Musonius Rufus, Lectures 9.8

Furthermore, it is not at all necessary for exiles to suffer ill repute because of their banishment, since everyone knows that many trials are badly judged and many people are unjustly banished from their country, and that in the past there have been cases of good men who have been exiled by their countrymen, as for example from Athens Aristides the Just, and from Ephesus Hermodorus, because of whose banishment Heraclitus bade the Ephesians, every grown man of them, to go hang themselves.

In fact some exiles even became very famous, as Diogenes of Sinope and Clearchus, the Lacedaemonian, who with Cyrus marched against Artaxerxes, not to mention more.

How, pray, could this condition in which some people have become more renowned than before be responsible for ill-repute?

Reputation can be a tricky thing, sometimes far more so than money. I see that fame can follow from character, but also that it often accompanies iniquity. It feels like character and esteem should go together, and yet some who receive it don’t deserve it, and some who deserve it don’t receive it. It really all depends on who is giving it, and why it is given.

I may become confused about what is truly good and what is merely indifferent, about how the lower must in the service of the higher, about how all other conditions only become beneficial through wisdom and virtue. I will foolishly flip around the necessary with the preferred.

Attempting to correct myself, recognizing that no further external reward is required for an internal merit, I can go too far in the other direction. I am then tempted to disregard honor entirely, along with wealth, power, or pleasure, as being closed to me. Instead of thinking of fame as morally neutral, I might begin to view it as something bad in itself, or at the very least as something that will never come my way.

Yet this does not need to be the case. Being a good man does not mean I might not also be admired, and being an exile does not mean I might not also be respected. Put in its proper context, life will continually provide me with opportunities to win praise. As long as I don’t pursue them for their own sake, I should neither reject them, nor should I assume that they are going to be withheld from me.

I suggest that much of what Musonius is doing in this lecture is trying to deter us from what we would now call a “victim mentality”. A change of circumstance or place does not need to make me fail as a human being, and it does not even need to make me fail in the eyes of my fellows.

Whatever may happen, good people will still recognize and respect the good they find in others. What the wicked think should not move us in any event.

Aristides of Athens may have found himself ostracized because of his conflicts with Themistocles, but he still maintained the integrity of his character. I have always liked the story that Aristides helped an illiterate citizen by writing down his own name on the ballot in favor of his exile. He later ended up returning to Athens, winning even greater glory in the war against the Persians.

For the followers of philosophy, Diogenes is once again an ideal example of the sort of fellow who still won the admiration of others, even when what he said and did was hardly intended to win any favor. Being ripped from his home two times, once from Sinope and once from Athens, couldn’t keep him from making his name.

In the simplest of terms, I should never assume that everything is lost, just because everything is different. I will still always have myself, and in the process of living up to myself, I may even manage to be recognized for who I am. If I am ever thought of well, let me hope it is by a few decent folks, and not by the scoundrels.

Written in 12/2016

IMAGE: Aristides the Just

Wisdom from the Early Stoics, Zeno of Citium 13

The reason he gave for this was that the man capable of giving a proper hearing to what is said and profiting by it was superior to him who discovers everything himself. For the one had merely a right apprehension, the other in obeying good counsel superadded conduct.

When he was asked why he, though so austere, relaxed at a drinking-party, he said, "Lupins too are bitter, but when they are soaked become sweet." 

Hecato too in the second book of his Anecdotes says that he indulged freely at such gatherings. And he would say, "Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue." 

"Well-being is attained by little and little, and nevertheless it is no little thing itself." (Others attribute this to Socrates.)  

—Diogenes Laërtius, 7.26

Seneca, On Peace of Mind 9.2

We never can so thoroughly defeat the vast diversity and malignity of misfortune with which we are threatened as not to feel the weight of many gusts, if we offer a large spread of canvas to the wind.

We must draw our affairs into a small compass, to make the darts of Fortune of no avail.

 For this reason, sometimes slight mishaps have turned into remedies, and more serious disorders have been healed by slighter ones.

When the mind pays no attention to good advice, and cannot be brought to its senses by milder measures, why should we not think that its interests are being served by poverty, disgrace, or financial ruin being applied to it? One evil is balanced by another.

Most everyone will talk about extending his reach, but very few will be content with simply having a firmer grip. We admire a tree that grows so very tall, while we rarely pay attention to the depth of its roots. A man will constantly be praised for what he has on the outside, and yet the content of his heart and mind are passed over.

An uncomfortable side effect of learning to think in a more Stoic manner can be a sense of alienation from popular culture, though I must remember that this inconvenience is far outweighed by the benefit of becoming more familiar with my own nature. Taking a Stoic Turn is far more than merely cosmetic.

People will speak of finding happiness in their jobs, their homes, their families, or their luxuries. As pleasing as these things will surely be, I can only think that I do not truly possess any of them at all, for how they come and go is often quite beyond my power. As satisfying as their presence certainly feels, I can only return to the fact that being happy can only be in my merit, not in the merit of anything else.

So, I attend to my own soul, while so many others attend to the impressions they make on the souls of others. I cultivate a little plot of dirt at my feet, while my neighbors buy up vast fields and orchards as far as the eye can see. I feel out of place in their eyes, even as I know I am working to find my place in Nature.

I bring to mind this image of Seneca’s, that the bigger the sail, the more the vessel will be at the mercy of the storm.

I can learn to focus on my own virtues through calm reflection, and by listening to what timeless wisdom, whatever its source, has to tell me. This is what I was made for.

Too often, however, I will become distracted by all the bright lights and loud noises, and then there is another means for me to be get back on the right path. Nature herself will correct me, by throwing misfortunes in my way, telling me that I have strayed too far from what is rightly my own.

Sometimes they are small frustrations, but if I do not heed them, there will inevitably be much greater dangers coming my way. When I start caring for what is beyond me, the new objects of my affection and concern will remind me that they are not mine to possess.

Yes, this will hurt, a bit at first, more and more if I insist on being stubborn, and yet the pain is little compared to the prospect of losing myself. Just as the lesser suffering of the cure is required to dispel the greater suffering of the disease, so a loss of circumstance can be necessary to save my soul. When I start nibbling at Fortune, Fortune bites back. I am well advised to heed the warning, and to be grateful for the lesson.

Nature never acts in vain, and for every action there will be a reaction. If I won’t heed the call of my own reason on the inside, then perhaps I will heed the warnings from the forces on the outside. To be robbed, to be mocked, to be shamed can do me good.

Written in 10/2011

Sayings of Ramakrishna 26

A man sitting under the shade of the Kalpavriksha, the wishing-tree, wished to be a king, and in an instant he was a king. 

The next moment he wished to have a charming damsel, and the damsel was instantly by his side. 

The man then thought within himself, if a tiger came and devoured him, and alas! in an instant he was in the jaws of a tiger! 

God is like that wishing-tree: whosoever in His presence thinks that he is destitute and poor, remains as such, but he who thinks and believes that the Lord fulfills all his wants, receives everything from Him.

Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy 4.30

“Thus is the world governed for the best if a directness, which rests in the intelligence of God, puts forth an order of causes that may not swerve. This order restrains by its own unchangeableness changeable things, which might otherwise run hither and thither at random.

“Wherefore in disposing the Universe this limitation directs all for good, though to you who are not strong enough to comprehend the whole order, all seems confusion and disorder.

“Nothing is there that comes to pass for the sake of evil, or due to wicked men, of whom it has been abundantly shown that they seek the good, but misleading error turns them from the right course; for never does the true order, which comes forth from the center of the highest good, turn any man aside from the right beginning.”

—from Book 4, Prose 6

Whenever I find myself burdened by doubt and despair, a moment of calm reflection will usually reveal that my problems are not with whatever may be happening, but are rather with my own estimation of their meaning.

My hasty assumption will be that there is no purpose to things, that occurrences are pointless or arbitrary, that perhaps there is no God at all, or, even worse, that He is completely indifferent to my suffering. My wallowing comes from allowing my feelings to overwhelm me, instead of letting my reason guide me through them.

How much like the troubled Boethius I actually turn out to be, and how desperately I need to listen to Lady Philosophy at those times!

What I describe as chance comes only from my ignorance of causes, for while I may not grasp the particulars, reason shows me the necessity of a universal design. What I describe as evil comes only from my ignorance of a plan, for while it may cause me pain, reason shows me that it is made to be transformed into good.

What is so variable, and appears so chaotic to me, can only proceed from what is invariable. A dog might not understand his master’s intentions, but his loyalty expresses itself in a sort of trust. Could I not, gifted further with mind and choice, express a similar trust in Providence?

Even when I face wickedness in others, however selfish or brutal, I need to remember that vice is only a misguided divergence from the good that is within our human nature. The desire is always for the good, and though ignorance has clouded this direction, ignorance calls out to be informed by wisdom.

Lies demand to be corrected by truth. Hatred waits to be consumed by love. Everything was made to be reforged and fulfilled, and every weakness provides the very opportunity to achieve that fulfillment. It is already there for the taking, if I only choose to accept it.

Will I freely cooperate with this harmony, or will I stubbornly insist on only playing my own tune? Providence will continue on her way, and it is for me to decide if I will make myself happy or miserable in relation to the whole.

I was drawn to philosophy from very early on, as soon as I could ask all those sorts of questions about “Why?” and “Why not?” Yet when I thought I might pursue the study of philosophy as a profession, I found so many of my peers already taking it for granted that such questions had no real answers.

Perhaps it had something to do with the intellectual fashion of the age, but I suspect it also reflected the very same sense of hopelessness and dread that was felt by Boethius, and can so easily gnaw at us all, in any time or place. I saw little except skepticism, relativism, and even nihilism, and the grand academic theories would rarely cross over into the needs of daily practice.

We walked about, depressed and forlorn, and we dressed for the part so very well. Were we really searching for the truth, or were we too busy feeling sorry for ourselves?

I will never find Providence at the center of things if I have already decided that there can be no center to begin with. Then I am only letting myself get in the way of truly being myself.

Written in 11/2015

IMAGE: Providentia Fountain (Donnerbrunnen), Vienna

Wise Owl . . .

Invidia rumpuntur aves neque noctua curat.

"The birds are torn apart by envy, but the owl does not care."

—Roman floor mosaic, Thysdrus (3rd century AD)

Sayings of Socrates 35

We should not then think so much of what the majority will say about us, but what he will say who understands justice and injustice, the one, that is, and the truth itself. 

So that, in the first place, you were wrong to believe that we should care for the opinion of the many about what is just, beautiful, good, and their opposites. 

—Plato, Crito 48a

Musonius Rufus, Lectures 9.7

Let me add that men who are worth anything not only easily manage well so far as the necessities of life are concerned, when they are in exile, but often acquire great fortunes.

At any rate Odysseus, in worse plight than any exile one may say, since he was alone and naked and shipwrecked, when he arrived among strangers, the Phaeacians, was nevertheless able to enrich himself abundantly.

And when Themistocles was banished from home, going to people who were not only not friendly, but actual enemies and barbarians, the Persians, he received a gift of three cities, Myus, Magnesia, and Lampsacus, as a source of livelihood.

Dio of Syracuse too, deprived by Dionysius the tyrant of all his possessions, when he was banished from his country waxed so rich in exile that he raised a mercenary army, went with it to Sicily, and freed the island of the tyrant.

Who, then, if he were in his right mind, looking at these cases would still maintain that banishment is the cause of want for all exiles? 

Even if I understand that exile can never deny me what I need, I should not assume that it must then deny me what I might prefer. My self-reliance will always provide me peace of mind, and it may also provide me with other opportunities I did not expect.

When Odysseus, shipwrecked and literally without a stitch, met Nausicaa, did he expect to find such hospitality and generosity, to be given great treasures and a fine ship to finally return him home to Ithaca? New places and new faces, however strange and frightening, can sometimes bring wealth and friendship, just as easily as they can bring poverty and loneliness.

Exile won’t necessarily make me rich, but it won’t necessarily make me poor, either. A Stoic realism about the ways of Fortune is swayed by neither a naïve optimism nor a morbid pessimism about circumstances, and is prepared to gladly accept both more or less. It is, ultimately, only my state of mind that will turn those circumstances into blessings or curses.

The Black Dog often tries to convince me that everything will be lost, and that transformation is always characterized by pain. An honest estimation of my experiences, however, tells me that this is hardly the case; sometimes my situation will indeed fall, and yet sometimes it will also rise. Whether I stayed safely at home or was cast among strangers never changed the odds. What always seemed to matter more was whether I kept my wits about me, and managed to put my values in order.

I am extremely careful about not claiming to understand precisely how Providence will unfold, yet I can’t help but notice in hindsight that whatever happened to me always seemed to have been put there for a perfectly good reason. Things only ended poorly when I made poor judgments, and even then, those very poor judgments became building blocks for future improvement.

Yes, there have been moments where I received far less than I wanted, but there were also moments where I received for more than I wanted. In the big picture, I’m not sure Fortune has either smiled or frowned on me; she has been indifferent, as I should also be when it comes to anything beyond the content of my own character.

The greater lesson for me has always been to first work on what I need, to improve the state of my soul and my virtues, and then to be completely open about getting what I might want, the state of my body and my possessions.

There is no place for demanding a worldly profit or loss, and there is no cause for expecting circumstances to be better or worse. They are not “good” or “bad” by themselves in any event, as their worth comes from their proper use. A state of exile does not alter the pattern of what I should suppose will happen.

Written in 12/2016

IMAGE: Pieter Lastman, Odysseus and Nausicaa (1619)

Tao Te Ching 60

Governing a great state is like cooking small fish.

Let the kingdom be governed according to the Tao, and the souls of the departed will not manifest their spiritual energy. 

It is not that those souls have not that spiritual energy, but it will not be employed to hurt men. 

It is not that it could not hurt men, but neither does the ruling sage hurt them.

When these two do not injuriously affect each other, their good influences converge in the virtue of the Tao.

Seneca, On Peace of Mind 9.1

Chapter 9

We shall be pleased with this measure of wealth if we have previously taken pleasure in thrift, without which no riches are sufficient, and with which none are insufficient, especially as the remedy is always at hand, and poverty itself by calling in the aid of thrift can convert itself into riches.

Let us accustom ourselves to set aside mere outward show, and to measure things by their uses, not by their ornamental trappings.

Let our hunger be tamed by food, our thirst quenched by drinking, our lust confined within needful bounds.

Let us learn to use our limbs, and to arrange our dress and way of life according to what was approved of by our ancestors, not in imitation of new-fangled models.

Let us learn to increase our continence, to repress luxury, to set bounds to our pride, to assuage our anger, to look upon poverty without prejudice, to practice thrift, albeit many are ashamed to do so, to apply cheap remedies to the wants of nature, to keep all undisciplined hopes and aspirations as it were under lock and key, and to make it our business to get our riches from ourselves and not from Fortune.

To rule over something else, I must first manage to rule myself; to be a master over much, I must first learn to be totally content with little.

Even as the common wisdom, which really shows itself to be a common ignorance, would have it that a man becomes more by having more, I should consider rather that a man becomes more by being more. If I look at the alternatives clearly, it becomes apparent that I will always find benefit if I first nurture my own character, and I will always do harm whenever I neglect it.

If I am nothing in myself, then you could take away anything else, and I would be quite miserable. You could give also me everything else, and I would still be miserable.

If I am something in myself, then you could give me anything else, and I would be quite happy. You could also take away everything else, and I would still be happy.

The best training for happiness may well be to receive fewer windfalls from Fortune, since by these means I can become at peace with being self-reliant. After that, the rest can take care of itself.

Could it be done in reverse, from the outside in? A better man than me might manage to resist the lure of making his life contingent upon conditions, but I know I would likely botch it up. The cure for dependency sometimes begins with some cold turkey.

Of all the classical virtues, we will still praise a sort of wisdom, at least in the sense that we think it good to figure out how things work.

We will still praise a sort of justice, at least in the sense of raising our fists to get what we think we deserve.

We will still praise a sort of fortitude, at least in the sense of puffing up our chests against our enemies.

But when was the last time you saw something approximating temperance? I don’t mean in the sense of dieting to look attractive, or being picky about sex to avoid a disease, or adjusting our incomes to save on taxes. These aren’t even approximations; they are just mockeries, ordered to giving up one pleasure for the sake of another.

No, I mean someone who says, and actually means, something like this:

“I will surrender all that stuff out there, so that I can try to become stronger in here.”

No more mouthing off. Remain silent and be at peace.

No more pigging out. Fuel the body, do not feed gratification.

No more lusting. Only loving.

No more appearances. Only content.

Replace being moved with moving. Let the head guide the gut, not the gut enslave the head. Expect less, and then give more. Discover beauty in the dignity of the person, instead of reducing the person to a tool.

Become rich in the soul by gently but firmly reminding the body to stay poor in its rightful place.

Written in 10/2011

Important

Birth

Difficult

Doctrine

The Wisdom of Solomon 3:10-19

[10] But the ungodly will be punished as their reasoning deserves,
who disregarded the righteous man and rebelled
against the Lord;
[11] for whoever despises wisdom and instruction is miserable.
Their hope is vain, their labors are unprofitable,
and their works are useless.
[12] Their wives are foolish, and their children evil;
[13] their offspring are accursed.
For blessed is the barren woman who is undefiled,
who has not entered into a sinful union;
she will have fruit when God examines souls.
[14] Blessed also is the eunuch whose hands have
done no lawless deed,
and who has not devised wicked things against the Lord;
for special favor will be shown him for his faithfulness,
and a place of great delight in the temple of the Lord.
[15] For the fruit of good labors is renowned,
and the root of understanding does not fail.
[16] But children of adulterers will not come to maturity,
and the offspring of an unlawful union will perish.
[17] Even if they live long they will be held of no account,
and finally their old age will be without honor.
[18] If they die young, they will have no hope
and no consolation in the day of decision.
[19] For the end of an unrighteous generation is grievous.

Stoic Snippets 21

As surgeons keep their instruments and knives always at hand for cases requiring immediate treatment, so should you have your thoughts ready to understand things divine and human, remembering in your every act, even the smallest, how close is the bond that unites the two. 

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 3.13

Trivial

The Art of Peace 51

There are no contests in the Art of Peace.

A true warrior is invincible because he or she contests with nothing.  

Defeat means to defeat the mind of contention that we harbor within.

Musonius Rufus, Lectures 9.6

It is not true, moreover, that exiles lack the very necessities of life.

To be sure men who are idle and unresourceful and unable to play the part of a man are generally in want and without resources even when they are in their own country, but energetic and hardworking and intelligent men, no matter where they go, fare well and live without want.

We do not feel the lack of many things unless we wish to live luxuriously:

"For what do mortals need beside two things only,

The bread of Demeter and a drink of the Water-carrier,

Which are at hand and have been made to nourish us?"

I am immediately suspicious when people tell me that if I am just smart enough, dedicated enough, and work hard enough, life will give me everything I could ever want.

I question this not because I am lazy, or because I don’t think Nature provides in full, but because I wish to make certain that what I choose to want is actually in harmony with what I truly need.

It is an all-too-familiar image, the fellow who says that he started a company from his mother’s garage, and now his logo sits on top of a New York skyscraper. He wishes to assure his disciples that success is within their grasp, that diligence and innovation will produce riches, respect, and power. The forces of the marketplace gave him what he wanted, he insists, because he wanted it badly enough.

I also notice an oddly equivalent spiritual version of this claim, where a supposed purity of faith will surely express itself in a worldly prosperity. God will make us happy if we love Him enough, the preacher says, and that is why God will shower us with good fortune. The preacher’s own comforts and luxuries must be the proof of it all.

I do not wish to diminish the commitment and achievements of either the businessman or the preacherman, and life may well have unfolded with such concurrences for them, but hard experience will tell us that it will not always work out that way for everyone else.

You know as well as I do that Fortune does not follow from merit, and that the richest of people are not necessarily the best of people, just as the poorest of people are not necessarily the worst of people.

The problems all arise when we misunderstand the measure of life’s rewards, because we misunderstand the very calling of human nature. Musonius isn’t saying that we will be swimming in money as soon as we put our minds to it, but that Nature gives us all we require if we are rightly resourceful. These are not the same things at all, despite what popular opinion might say.

Everything here depends on what we would consider to be necessary for a good life. I will tend to want far more than I need, and I will tend to look to what I have received over what I have done. The Stoic Turn makes it possible to be happy with fewer things, since I can find peace and contentment in what comes from inside of me.

Success is in human excellence, not in accumulating luxuries. My sense of entitlement will resist, but bread and water are enough for the body. For all of my complaining, I have never been without them for too long.

What is sufficient for the soul? My vanity will resist, but understanding and love are enough for the soul.

“Well, what if, despite all of your resourcefulness, they deny you your bread and water in exile? Then you will go thirsty and starve! Where will your success be then?”

I would not prefer it, and I imagine I would be quite insufferable for a time because of it, but dying, when the time must come, can also offer the opportunity for understanding and love, just as much as living can.

Nature always gives me what I need, as long as I know to pursue the right wants.

Written in 12/2016

Butterflies

M.C. Escher, Circle Limit with Butterflies (1950)