Sayings of Ramakrishna 109

An itinerant Sâdhu came once upon the Kâlî temple of Râni Râsamani, and seeing a dog eating the remains of a feast, he went up to him and said, embracing him, "Brother, how is it that thou eatest alone, without giving me a share?" So saying, he began to eat along with the dog. 

The people of the place naturally thought him mad, but when standing before the temple of the Goddess, he began to chant forth some hymns in praise of Kâlî, and the temple appeared to shake through the fervor of his devotion. Then the people knew him to be a great Sâdhu. 

The true Sâdhus roam about like children or mad men, in dirty clothes, and various other disguises.

Abandoned Places 21

Nature 23

Epictetus, Discourses 1.10.1

Chapter 10: To those who have spent their energies on advancement in Rome. 

 

If we had been as earnest and serious about our work as old men in Rome are about their concerns, we too might perhaps have achieved something. 

 

I know what was said to me by a man older than myself, who is now in charge of the corn supply in Rome, when he passed through here on his way back from exile; he ran down his former life and made great professions for the future, saying that when once he was back he would have no other interest except to live out the rest of his life in peace and tranquility, “For how little I have still left me”, said he.

 

And I said to him, “You will not do it; so soon as you sniff the air of Rome you will forget all your professions”; and I told him that if he got a chance of entering the Palace, he would thrust his way in and give God thanks.

 

“Epictetus,” he answered, “if you find me putting one foot in the Palace, believe what you like of me.”

 

Well, what did he do? Before he came to Rome, a dispatch from the Emperor met him, and as soon as he got it, he forgot all he had said and has gone on adding to his heap ever since. 

 

I should like to stand by him now and remind him of the words he used as he passed through, and say to him, “How much more clever a prophet am I than you!”

 

I am regularly told that Stoicism is an unrealistic philosophy, a claim I also hear applied to any way of life that looks to the dignity of the person over the convenience of profit. 

 

“Yes, it sounds nice as an idea, but who could ever manage to live that way? It’s easy for Epictetus to say that you should seek your virtue above all else, or for Jesus to say that you should sell all you have and give it to the poor, but there is no way you can put it into practice. They forget that we have to survive in the real world.”

 

At first, hearing such words would make me feel angry, and as I grew older, they would more often make me feel discouraged. Yet then I gradually realized how it was only my own attitude that was standing in the way of following through. The irony was that when people insisted that it couldn’t be done, my consequent resentment and fear themselves became the hindrance to a good life, in a self-fulfilling twist. 

 

I should not confuse what is difficult with what is impossible, and, in turn, I should not attribute the difficulty to any external constraints. If I truly know it to be right and good, there is nothing stopping me from putting it into practice. 

 

Look at all the people who sacrifice everything, exerting seemingly superhuman efforts, to win fame and fortune. If I care for wisdom and love just as much as they care for power and money, my goal is hardly beyond my reach. 

 

“But no person can ever be that good! It’s just not part of human nature!”

 

Perhaps we are beginning with different definitions of human nature. If you see yourself only as a creature of appetite, then those appetites will rule you, and the freedom of your action is indeed now stifled. If I, on the other hand, see myself as also being a creature of reason and will, I have now given myself the opportunity to exercise free judgments. The passions do not determine me, unless I permit them to do so. 

 

“But it’s too hard to do that! No one is that strong!”

 

You would be right to think that I cannot conquer the world, but you would be wrong to think that, with patience and commitment, I am unable to master myself. Far from being impossible, that is precisely what I was made for. The best things in this life are also the very things that demand the greatest effort; would not even the entrepreneur and the superstar agree?

 

“But you’ll get nowhere, because everyone else is busy gaining leverage and getting rich, and you can’t go against the force of all those people! That’s not how it’s done!”

 

Beyond my own desire to conform with the majority, what is keeping me from living as I think it best to live? Again, if I truly believe it to be best, then I will sacrifice anything and everything. I can go so far as to lay aside my life to protect my virtue, just as the grasping man will lay aside his virtue to protect his life. 

 

When you say it is impossible, what you are really saying is that it isn’t important enough for you. That choice is your right, as my choice is my right. Only Providence, not either one of us, will be the final arbiter, and I suppose that only hard experience will tell us where true peace of mind shall be found. 

 

I see the people who have already found their happiness by embracing character first, and they inspire me. I see the many more who are struggling to become better, and they encourage me. It all depends on what is valued the most. 

 

Epictetus looks at the old Roman bureaucrat, and I take away three important lessons: 

 

First, if only all those who say they love philosophy would apply themselves to increasing their understanding and love, as thoroughly as the civil servant applies himself to increasing his position in government, then the philosophers would begin to make a real difference. 

 

Second, the old bureaucrat only said that he is done with the nasty life of politics because he figured that he was out of the game; as soon as he was back in the game, he returned right back to his old ways. Words are cheap, but actions are priceless. It is always necessary to examine what is deep in the heart and the mind, not what is subject to passing whims. 

 

Third, as much as it might pain us, it is important that we be reminded of all the times we have only given our second-best. If it matters, we must stay the course, and if we are merely playing a game, we should hang our heads in shame. Pay your money, and then make your choice. Pardon my French, but no more bullshit. 

 

The old bureaucrat cared more for the trappings of a fancy Roman patrician life, and I imagine he ended up getting everything he deserved. Epictetus cared more for the beauty of his own soul, and he was happy to give up all the other nonsense. Each of these men created his own possibilities, by means of what he cherished absolutely. 

Written in 11/2000

The Dream Haunting the Mogul

Gustave Moreau, The Dream Haunting the Mogul (c. 1881)

Stoic Snippets 97

Take care that you are not made into a Caesar, that you are not dyed with this dye; for such things happen. 

Keep yourself then simple, good, pure, serious, free from affectation, a friend of justice, a worshipper of the gods, kind, affectionate, strenuous in all proper acts. 

Strive to continue to be such as philosophy wished to make you. Reverence the gods, and help men. Short is life. 

There is only one fruit of this terrene life—a pious disposition and social acts. 

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.30

Dhammapada 150

After a stronghold has been made of the bones, it is covered with flesh and blood, and there dwell in it old age and death, pride and deceit.

Stockdale on Stoicism 11

I know the difficulties of gulping all this down right away. You keep thinking of practical problems. Everybody has to play the game of life. You can't just walk around saying: "1 don't care about my health, or wealth, or my reputation, or whether I'm sent to prison or not." Epictetus was a great teacher because he could draw a word picture that cleared up the way to look at what he was talking about.

In this case, Epictetus said everybody should play the game of life—that the best play it with "skill, form, speed, and grace." But like most games, you play it with a ball. Your team devotes all its energies to getting the ball across the line. 

But after the game, what do you do with the ball? Nobody much cares. It's not worth anything. The competition, the game, was the thing. You play the game with care, making sure you are never making the external a part of yourself, but merely lavishing your skill in regard to it. 

The ball was just "used" to make the game possible, so just roll it under the porch and forget it, let it wait for the next game. Most important of all, just don't covet it, don't seek it, don't set your heart on it. It is this latter route that makes externals dangerous, makes them the route to slavery. First you covet or abhor "things," and then along comes he who can confer or remove them. 

I quote Enchiridion: " A man's master is he who is able to confer or remove whatever that man seeks or shuns. Whoever then would be free, let him wish nothing, let him decline nothing, which depends on others, else he must necessarily become a slave." 

Discourses: "Who is your master? He who has authority over any of the things upon which you have set your heart." 

These last quotations constitute the real core of what a person needs in order to understand the P.O.W. situation.

—from James B. Stockdale, The Stoic Warrior's Triad

Seneca, Moral Letters 14.12

Now you are stretching forth your hand for the daily gift. Golden indeed will be the gift with which I shall load you; and, inasmuch as we have mentioned gold, let me tell you how its use and enjoyment may bring you greater pleasure. 

 

"He who needs riches least, enjoys riches most." 

 

"Author's name, please!" you say. 

 

Now, to show you how generous I am, it is my intent to praise the dicta of other schools. The phrase belongs to Epicurus, or Metrodorus, or some one of that particular thinking-shop.

 

But what difference does it make who spoke the words? They were uttered for the world. He who craves riches feels fear on their account. No man, however, enjoys a blessing that brings anxiety; he is always trying to add a little more. 

 

While he puzzles over increasing his wealth, he forgets how to use it. He collects his accounts, he wears out the pavement in the forum, he turns over his ledger—in short, he ceases to be master and becomes a steward. Farewell. 

 

The closing Epicurean quote for this letter is about our estimation of money, though it is, by extension, also about our estimation of any of our conditions. 

 

The less I make myself dependent upon the acquisition of wealth, the more I will be able to make good use of whatever wealth may come my way. Knowing that possessions are only relative, I do not allow them to get the upper hand. 

 

The negative formulation can sometimes be the more forceful motivator for me, so I also add it to keep myself in line: when I long for things too much, I will only find myself at the mercy of such things. There is no peace in being worried about what might happen, and no rest in never having enough. 

 

This is a helpful tool in understanding how to withdraw from the world, not by avoiding the circumstances, but by rising above the circumstances. Stay firm inside of yourself, and only then are you able to able to relate to what goes on outside of yourself.

 

From an early age, it was already clear to me that I was an oddball, and that I would have great difficulty in meeting the approval of others. In some ways, my first Stoic insight was that I would not need to please the majority in order to be happy, and that I could be quite content by following my own path. 

 

I did not follow this through to its natural conclusion, however, and so I still harbored a deep expectation that somehow, at some point in the future, my situation would fall into place for me. If I was sincere, and worked hard, and went out of my way to show kindness and decency, surely the Good Lord would eventually reward me with some of those nice things that other people had? 

 

This was almost the end of me, as my seemingly innocent hopes had turned into needs, and what should have been preferences were now taking on the form of demands. I pursued a vain career, the company of mercenary friends, and the love of a dishonest woman, and yet I foolishly felt shocked and betrayed when all of them let me down. 

 

“No, they didn’t let you down, since they will be exactly as they will be. You let yourself down, by assuming that they could provide for you what you really needed to provide for yourself.”

 

Yes, thank you, inner voice! Why didn’t you warn me about that earlier?

 

“I did, but you wouldn’t hear me, with all the sound of the horns and the drums. You’re welcome.”

 

A good life is about the virtue in what we do, not about the gratification of what we win. I only recovered something of myself by choosing to do the right thing for its own sake, not for the sake of winning any further compensation, at which point, of course, it ceases to be the right thing. 

 

The Good Lord did reward me, by teaching me an important lesson in self-reliance, the security that doesn’t come from a big bank account, but from a big soul. 

Written in 6/2012

 

Four Allegories

Giovanni Bellini, The Four Allegories (c. 1500)

Perseverance

Fortune

Prudence

Falsehood

Sayings of Publilius Syrus 12

A small loan makes a debtor; a great one, an enemy.

Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ 3.35

That there is no security against temptation in this life

1. "My Son, you are never secure in this life, but your spiritual armor will always be needful for you as long as you live. You dwell among foes, and are attacked on the right hand and on the left. If therefore you use not on all sides the shield of patience, you will not remain long unwounded. Above all, if you keep not your heart fixed upon Me with steadfast purpose to bear all things for My sake, you shall not be able to bear the fierceness of the attack, nor to attain to the victory of the blessed. Therefore must you struggle bravely all your life through, and put forth a strong hand against those things which oppose you. For to him that overcomes is the hidden manna given, but great misery is reserved for the slothful.

2. "If you seek rest in this life, how then will you attain unto the rest which is eternal? Set not yourself to attain much rest, but much patience. Seek the true peace, not in earth but in heaven, not in man nor in any created thing, but in God alone. For the love of God you must willingly undergo all things, whether labors or sorrows, temptations, vexations, anxieties, necessities, infirmities, injuries, gainsayings, rebukes, humiliations, confusions, corrections, despisings; these things help unto virtue, these things prove the scholar of Christ; these things fashion the heavenly crown. I will give you an eternal reward for short labor, and infinite glory for transient shame.

3. "Think you that you shall always have spiritual consolations at your will? My Saints had never such, but instead thereof manifold griefs, and diverse temptations, and heavy desolations. But patiently they bore themselves in all, and trusted in God more than in themselves, knowing that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Would you have that immediately which many have hardly attained unto after many tears and hard labors? Wait for the Lord, quit yourself like a man and be strong; be not faint-hearted, nor go aside from Me, but constantly devote your body and soul to the glory of God. I will reward you plenteously, I will be with you in trouble."

IMAGE: Gustave Moreau, Saint George and the Dragon (c. 1890)

Seneca, Moral Letters 14.11

"What then? Can one who follows out this plan be safe in any case?" 

 

I cannot guarantee you this any more than I can guarantee good health in the case of a man who observes moderation; although, as a matter of fact, good health results from such moderation. 

 

Sometimes a vessel perishes in harbor; but what do you think happens on the open sea? And how much more beset with danger that man would be, who even in his leisure is not secure, if he were busily working at many things! 

 

Innocent persons sometimes perish; who would deny that? But the guilty perish more frequently. A soldier's skill is not at fault if he receives the deathblow through his armor.

 

And finally, the wise man regards the reason for all his actions, but not the results. The beginning is in our own power; Fortune decides the issue, but I do not allow her to pass sentence upon myself. 

 

You may say: "But she can inflict a measure of suffering and of trouble." 

 

The highwayman does not pass sentence when he slays.

 

I may still have a nagging feeling that I will never really be secure, that there will always be someone or something out there to threaten me. I want a guarantee, like that warranty they promised me with my new car, but I don’t want it to turn out like that warranty at all, where there was always a clever reason why the flaw or defect wasn’t actually covered. 

 

Some of us may still remember the tone of an earlier generation, when folks, for better or for worse, took pride in being a bit more resilient than they are now. If you complained to them that something wasn’t fair, they bluntly reminded you that life wasn’t fair. Must I begrudgingly accept this maxim? 

 

As with all sayings, it takes a moment of reflection to make proper sense of it. I can never expect that events will unfold as I prefer, or that other people will treat me with decency. At the same time, however, I can always be certain that I am able to find the benefit and blessing in anything for myself, because it depends only on my own choices. I don’t have to accept that begrudgingly at all. 

 

This is one the of the basic principles of Stoicism at work, that some things are within our power, while other things are quite beyond it. Attend to what is your own, and you will retain the security of your own character; make demands that the world must dance to your tune, and you will meet with constant disappointments. 

 

Whether or not I am safe from harm depends entirely on where I place the measure of my life. Nature can never guarantee me that the circumstances will be gratifying, but she has made sure that I can decide to make my character inviolable. What happens won’t always be fair, though what I do with what happens can always be fair. 

 

It is this context, therefore, that I think of Seneca’s advice on withdrawing from the world. No, don’t try to escape from it all. Engage, reach out, speak with integrity, act with respect; just don’t assume that the conditions will be as friendly, and don’t tempt fate by raising unnecessary obstacles to your happiness. The withdrawal is a sense of reliance on your own virtues instead of the fickle ways of Fortune. 

 

So no, there is no guarantee when it comes to property, reputation, or the satisfaction of the body, even as that does not give me an excuse for being careless or reckless about my body. There is no prudence in making it harder than it has to be; an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

 

I may get sick, but there is no point in getting sicker by eating poorly. My boat may sink, but there is no point in hastening its end by going out in a hurricane. Most importantly, a wicked man may abuse me, but there is no point in offering him any incentive by attracting his greedy attention. 

 

Have I prepared myself for whatever might come my way? Then I have done my job, and there is no shame in finally drawing the short straw. There is great shame, however, in the downfall of the wicked man, because his defeat follows so readily from his own chosen weakness, a slavery to whatever comes his way. 

 

I am especially grateful to Seneca for reminding me that my good is in how I am disposed toward things, not in how they are disposed toward me. I need to hear this daily, to gladly accept that Fortune will go about doing her thing, and Providence only asks that I, in turn, go about doing my thing with prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice.

 

Trouble may come, but the trouble has no control over me. Then I am secure where it counts. 

Written in 6/2012

IMAGE: Peter Paul Rubens, Allegory of Fortune and Virtue (c. 1620)

Fear

"Fear"

Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)

It is said that before entering the sea

a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,

from the peaks of the mountains,

the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,

she sees an ocean so vast,

that to enter

there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.

The river can not go back.

Nobody can go back.

To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk

of entering the ocean

because only then will fear disappear,

because that’s where the river will know

it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,

but of becoming the ocean.

Sayings of Ramakrishna 108

A sage was lying in a deep trance (Samâdhi) by a roadside; a thief passing by, saw him, and thought within himself, "This fellow, lying here, is a thief. He has been breaking into some house by night, and now sleeps exhausted. The police will very soon be here to catch him. So let me escape in time." Thus thinking, he ran away. 

Soon after a drunkard came upon the sage, and said, "Hallo! thou hast fallen into the ditch by taking a drop too much. I am steadier than thou, and am not going to tumble."

Last of all came a sage, and understanding that a great sage was in a trance (Samâdhi), he sat down, and touched him, and began to rub gently his holy feet.

Hans Holbein, The Dance of Death 33: The Old Man

Seneca, Moral Letters 14.10

However, we shall consider later whether the wise man ought to give his attention to politics; meanwhile, I beg you to consider those Stoics who, shut out from public life, have withdrawn into privacy for the purpose of improving men's existence and framing laws for the human race without incurring the displeasure of those in power. 

 

The wise man will not upset the customs of the people, nor will he invite the attention of the populace by any novel ways of living.

 

Some philosophers, like the Epicureans, have argued for distancing oneself from politics, yet for the Stoics, the very fact that man is a rational animal demands that he also be a social and political animal. 

 

I first learned it from Aristotle, and then later Marcus Aurelius confirmed it for me. We are made to work with one another, though the trick, as Seneca tries to explain, revolves around working in peace and quiet instead of conflict and noise. 

 

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater; don’t run from associations, but rather choose them carefully and nurture them gently. There will be times when we must face the storm, so it is quite unnecessary to make waves in the meantime. 

 

A big part of the problem, I suppose, is how we even use a term like “politics”. Though it’s a crying shame, when most people hear “stoic”, they think of someone cold and unfeeling, and when they hear “political”, they think of backstabbing and corruption. I remind myself to avoid the confusion. To be a Stoic is to live according to Nature, and to be political is to share bonds with your neighbors. If someone chooses to abuse these actions, I should not hold it against the principles. 

 

Yes, to determine how, and to what extent, the Stoic should engage in public life is a further question, but for the moment it is sufficient to establish that the best people are not usually the ones who are stomping their feet or picking fights. I do not need to be in the public eye to contribute to the public good, and I think it no accident that the kindest and most decent people are most often those who are quite content to do their work without any fanfare. 

 

Am I somehow feeling the need to yell my grievances in someone’s face? Why might I want that? I am deluding myself if I think that this will make either of us any better: I have now acted like a brute, and my chosen opponent now has a reason to resent me. It was really about my pride, not about justice. 

 

Am I itching to fix the world, to break everything down and then to build it up again in my own image? Why might I want that? I am confusing doing right for myself with demanding that everyone else do right by me; I have reached that point where the soldier for justice becomes nothing more than another big bully. I am well advised to let people live as they think best, as much as I am able, and to attend first to fixing myself. 

 

Sowing discord and trying to reinvent the wheel are signs of someone who has latched onto that dirty sense of politics. Don’t be that guy. 

Written in 6/2012

Ellis Walker, Epictetus in Poetical Paraphrase 17

XVII.

Would you be wise? Ne'er take it ill you're thought 
A fool, because you tamely set at naught
Things not within your pow'r, but pass them by 
Without a wish, with a regardless eye;
A senseless stock, because no loss or pain
Makes you lament or childishly complain.
Never pretend to skill, nor wish to seem
Deep learn'd, nor court a popular esteem:
But if, admir'd by men, you pass for wise,
And draw their list'ning ears, and foll'wing eyes,
Rather mistrust, and doubt yourself from thence,
They're oftner fond of folly than of sense;
While they admire, while you their praises hear,
You're nearer to the fool than e'er you were:
'Tis very likely some gross vanity,
They fancy in themselves, and love to see
Ripen'd in you to full maturity:
As lust of glory, or a strong desire
Of wealth, or pow'r, or splendour in attire,
'Tis altogether vain, to think t'adhere
To the strict principles agreed on here,
While you the course quite contrary do steer,
To things not in your pow'r; which if you reach,
You needs must quit the discipline we teach.

Stoic Snippets 96

It is a shame for the soul to be first to give way in this life, when your body does not give way.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.29

Vanitas 44

Petrus Willebeeck, Vanitas Still Life (c. 1650)

 

Seneca, Moral Letters 14.9

Philosophy itself, however, should be practiced with calmness and moderation.

 

"Very well, then," you retort, "do you regard the philosophy of Marcus Cato as moderate? Cato's voice strove to check a civil war. Cato parted the swords of maddened chieftains. When some fell foul of Pompey and others fell foul of Caesar, Cato defied both parties at once!"

 

Nevertheless, one may well question whether, in those days, a wise man ought to have taken any part in public affairs, and ask: "What do you mean, Marcus Cato? It is not now a question of freedom; long since has freedom gone to rack and ruin. The question is, whether it is Caesar or Pompey who controls the State. Why, Cato, should you take sides in that dispute? It is no business of yours; a tyrant is being selected. What does it concern you who conquers? The better man may win; but the winner is bound to be the worse man." 

 

I have referred to Cato's final role. But even in previous years the wise man was not permitted to intervene in such plundering of the state; for what could Cato do but raise his voice and utter unavailing words? At one time he was "hustled" by the mob and spat upon and forcibly removed from the forum and marked for exile; at another, he was taken straight to prison from the senate-chamber.

 

I may get the wrong impression here, that the Stoic should live the life of a doormat, or that it is better to hide away in a corner than to take a stand. Once again, it all boils down to the difference between rashly looking for a conflict and prudently facing a conflict. The Stoic will certainly draw the line, but only when the practice of virtue absolutely demands it, and only when he has exhausted every other option. 

 

Cato the Younger has long been a hero to many Stoics, and for very good reason: his unwavering opposition to corruption and tyranny in Rome was a prime example of moral courage, and his willingness to surrender all else for his principles can only inspire the deepest admiration. Surely Cato did not avoid hardship to follow what he knew to be right? If Cato didn’t stay out of trouble, why should we? 

 

Such an objection to taking the most peaceful route seems quite reasonable, and yet it can easily obscure the reasons why someone like Cato acted as he did. There is an option in between being hotheaded and cowardly, and it centers upon the purity of our actions, regardless of our control over the circumstances. 

 

Now the likes of Caesar, Pompey, or Crassus fought because they wished to increase their own fame, power, and wealth, while Cato fought for the dictates of his conscience. The First Triumvirate went looking for strife, while Cato labored to remove the very sources of that strife. There is a stark contrast between engaging in public life for reasons of greed and for reasons of service. 

 

Seneca hardly intends any disrespect to Cato when he speculates about whether his actions were truly necessary, and I imagine he does so precisely to get us thinking about our own motives. I don’t know if Cato ever believed he could “win” his battle against those who assaulted the old ways of Rome, though his sense of what constituted a victory diverged drastically from that of Caesar. Cato felt he needed to do the right thing, and Caesar only wanted to do the gratifying thing. 

 

By all means, avoid the trouble if you can, but bear it with dignity if you must. Cato is in many ways a deeply tragic figure, and thankfully not all of us will have to make the choices he did. One can hope that he would have acted otherwise if his back hadn’t been up against the wall, and that he did not decide on his resistance out of recklessness. 

 

I need to be completely certain of the merit in what I am doing, and be fully aware of the likely consequences, whenever I draw that line. 

Written in 6/2012

 

The Character of a Happy Life

"The Character of a Happy Life"

Sir Henry Wotton (1568-1639)

How happy is he born and taught
That serveth not another's will;
Whose armour is his honest thought,
And simple truth his utmost skill;

Whose passions not his masters are;
Whose soul is still prepared for death,
Untied unto the world by care
Of public fame or private breath;

Who envies none that chance doth raise,
Nor vice; who never understood
How deepest wounds are given by praise;
Nor rule of state, but rules of good;

Who hath his life from rumours freed;
Whose conscience is his strong retreat;
Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make oppressors great;

Who God doth late and early pray
More of his grace than gifts to lend;
And entertains the harmless day
With a religious book or friend.

This man is freed from servile bands
Of hope to rise or fear to fall;
Lord of himself, though not of lands,
And having nothing, yet hath all.

IMAGE: Jacob Knapp, Happy Beggar (2015)