Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.39

Either all things proceed from one Intelligent Source and come together as in one body, and the part ought not to find fault with what is done for the benefit of the whole; or there are only atoms, and nothing else than mixture and dispersion.

Why, then, are you disturbed? Say to the ruling faculty, are you dead, are you corrupted, are you playing the hypocrite, have you become a beast, do you herd and feed with the rest?

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 9.39 (tr Long)

Most all of the Classical Stoics, in varying ways and to varying degrees, argued that the Universe was completely One, was ruled by Providence, and had at its heart the design of Perfect Mind.

Call it God, or Zeus, or Logos, or the Highest Pneuma, the Breath and Fire of Life. It is still the absolute force that gives meaning and purpose to all things.

They did not consider God as any distant and impersonal power, or as some bureaucratic administrator. They rather saw all creatures as aspects of the One, expressions of a Divine Awareness that was itself perfect being, as small parts that had no meaning at all outside of that greater whole. Our own minds are nothing but an extension of Mind.

If the Stoics were correct in this view, then there can never be any doubt about our own particular place in this life. Whatever has happened, has happened for a reason, intended by the Divine. It is not God who fails us, as there is no absence in whatever is complete.

No, we are the ones who sadly fail to embrace the freedom of our nature within all of Nature. We fail ourselves through the power that is shared with us.

Even when we abuse our own choices, however, these are already pieces of how all of existence will unfold. Nothing is in vain, and everything is in service, directly or indirectly, to the fullness of all that is. It is about Being, not just about beings.

But let us imagine that there is no God, and no Unity, and there is no greater plan, and it all boils down to the random behavior of matter thrown about this way or that, with no real rhyme or reason behind any of it. Many opponents of the Stoics, especially the Epicureans, argued for precisely that. It is also the philosophical trend of our age to think this way, so we must surely take it into account.

Well, but what of it? We can bracket, for the moment, the source and purpose, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega of it all. Assume, for the sake of argument, that there is no higher, greater, or deeper meaning. Does this in any way negate the very identity of what I certainly know that I am, regardless of where I may have come from, and where I might be going?

I am a being endowed with the power of thought, and with a freedom of will. What I do is not merely the result of how I am acted upon, but of how I decide to act. I will even not call myself a creature, if you prefer, because that implies a Creator; let me just be a someone, a something that also has consciousness.

Somehow, perhaps, all the atoms just “happened” to come together to make a living animal, and a rational animal at that. I am still exactly what I was before, as in any other model, and my mission in life should be no different than it was before.

Know what is true. Love what is good. Act with virtue. I should be my own master, subject to only my own rightly informed conscience in how I live. As long as I remain a something, a someone, given reason and choice, I should fear nothing, never be determined by what is beyond my power, or be a slave to any other thing or to any other man.

Imagine, with John Lennon, that there is no God, and even then real moral character would not change one tiny bit. I should not lie, or steal, or seek money and power, or play all the games of pleasure we are so fond of playing. I am not merely an animal, ruled by passions, but a rational animal, ruled by my own judgments.

If you tell me there is no evidence for God, I will politely shrug my shoulders, and I will not bully you about the fact that all existence is itself evidence for God, God in action. Effects are measured by their causes. I have no intention of being offended, or fighting you, or casting you out of my life.

But if you tell me that you are not a being of reason and will, I will hold a mirror to your face.

You give me an argument that you are just an animal? You have just proven you are more than an animal, by appealing to reason.

You insist that you have no choice? I see you making a choice at this very moment, when you know full well you could have chosen differently.

You tell me you are ruled by desire alone? Your very telling itself requires an understanding beyond desire.

I will love and respect you, whoever you are, and whatever you might think. I still believe that none of us were made for nothing. Tell me that there is no God, and I will understand completely, having felt that way many times before; tell me that you are not a being of awareness, and I will question either your sanity or your honesty.

No God? Fine, if you must insist. You say you cannot “see” Him, even as He stares you in the face. No humanity? On that no one can ever insist, already being human to begin with.

Removing God will not changes the calling of our virtue, the expression of everything that is our nature. But how wonderful it would be, if we could choose to understand our nature within all of Nature. God is not something outside; God is.

Written in 12/2008

Dhammapada 45

The disciple will overcome the earth, and the world of Yama, and the world of the gods. The disciple will find out the plainly shown path of virtue, as a clever man finds out the right flower. 

Turning Events

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.38

If a man has done wrong, the harm is his own.

But perhaps he has not done wrong.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 9.38 (tr Long)

The first statement is classic Stoicism. The second statement is Stoicism in its sharpest form. It is one thing to understand that the wrongs of another can do me no harm, but it goes even further to admit that perhaps there was never a wrong to begin with.

If I have felt hurt, my first assumption is that someone has hurt me. No, I have only hurt myself, while the actions of another have darkened his own character. Our thoughts and deeds reflect back onto ourselves, for good or for ill.

Still, I will be tempted to cast blame. This relieves me of responsibility, and allows me to harbor a resentment to justify my indignation and outrage. I assume that if evil was done to me, I am now permitted to do evil in return, and so we continue in the cycle of hatred for hatred.

Yes, a terrible injustice may have been committed, my possessions taken, or my reputation ruined, or my body crippled. Still, my own judgment will determine how I allow any of this to affect me. The evil begins in another man’s heart and mind, and he wishes to cast it upon me as well. Yet if I simply hold up my hand and do not allow it to enter my own heart and mind, the evil stays with him.

Allow me to also consider the power of my own estimation at a deeper level than that. I am the one in control of the damage done to my soul by an offense. Am I not also the one in control of discerning if there even was an offense at all?

How often have I hastily judged that someone has acted with malice, or is out to get me, or has wished to do me some harm? And how often has that perception actually been completely false, a result only of my own imagination, a foolish assumption that says nothing about what is wrong with another, and everything about what is wrong with me?

It is easy to rush to a conclusion, and to let my doubts about my own motives lead to my questioning the motives of others. I am still allowing my impressions to rule me instead of ruling myself.

By all means, let me bear any wrongdoing by another with dignity and charity. Let me also be careful never to think there even was any wrongdoing where it did not exist. It is a noble thing to be the better man, and nobler still not to presume that another is the worse man.

Written in 12/2008

IMAGE: "You bad man! You very very bad man!"

Epictetus, Golden Sayings 88

Which of us does not admire what Lycurgus the Spartan did? 

A young citizen had put out his eye, and been handed over to him by the people to be punished at his own discretion. 

Lycurgus abstained from all vengeance, but on the contrary instructed and made a good man of him. 

Producing him in public in the theater, he said to the astonished Spartans: 

"I received this young man at your hands full of violence and wanton insolence; I restore him to you in his right mind and fit to serve his country." 

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.37

Enough of this wretched life, and murmuring, and apish tricks. Why are you disturbed?

What is there new in this? What unsettles you? Is it the form of the thing? Look at it. Or is it the matter? Look at it.

But besides these there is nothing. Towards the gods then, now become at last more simple and better. It is the same whether we examine these things for a hundred years or three.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 9.37 (tr Long)

I notice quite often how people like to insist that they are so very happy, yet they still regularly clench their jaws in frustration, or bicker with their neighbors, or sit there during a conversation while ripping up ever-smaller pieces of paper. There is lots of aggression, resentment, and scheming, and I wonder how that could possibly be happiness.

So much of it involves playing a role when people are looking, and then thrashing about when we think no one is really looking. It is the cult of appearances, the substitution of outward posturing for inner peace.

I know it quite well, because I’ve done it myself. I feel miserable, I complain all of the time, and then I play the part of some trained animal doing a clever performance to win some tasty treats. I may curse the boss, but I still beg like a dog, forcing myself to wag my tail, whenever he casts his glance my way.

What is truly bothering me? The fact that I am not myself, but rather allowing myself to be ruled by images. I lie to myself, and to others, and say that all is fine; but it isn’t fine, because I have a hole in my heart.

What is it that entrances me? The vanity of the outsides, and the neglect of the insides. I must look more closely. It is all made of gross matter, put together for this moment in a temporary form.

Why should that frighten me? It shouldn’t. They are all just things, each one no more impressive than any other. Their power is in how I think about them, never in what they actually are.

Be simple and be better. These two go together. Simplicity is not about having less, but about being more through wanting less. Being better is not about lording it over others, but about seeing myself within others, and others within myself.

It is time to stop being a mimicking ape, and to become a man who rules. I need not rule anything, however, beyond myself. That is enough. That fact won’t change, however long I fret over it.

Written in 12/2008

Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ 1.17

Of a religious life

1. It behooves you to learn to mortify yourself in many things, if you will live in amity and concord with other men. It is no small thing to dwell in a religious community or congregation, and to live there without complaint, and therein to remain faithful even unto death. Blessed is he who has lived a good life in such a body, and brought it to a happy end. If you will stand fast and will profit as you ought, hold yourself as an exile and a pilgrim upon the earth. You will have to be counted as a fool for Christ, if you will lead a religious life.

2. The clothing and outward appearance are of small account; it is change of character and entire mortification of the affections which make a truly religious man. He who seeks anything save God and the health of his soul, shall find only tribulation and sorrow. Nor can he stand long in peace, who strives not to be least of all and a servant of all.

3. You are called to endure and to labor, not to a life of ease and trifling talk. Here therefore are men tried as gold in the furnace. No man can stand, unless with all his heart he will humble himself for God's sake.

Tao Te Ching 30

He who would assist a lord of men in harmony with the Tao will not assert his mastery in the kingdom by force of arms. Such a course is sure to meet with its proper return.

Wherever a host is stationed, briars and thorns spring up. In the sequence of great armies there are sure to be bad years.

A skillful commander strikes a decisive blow, and stops. He does not dare by continuing his operations to assert and complete his mastery. 

He will strike the blow, but will be on his guard against being vain or boastful or arrogant in consequence of it. He strikes it as a matter of necessity; he strikes it, but not from a wish for mastery.

When things have attained their strong maturity they become old. This may be said to be not in accordance with the Tao: and what is not in accordance with it soon comes to an end.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.36

The rottenness of the matter that is the foundation of everything!

Water, dust, bones, filth: or again, marble rocks, the callosities of the earth; and gold and silver, the sediments; and garments, only bits of hair; and purple dye, blood; and everything else is of the same kind.

And that which is of the nature of breath is also another thing of the same kind, changing from this to that.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 9.36 (tr Long)

Many philosophies can enlighten the mind and inspire the heart, but few philosophies, I have found, can speak so deeply to daily practice as that of the Stoics.

Whenever anything seems to be so overwhelming, I can employ just one simple trick. I must only ask myself, “What is it made of?”

The overall image might be quite impressive, but I must only examine the parts that constitute it. A charming house, but it is made of straw. A seductive smile, but it’s the lipstick that gives it so much class. An imposing demeanor, but without the expensive suit he’s just another old fat man.

All of it, every single thing, is made of exactly the same sort of matter. None of it ever stays in the same form, none of it is lasting, and none of it is invincible. It is all weak, malleable, and corruptible. Yes, in and of itself, it is quite pathetic. Look at all the bits that make it up, and it will no longer seem so powerful. This is an incredibly effective way to put everything, and everyone, in their rightful place.

I have seen corpses three times in my life, not counting the plastic mannequins we view at funerals. Each and every time I was certainly terrified how this vessel once housed a soul, but most importantly I saw how fragile that vessel truly was.

A sight I can never remove from my memory is that of a dead child with a smashed skull, just run over by a car. Blood was still seeping onto the road, and the eyes were still open. It haunts me, but it also informs me. I, too, am nothing more than that. I am not made of iron, and I will be crushed as well. Even the iron in this world will rust.

Look at the boss who bullies you, or the so-called friend who insults you behind your back, or the lover who has betrayed you. The outsides may intimidate you, but the insides are made of the same organic mush that you are. It is hardly as big as you think.

Look at the threatening letters your bank sends you when you happen to be late on a payment for this or that. The outsides may frighten you, but the insides are just paper printed off from a lifeless machine, in turn produced from an algorithm written by a pimply programmer. It is hardly as horrifying as you think.

Look at the pain you have carried with you for years and years, because a certain event made you doubt everything you held dear. The outsides may leave you hopeless, but the insides are nothing more than things happening as they will happen, and people doing what they will do. It is hardly as traumatizing as you think.

Pardon my French, but all the big people also pass gas, stink of sweat, pick their dirty toenails, have hemorrhoids, and are slowly dying from diseases they don’t yet know they have, just like you and me.

All the big things in life are slowly crumbling, falling apart moment by moment, and will be ugly tomorrow, even as they were thought beautiful today.

And to recognize this is not a bad thing at all. It is liberation. It’s all made of the same components, and all of it comes and goes. That leaves only one thing that makes any difference, even if it too shall pass: the life lived with character while it can still be lived. That is the most practical guidance. 

Written in 12/2008

Look Within

Sayings of Socrates 3

Oh dear Pan, and all the other gods of this place, grant that I may be beautiful inside. 

Let all my external possessions be in friendly harmony with what is within. 

May I consider the wise man rich. 

As for gold, let me have as much as a moderate man could bear and carry with him.

—Socrates' prayer,  Plato, Phaedrus, 279
 

Boethius, The Consolation 3.22

“Ah! how wretched are they

whom ignorance leads astray by her crooked path!

You seek not gold upon green trees,

nor gather precious stones from vines,

nor set your nets on mountain tops

to catch the fishes for your feast,

nor hunt the Umbrian sea in search of goats.

Man knows the depths of the sea themselves,

hidden though they be beneath its waves;

he knows which water best yields him pearls,

and which the scarlet dye.

But in their blindness men are content,

and know not where lies hid the good that they desire.

They sink in earthly things, and there they seek

that which has soared above the star-lit heavens.

What can I call down upon them

worthy of their stubborn folly?

They go about in search of wealth and honors;

and only when they have by labors vast

stored up deception for themselves,

do they at last know what is their true good.”

—from Book 3, Poem 8

Though I imagine such pranks would no longer be considered acceptable in our time of heightened sensitivity, I do recall my family telling me all about the legendary 1957 April Fools’ “Spaghetti Harvest” television segment by the BBC. It showed a Swiss farming family busy gathering the bumper crop from their spaghetti trees, so grateful for the disappearance of the terrible spaghetti weevil.  The story has it that hundreds of viewers wrote in, asking if they too could grow the spaghetti tree in Britain.

I might laugh that people believed the story, but then again, I once also managed to let my own trickster of a father convince me that whether a fire engine was red or yellow depended on the first letter of the city or town it came from.

Yes, we are prone to believing all sorts of ridiculous claims. And what could be more foolish than insisting that the goal of human happiness could ever be satisfied by acquiring and hoarding things far inferior to human nature? Instead of looking higher, we stoop lower. We seek the perfect in what is inherently imperfect.

No one in his right mind thinks that gold and jewels grow on trees, or that fish are caught on mountaintops, or that goats should be bred in the sea. We all become quite expert at our particular businesses and trades, and we will know most everything about how to build a widget, or sell a doohickey, or make ourselves rich and famous by playing a certain game. We have engineering, and marketing, and politics as the refined skills of getting all of that done.

Now what is the skill of actually being human, simply for its own sake? Well, we call it philosophy, but we’ve made it into a shambles. It is neutered by doubts and excuses.

I was often worried how people spend so much time and effort on perfecting the means, while almost completely neglecting the end. I was quite wary of too much pride here, because it is hardly my place to tell other people they are confused just because we might happen to disagree.

But the problem was far deeper than that. It wasn’t just that people might have thought differently than me, but that they couldn’t seem to explain the reasons why they thought that way. There were all these theories and foundations for being successful, but there didn’t seem to be any about being good, or about actually being happy. Why, I would ask, should I pursue this one aspect of my life, and leave the other behind? I was usually met with a vacant stare.

“Well, that’s just how it’s done.”

“Without a good job, you’ll obviously be nobody!”

“What, do you want to get old without a decent retirement plan?”

“Stop asking stupid questions, and just do what you need to do.”

So if it’s popular it’s good, if it makes money it’s good, if it’s convenient it’s good, and one should act for something without understanding why one acts?

Again, we are brilliant with the means, clueless with the ends. And only when it is perhaps too late do we realize how we’ve been paying attention to all the wrong things. Remember, that’s exactly where Boethius came to be as his life was soon to end.

So I ask myself, if I won’t believe in the spaghetti tree, why am I still tempted to believe in the blessings of fortune and fame? When it comes down to it, the former is far more reasonable than the latter.

Written in 9/2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo_wkxH9dU

Ecclesiastes 5:6-10

[6] Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?
[7] For when dreams increase, empty words grow many: but do you fear God.
[8] If you see in a province the poor oppressed and justice and right violently taken away, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. 
[9] But in all, a king is an advantage to a land with cultivated fields.
[10] He who loves money will not be satisfied with money; nor he who loves wealth, with gain: this also is vanity.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.35

Loss is nothing else than change.

But the Universal Nature delights in change, and in obedience to her all things are now done well, and from eternity have been in like form, and will be such to time without end.

What, then, do you say—that all things have been and all things always will be bad, and that no power has ever been found in so many gods to rectify these things, but the world has been condemned to be bound in never ceasing evil?

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 9.35 (tr Long)

Well yes, I have sadly said exactly that to myself more times than I can count: the world is a mess, everything dies, and the only necessary thing is to accept misery.

And why did I say that, over and over? Because I wanted to surrender, because it seemed the easier choice to fall down than to stand up, because I preferred blaming others to taking a real responsibility for myself.

The world will only seem bad when we see it backwards, when we confuse what we can give with what has been given, when we replace life as a calling with life as an entitlement. Will things happen to us that hurt? Yes, of course. Will they not, however, always, without a single exception, also give us the opportunity to live with virtue and with love?

Each and every situation I have ever encountered asked me to live well, even when I denied it.

It will only appear to be “bad” or “evil” when the very function of a free and rational animal is reduced to that of a mindless beast, ruled by gratification. It is natural for sheep to be sheep, but not for men to be sheep.

“But people do terrible things!” Yes, now you yourself can do wonderful things.

“But others do not treat me fairly!” Yes, now you yourself have the gift of being fair.

“But there is death, and there is suffering, and there is loss!” Yes, there is change all around us, but you have it within your power to make your own change, for the short time that you live, to be an expression of your own compassion and concern.

Absolutely nothing is taken from us when the world changes around us, since we can consistently maintain an attitude driven by conscience and character while we still live.

This may not be character of the sweeping and epic sort, but it never needs to be; a humble and unassuming variety will do just fine. True heroes don’t necessarily change everything around them, even as they have the power to change themselves to the core.

There are many things I may think I have lost over the years. I may think I lost the dearest friendship, or I may think I lost a child, or I may think I lost the opportunities for being important, rich, and admired. Lately, I tend to worry that I will lose my very life before it’s rightful time. None of that was ever lost, or ever will be, because it was never mine to begin with.

My challenge to myself, which I will often resist with much kicking and screaming, is to recognize that nothing that is good for me can be taken away. I will only comprehend this when I in turn accept myself as a creature of action, not merely one of passion.

I will probably not win by playing the game of circumstances, even as I will always win by following the calling of virtue. That is true for each and every one of us. There is no failure, or evil, we do not choose for ourselves.

Nature works as it does for a very good reason, and it is my task to discover this instead of throwing a tantrum. I choose to trust in Providence.

A change is never an injustice; a change is an expression of growth and of transformation. Of course all these things end, but I decide who I will be in the face of those endings.

Written in 1/2016

The Art of Peace 19

Study the teachings of the pine tree, the bamboo, and the plum blossom. 

The pine is evergreen, firmly rooted, and venerable. 

The bamboo is strong, resilient, unbreakable. 

The plum blossom is hardy, fragrant, and elegant.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.34

What are these men's leading principles, and about what kinds of things are they busy, and for what kind of reasons do they love and honor?

Imagine that you see their poor souls laid bare. When they think that they do harm by their blame, or good by their praise, what an idea!

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 9.34 (tr Long)

Many people in this world will try to make you feel small, and they will usually do so because they themselves want to feel big. As difficult as it may seem, do not measure yourself by their standards, but rather look at who they truly are, as is revealed by the character of what they say and what they do. Compare this to the measure of Nature.

You will find that they are not all they make themselves out to be. When they praise themselves in public, you know that you are dealing with arrogant men. When they speak fine words but act with malice, you know that you are dealing with dishonest men. When they continually take and take without any giving anything at all, you know that you are dealing with greedy men.

This becomes all the more apparent when you discern toward what ends they commit most of their time and effort. The fact that they spend so much time in church or at public events should not mislead you, because they do that in their own service, to be revered. Trust the man who does what is good for others, never expecting to be revered.

See them as they are, not as they would wish us to see them. Observe how they try to hurt others with their words and deeds, or shame their enemies, or insist that it is always someone else’s fault. Observe how they lift up their lackeys, or give favors to their supposed friends, but only as long as it remains convenient.

Indeed, what an idea! Consider the self-conceit, and you need consider no more!

Who have I just described to myself? If I have any part in it, I know exactly where the work needs to be done. Justice starts right here at home. When I in turn see this in others, my challenge is not to twist the call of loving them into even more hatred.

There is a certain nastiness in sounding righteous while at the same time being terribly self-righteous. At one point in my past life I became quite a master of that skill, having followed all the wrong folks, and deciding that I would somehow make myself better by being full of piss and vinegar.

No good ever came from it, and no good will now ever come from it. If I spend my time being resentful, and putting down anyone who rubs me the wrong way, I have already laid bare exactly who I am. What I may have called strength was a pathetic weakness, and what I may have called conviction was the most puerile posturing.

Show me what anyone does in his daily life, regardless of his professional persona. There will be found real humanity, in all its successes and failures, stripped of all the illusions. 

Written in 12/2008 

Dhammapada 44

Who shall overcome this earth, and the world of Yama, the lord of the departed, and the world of the gods?

Who shall find out the plainly shown path of virtue, as a clever man finds out the right flower? 

Sages

Peace of Mind

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 9.33

All that you see will quickly perish, and those who have been spectators of its dissolution will very soon perish too.

And he who dies at the most extreme old age will be brought into the same condition with him who died prematurely.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 9.33 (tr Long)

There are all sorts of things in life that we are convinced we need, though it usually turns out that we only want them. I find that the distinction is far too often overlooked, and that Stoicism can help us to rightly understand it.

For the Stoic, virtue is the only absolute and unconditional good of human nature, because it is our own thoughts and actions that are distinctly our own. All other things are good for us in a relative and conditional way, in that they are only of benefit to us when they assist us in being virtuous.

Accordingly, it is said that we should be indifferent to anything other than our moral worth, free to prefer certain circumstances if they do not conflict with out character, while also immediately willing to let them go if they do conflict with our character. I may want to be rich or popular, but all of that should be secondary to my need to be good.

As soon as he was old enough to carry on a proper conversation, my son started wondering why so much of the advertising on television was about things we didn’t really need. 

Yes, I am simultaneously proud of him and fearful for him. 

One particular time when we were watching a show together, he said that the ads seemed to be directed at older people. I asked him why he thought that, and he immediately pointed out that they were about selling drugs to help us live longer.

I couldn’t resist throwing out a further question. “Well, is that something we need, or something we just want?”

He thought for a moment, and then offered an observation. “Some nice people don’t live long at all, and some mean people live for a really long time.” I do so wish that were a more common insight.

In the end, the difference between a longer life and a shorter life is not that great at all, but the difference between a virtuous life and a vicious life is quite great. We are made to be here only for a very brief time, but we are made to live well while we are here. It reflects the priority of quality over quantity, and more specifically the quality of what is inside of us over the quality of what is outside of us.

Or put another way, we will all end up in the same state, though what we did before that end will make all of the difference. 

Written in 1/2016

IMAGE: Angelo Caroselli, Allegory of Youth and Old Age (c. 1615)