are many! America’s about becoming different!”

“They used to have one way of doing things, over in Europe, but then Americans realized that anyone could do it his own way. Everyone does his own thing.”

“E Pluribus Unum, right? Doesn’t it say that on our money? We opened the floodgates, man, because there’s not one of us, just many of us!”

Where am I too even start with this? It isn’t about the Latin; it’s about principles behind the darn Latin. I’m worried I may wake up tomorrow morning as a beetle.

Don’t tell me it’s just foolish young folks who say such things. I once had to sit through a faculty enrichment seminar, provided by an esteemed law professor, entitled “Enforcing Diversity: What You Need to Learn”.

What is going on here? I was always taught that people from many races, cultures, and creeds could come together, recognizing, for all the differences in their backgrounds, that they all shared a common humanity. I was told that this was something approaching the sacred, to be revered. Human diversity only makes sense within the context of human unity, or otherwise we abandon the actual human part of it.

Yes, we do indeed lose the human part of it. We are so caught up in the particulars that we neglect the universal. We dwell only upon the narrow differences.

This is why I regularly hear those on the left calling those on the right “fascists”, and those on the right calling those on the left “mentally retarded”.

This is why I hear rich people saying that we need to get rid of the useless poor, and poor people saying we need to get rid of the greedy rich.

This is why I see the people of one tribe constantly fighting with the people of the other tribe. Each demands justice for itself, and refuses it to another.

This is why I see the proud worshiping themselves as gods, and not worshiping God.

And, for the purpose of this text, this is why I see men who hate women, just because they are women, and I see women who hate men, just because they are men.

If we’re going to play it that way, then there is no virtue on either side. Then we all stop being human entirely, and we just fight it out like beasts. Then we deserve all the grief we get.

There is a certain moral relativism that can cloud our minds, and an unwillingness to accept the balance and complementarity of the sexes is just another instance of it all. As soon as we remove a common moral purpose, we will remove all purpose. As soon as we define a person by the accidents, we will lose all of the essence.

We will never know who a man is, or who a woman is, without first knowing what a person is. A sense of right and wrong, a sense of truth as measured by the unity of Nature, is our only cure for this insanity.

“Virtues are in no respect more fitting for the one than the other.”

Written in 6/1999

Wisdom from the Bhagavad Gita 6

39. The wisdom of Self-realization has been declared unto you. Hearken you now to the wisdom of Yoga (Discipline), endued with which, O son of Prithâ, you shall break through the bonds of Karma (Action).
 
40. In this, there is no waste of the unfinished attempt, nor is there production of contrary results. Even very little of this Dharma (Duty) protects from the great terror.

41. In this, O scion of Kuru, there is but a single one-pointed determination. The purposes of the undecided are innumerable and many-branching.

42-44. O Pârtha, no set determination is formed in the minds of those that are deeply attached to pleasure and power, and whose discrimination is stolen away by the flowery words of the unwise, who are full of desires and look upon heaven as their highest goal, and who, taking pleasure in the panegyric words of the Vedas (Scriptures), declare that there is nothing else. Their flowery words are exuberant with various specific rites as the means to pleasure and power, and are the causes of new births, as the result of their works performed with desire.

45. The Vedas deal with the three Gunas (Sattva/Goodness, Rajas/Passion, and Tamas/Darkness). Be you free, O Arjuna, from the triad of the Gunas, free from the pairs of opposites, ever-balanced, free from the thought of getting and keeping, and established in the Self.

46. To the Brâhmana (Seeker of Knowledge) who has known the Self, all the Vedas are of so much use as a reservoir is when there is a flood everywhere.

47. Your right is to work only, but never to the fruits thereof. Be you not the producer of the fruits of your actions; neither let your attachment be towards inaction. 

48. Being steadfast in Yoga, Dhananjaya, perform actions, abandoning attachment, remaining unconcerned as regards success and failure. This evenness. of mind in regard to success and failure is known as Yoga.

—Bhagavad Gita, 2:39-48

Seneca, On Peace of Mind 2.12

But what does he gain by so doing if he does not escape from himself? He follows himself and weighs himself down by his own most burdensome companionship. We must understand, therefore, that what we suffer from is not the fault of the places but of ourselves. We are weak when there is anything to be endured, and cannot support either labor or pleasure, either one's own business or anyone else's for long.

This has driven some men to death, because by frequently altering their purpose they were always brought back to the same point, and had left themselves no room for anything new. They had become sick of life and of the world itself, and as all indulgences palled upon them they began to ask themselves the question, "How long are we to go on doing the same thing?"

There have been times when a change of circumstance has done me a world of good, but only when it was first inspired by a change of attitude. Simply moving away, or finding new work, or seeking out new friends, in and of itself, was never a cure. Learning to love wherever I was, or whatever I happened to be doing, or whoever I found myself with was the only cure. Something new on the outside was only helpful after it followed something new on the inside.

Without a transformation in my own thinking, no other remedy is of any use. The measure of the man is not in what happens to him, but in what he does, regardless of what happens to him. This is the very ethical foundation of Stoicism.

Do the conditions of time, and space, and situation make a difference? Yes, though only in how they are employed. I must ask just one question here: will it help me grow into becoming a better man, or will it drag me down into becoming a worse man?

“I can no longer bear it!” Why do I think that? Do I still live and breathe? Do I still have the freedom of my own mind and will? If so, then I can bear it. My power to know and to love is still absolutely my own. If it actually becomes unbearable, I will either die, or I will lose the very awareness that informs my human life. Either way, I will find relief.

The constant desire to experience something new can all too easily be an excuse for running away. By all means, I can leave behind a broken heart, a social shame, or a professional disappointment. Yet when the appearance of all that is beyond my sight, I still have to gaze upon myself. No, the problem didn’t go away because I found some new diversions; the problem stayed right there, as much as I may have run.

“I’m in a new relationship now, and I have a new job, and I’m working out every day, and I feel so much better!”

Then why do you still cry, or drink, or pace up and down when you get home, when no one else is watching? No person can love another, and no person can do good work, and no person can be healthy at all, if he doesn’t first love himself, understand himself, or attend to the health of his soul.

What was always bothering me so much? It was the absence of a conscience, of a moral compass. Running away from that emptiness, I always ended up exactly where I started; it is impossible to run away from oneself.

Written in 5/2011