Chuang Tzu 1.3

In the questions put by Thang to Kì we have similar statements: 

"In the bare and barren north there is the dark and vast ocean—the Pool of Heaven. In it there is a fish, several thousand lì in breadth, while no one knows its length. Its name is the Khwan. There is also a bird named the Phang; its back is like the Thâi mountain, while its wings are like clouds all round the sky. On a whirlwind it mounts upwards as on the whorls of a goat's horn for 90,000 lì, till, far removed from the cloudy vapors, it bears on its back the blue sky, and then it shapes its course for the South, and proceeds to the ocean there." 

A quail by the side of a marsh laughed at it, and said, "Where is it going to? I spring up with a bound, and come down again when I have reached but a few fathoms, and then fly about among the brushwood and bushes; and this is the perfection of flying. Where is that creature going to?" This shows the difference between the small and the great.

Thus it is that men, whose wisdom is sufficient for the duties of some one office, or whose conduct will secure harmony in some one district, or whose virtue is befitting a ruler so that they could efficiently govern some one state, are sure to look on themselves in this manner, like the quail, and yet Yung-tsze of Sung would have smiled and laughed at them. 

This Yung-tsze, though the whole world should have praised him, would not for that have stimulated himself to greater endeavor, and though the whole world should have condemned him, would not have exercised any more repression of his course; so fixed was he in the difference between the internal judgment of himself and the external judgment of others, so distinctly had he marked out the bounding limit of glory and disgrace. Here, however, he stopped. His place in the world indeed had become indifferent to him, but still he had not planted himself firmly in the right position.

There was Lieh-tsze, who rode on the wind and pursued his way, with an admirable indifference to all external things, returning, however, after fifteen days, to his place. In regard to the things that are supposed to contribute to happiness, he was free from all endeavors to obtain them; but though he had not to walk, there was still something for which he had to wait.

But suppose one who mounts on the ether of heaven and earth in its normal operation, and drives along the six elemental energies of the changing seasons, thus enjoying himself in the illimitable—what has he to wait for? 

Therefore it is said, "The Perfect man has no thought of self; the Spirit-like man, none of merit; the Sagely-minded man, none of fame."

 

Dhammapada 149

Those white bones, like gourds thrown away in the autumn, what pleasure is there in looking at them?

Seneca, Moral Letters 14.8

One must therefore take refuge in philosophy; this pursuit, not only in the eyes of good men, but also in the eyes of those who are even moderately bad, is a sort of protecting emblem. 

 

For speechmaking at the bar, or any other pursuit that claims the people's attention, wins enemies for a man; but philosophy is peaceful and minds her own business. Men cannot scorn her; she is honored by every profession, even the vilest among them. Evil can never grow so strong, and nobility of character can never be so plotted against, that the name of philosophy shall cease to be worshipful and sacred.

 

A passage like this will confuse many readers, since it seems like the exact opposite is the case, that philosophers are met with confusion at best, and derision at worst. 

 

I will always remember the look of disappointment, perhaps even contempt, on the face of the mother of a girl I fancied, when I told her I was studying philosophy and history. “Well, I guess you might not be smart enough to become a doctor like my husband, but maybe you could manage to become a lawyer? Why waste your life?”

 

The problem, of course, is what we really mean by being a philosopher. Are we referring to philosophy as a worldly career, as just another means for acquiring wealth and status? If so, the protective mother was quite right, because that sort of professional academic will never have a place high up in the hierarchy of important people, as much as he might wish to think he does. 

 

Yet philosophy can mean something far more fundamental, compared to which the trappings of a job or the accumulation of honors are quite insignificant. Whatever else his circumstances may be, the philosopher sees that wisdom is the only currency that counts, and that the improvement of his own character is his greatest calling. Epictetus was such a philosopher, though he was only a slave. Marcus Aurelius was such a philosopher, though he was only an emperor. 

 

However else a stuffy scholar can come across, most people will still have an immediate respect for someone who passes through this life with understanding and with love, regardless of his trade. True philosophy is about our human calling, and it speaks to our instinctive need for meaning and purpose. You know it right away when you find it. 

 

The best will stand in awe of the sage, the conflicted will find inspiration in him, and even the worst will hesitate to do him any harm, sensing the touch of the divine in him. Even if they do persecute him, the way he responds can only fill them with a sense of shame. 

 

Lawyers, politicians, or celebrities can win many admirers, but the very nature of their game will also inspire many profound resentments. The philosopher can avoid much of that, for he is completely uninterested in playing such a game. 

 

Finding a refuge in philosophy is primarily about finding a peace within oneself, and yet it doesn’t hurt that it also helps to encourage being at peace with others. 

Written in 6/2012

IMAGE: Auguste Rodin, The Thinker in the Gates of Hell (1904)

Owl Upon the Grave Marker

Caspar David Friedrich, Owl Upon the Grave Marker (c. 1837)

 

Owl Flying Against a Moonlit Sky

Caspar David Friedrich, Owl Flying Against a Moonlit Sky (c. 1837)

 

Owl in a Gothic Window

 

Caspar David Friedrich, Owl in a Gothic Window (c. 1836)

 

Wisdom from the Bhagavad Gita 36

The Blessed Lord said:

1. Again, O mighty-armed, do you listen to My supreme word, which I, wishing your welfare, will tell you who are delighted to hear Me.

2. Neither the hosts of Devas, nor the great Rishis, know My origin, for in every way I am the source of all the Devas and the great Rishis.

3. He who knows Me, birthless and beginningless, the great Lord of worlds—he, among mortals, is undeluded, he is freed from all sins.

4-5. Intellect, knowledge, non-delusion, forbearance, truth, restraint of the external senses, calmness of heart, happiness, misery, birth, death, fear, as well as fearlessness, non-injury, evenness, contentment, austerity, benevolence, good name, as well as ill-fame—these different kinds of qualities of beings arise from Me alone.

6. The seven great Rishis as well as the four ancient Manus, possessed of powers like Me due to their thoughts being fixed on Me, were born of My mind; from them are these creatures in the world.

7. He who in reality knows these manifold manifestations of My being and this Yoga power of Mine, becomes established in the unshakable Yoga; there is no doubt about it.

8. l am the origin of all, from Me everything evolves—thus thinking the wise worship Me with loving consciousness.

9. With their minds wholly in Me, with their senses absorbed in Me, enlightening one another, and always speaking of Me, they are satisfied and delighted.

10. To them, ever steadfast and serving Me with affection, I give that Buddhi Yoga by which they come unto Me.

11. Out of mere compassion for them, I, abiding in their hearts, destroy the darkness in them born of ignorance, by the luminous lamp of knowledge. 

—Bhagavad Gita, 10:1-11

Sayings of Publilius Syrus 11

Hard is it to correct a habit already formed.

Seneca, Moral Letters 14.7

Next, we must follow the old adage and avoid three things with special care: hatred, jealousy, and scorn. And wisdom alone can show you how this may be done. 

 

It is hard to observe a mean; we must be wary of letting the fear of jealousy lead us into becoming objects of scorn, lest, when we choose not to stamp others down, we let them think that they can stamp us down. 

 

The power to inspire fear has caused many men to be in fear. Let us withdraw ourselves in every way; for it is as harmful to be scorned as to be admired.

 

Instead of rushing headlong into trouble, let me consider how I can let it pass by me. There is no wisdom in going against things when I could go with them, and no courage in fighting for the sake of fighting. 

 

I cannot determine what obstacles I will face, for while my own judgments are within my power, the judgements of others are not. Nevertheless, I can most certainly do my best to discourage the wrath in others. As Seneca says, the presence of hatred, jealousy, and scorn are surefire invitations to conflict. When these rear their ugly heads, it is best to get out of the way. 

 

Prudence is never merely about the theory, about grasping the principle; it further requires the practice, an ability to exercise a truth in changing circumstances. Accordingly, doing the right thing will always involve a delicate act of estimation, where habit becomes the best teacher. Maintaining the balance can be precarious, and it is often hindsight alone that keeps me from making the same mistake twice. 

 

There are so many possible dilemmas to face, but Seneca provides a very helpful example. Imagine that you are concerned about another becoming envious of what you possess, and so you make a point of appearing humble instead of proud. 

 

Push this just a bit too far, however, and you may well find yourself looking like a weakling. Now the vicious man is no longer worried about you being better than him, and he has turned to scheming about all the ways he can take advantage of your being lesser than him. 

 

Go the other way, by putting your foot down, and now you are the one who come across as the hated tyrant. Envy on the right hand, scorn on the left hand. Is there any way out of this mess?

 

No, in the sense that the world won’t change for us. Yes, in the sense that we can adapt ourselves to the world. 

 

For the Stoic, “withdrawing” from the world does not demand isolation. Rather, it means facing these trials with the assurance that there is a place inside of you that no one else can violate, a base from which you can still reach out, but to which you can always return safe and secure. 

Written in 6/2012

IMAGE: Jacob Matham, Envy (c. 1587)

Wisdom from the Early Cynics, Antisthenes 12

Diocles records the following sayings of Antisthenes: 

To the wise man nothing is foreign or impracticable. 

A good man deserves to be loved. 

Men of worth are friends. 

Make allies of men who are at once brave and just. 

Virtue is a weapon that cannot be taken away. 

It is better to be with a handful of good men fighting against all the bad, than with hosts of bad men against a handful of good men. 

Pay attention to your enemies, for they are the first to discover your mistakes. 

Esteem an honest man above a kinsman. 

Virtue is the same for women as for men. 

Good actions are fair and evil actions foul. 

Count all wickedness foreign and alien.

Wisdom is a most sure stronghold, which never crumbles away nor is betrayed. 

Walls of defense must be constructed in our own impregnable reasonings.

—Diogenes Laërtius, 6.12-13

Wisdom from the Early Stoics, Zeno of Citium 36

Division of a genus means dissection of it into its proximate species, thus: Animals are either rational or irrational (dichotomy). 

Contrary division dissects the genus into species by contrary qualities: for example, by means of negation, as when all things that are, are divided into good and not good. 

Subdivision is division applied to a previous division: for instance, after saying, "Of things that are, some are good, some are not good," we proceed, "and of the not good, some are bad, some are neither good nor bad (morally indifferent)."

Partition in logic is (according to Crinis) classification or distribution of a genus under heads: for instance, Of goods some are mental, others bodily.

—Diogenes Laërtius, 7.61-62

Sayings of Ramakrishna 107

The sage alone can recognize a sage. 

He who deals in cotton twists can alone tell of what number and quality a particular twist is made.

Seneca, Moral Letters 14.6

We should therefore look about us, and see how we may protect ourselves from the mob. And first of all, we should have no cravings like theirs; for rivalry results in strife. 

 

Again, let us possess nothing that can be snatched from us to the great profit of a plotting foe. Let there be as little booty as possible on your person. 

 

No one sets out to shed the blood of his fellow men for the sake of bloodshed—at any rate very few. More murderers speculate on their profits than give vent to hatred. If you are empty-handed, the highwayman passes you by; even along an infested road, the poor may travel in peace. 

 

When others do me wrong, my first instinct may be to respond in kind. My hope is that I can defeat them by returning more of the same, and that by being stronger than them, I will somehow become better than them. 

 

If I take a moment for understanding, instead of just for feeling, I will realize that I have been completely defeated, because by allowing myself to act unjustly, I myself have now become one of the unjust. I would have saved myself much grief by remembering an expression I was taught as a child: two wrongs don’t make a right. 

 

If I don’t want to be a wicked man, I will hardly achieve this by thinking wicked thoughts and committing wicked deeds. The better way, as Marcus Aurelius said, is to be unlike the offender. Don’t follow that same path, as it must lead to the very same ruin. 

 

Unreflective people, who are easily drawn into herds, pursue pleasure, money, and fame, and the sense that I no longer “belong” to them might take some getting used to. Nevertheless, in standing for myself, and hence belonging to Nature, I will desire very different things. Parting ways about our values, we are not in competition, and so there is no need to fight with them. 

 

I must continue to offer them my hand, but our wants have ceased to be aligned. What does the one have that the other could covet? They have worked to accumulate more, while I have worked to be content with little, and they are likely to overlook my meager possessions. If they do happen to pay attention to my trinkets, I am still far better prepared for losing them than they are for gaining them. 

 

Yes, this can only be possible if I have made a full Stoic Turn, not one of half measures, and yes, there will still be critical times when I must stand up for my need in the face of their greed. Through it all, however, I have made myself so small in their eyes that I am hardly worth their scrutiny or efforts, and in this I can find some peace of mind. 

 

By far the most common kinds of injustice are committed by grasping men who can’t bear to see someone else with something that they crave. I could always try to stop them, or I could also try to stop myself from playing their game to begin with. 

 

What about those who are simply gratified by violence for its own sake? They are much more difficult to avoid, and thus far more terrifying, but even their barbarity does not justify becoming barbaric. 

Written in 6/2012

  

 

Stoic Snippets 95

How cruel it is not to allow men to strive after the things which appear to them to be suitable to their nature and profitable! 

And yet in a manner you do not allow them to do this, when you are vexed because they do wrong. 

For they are certainly moved towards things because they suppose them to be suitable to their nature and profitable to them.

"But it is not so!"

Teach them then, and show them without being angry.

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6.27

Fractals 16

Seneca, Moral Letters 14.5

When you travelled to Sicily, you crossed the Straits. The reckless pilot scorned the blustering South Wind—the wind which roughens the Sicilian Sea and forces it into choppy currents; he sought not the shore on the left, but the strand hard by the place where Charybdis throws the seas into confusion. 

 

Your more careful pilot, however, questions those who know the locality as to the tides and the meaning of the clouds; he holds his course far from that region notorious for its swirling waters. 

 

Our wise man does the same; he shuns a strong man who may be injurious to him, making a point of not seeming to avoid him, because an important part of one's safety lies in not seeking safety openly; for what one avoids, one condemns.

 

I act poorly when I act rashly, and I act rashly when I do not temper my passions with reason. Bravery is confused with bravado, calm is replaced by carelessness, and caution gives way to negligence. 

 

I can hardly be a bigger man if I do not first know how to be a better man. I see it all around me, this assumption that throwing one’s weight about will put the world in its place, and it only ends in tragedy for all involved. There is no heroism in raising my hand to a freight train, and no point will be proven by leaping from a cliff. 

 

I have little direct experience with seamanship, though I do understand the prudence of carefully navigating through all the dangers ahead of me. My own analogy, which I must reflect upon every day, is the hazard of driving on America’s highways. 

 

The loss of life and limb on the roads is already bad enough, though I can only wonder why it isn’t far worse, given how often I see a reckless fellow speeding and weaving along in a ton of metal, so eager to gratify his urgency, regardless of the foolish risk he takes. I suppose he believes that he is in control, but he is not even in control of himself, let alone of his vehicle. Whatever he may think, he is not invincible. 

 

I now see a twisted wreck on the side of the street most every day. I am acutely aware that I won’t be able to stop other drivers from being senseless, though I do not need to be senseless myself. 

 

So it is in all aspects of life. Stay clear of the bully and the braggart, just as you would give way when that eighteen-wheeler is running a stop sign. Don’t make a scene about being defiant, just as you shouldn’t flip the finger at an angry driver. 

 

Whenever possible, do not cross paths with the selfish and the brutish, just as no good will come from yelling and cursing at someone who has rear-ended you because he was chatting on his phone. 

 

The more you draw attention to yourself, the more you are egging him on. Find contentment in anonymously being the better man. Avoid smugly basking in your righteousness, and certainly don’t show him any fear, as this gives him an excuse to focus his resentment directly upon you. 

 

“But he’s done me wrong, and I need to give him a piece of my mind!”

 

He has no concern for your mind, and you are only increasing the chance that he will introduce you to his fists. You need to do nothing except manage your own character. 

Written in 6/2012

IMAGE: Henry Fuseli, Odysseus in front of Scylla and Charybdis (c. 1796)

Michael Leunig 24

Dhammapada 148

This body is wasted, full of sickness, and frail; this heap of corruption breaks to pieces, life indeed ends in death.

IMAGE: Nadar, Victor Hugo on his Deathbed (1885)

Seneca, Moral Letters 14.4

Let us, therefore, see to it that we abstain from giving offense. 

 

It is sometimes the people that we ought to fear; or sometimes a body of influential oligarchs in the Senate, if the method of governing the State is such that most of the business is done by that body; and sometimes individuals equipped with power by the people and against the people. It is burdensome to keep the friendship of all such persons; it is enough not to make enemies of them. 

 

So the wise man will never provoke the anger of those in power; no, he will even turn his course, precisely as he would turn from a storm if he were steering a ship.

 

At first, this may seem a bit confusing. On the one hand, I am to believe that courage is an essential Stoic virtue, that I should be willing to face any obstacle to do what is right, and yet on the other hand, I am now told that it is best to duck and cover, to avoid any danger to begin with. Which is it? 

 

As I have found time and time again, I am seeing a contradiction where none is present, because I am not looking at the problem in the higher context of virtue as my responsibility. There is a world of difference between doing what is necessary and seeking out quite unnecessary conflicts for myself. 

 

I must surely act with courage when painful things happen to me, though it is self-destructive to stir up painful things that hardly need to happen. 

 

Why poke at the hornet’s nest when I could just as easily walk around it? The prudent man confronts trouble with principle, but he first prefers to stay out of trouble. 

 

How can I discern that difference, especially in the heat of the moment? My own motives will often give me a sign. I ought to distinguish between acting from conscience, where I am in service to what is right, and acting from pride, where I am expecting to be served by making a scene. To use the old phrase, it is like the contrast between ending a fight and picking a fight. 

 

I will indeed come across some people who hold a resentment against me, for whatever reason, and it will do me no good to urge them along. Most people, however, will be quite oblivious to me, unless, of course, I deliberately point to something about myself that offends them. There is no bravery in painting a target on my back. 

 

I must be wary of the will of the mob, because it is easily inflamed and hardily resistant to reason. 

 

The rich and powerful are used to having their way, and in many cases I can let them continue with their follies, since they are of no value to me. 

 

The bureaucrats and holders of high office like to feel important, so let them parade about. I do not have to seek their approval. 

 

Let me offer friendship to all, but let me not think that they will be friends in return, or that I can please all of the people all of the time. If I must stand up to them, I had better be sure that I am fighting for something worthwhile, where my character itself is at stake, not my vanity. 

 

Pick your battles, in the knowledge that, unlike the agile and wiry cat, you have only one life to live. Or, to mix my animal metaphors, let those sleeping dogs lie. 

Written in 6/2012

 

Twain and Peterson

I have long admired Mark Twain, not because of any political trends, from either the right or the left, but because he always seemed to me a profoundly wise and decent man. Character trumps tribalism.

I also have a powerful love for Peterson pipes, a matter of preference, surely, but I find it no accident that, as the old advert used to say, the thinking man smokes a Peterson pipe.

When one of my favorite writers happens to smoke my favorite pipe, I know that there is a God. 

As silly as it might sound, an old photo of Twain chomping on a Peterson tells me that the world isn't half as bad as I would like to believe. A fellow who can enjoy a good smoke, and knows the right vehicle for the smoking, is clearly a fellow who has his head on straight. 

What? Smoking will kill me? Perhaps, but I refuse to engage in your battle. You think that living longer is best, and I think that living better is best. 

Twain himself said it nicely:

I don’t want any of your statistics; I took your whole batch and lit my pipe with it. I hate your kind of people. You are always ciphering how much a man’s health is injured, and how much his intellect is impaired, and how many pitiful dollars and cents he wastes in the course of ninety-two years’ indulgence in the fatal practice of smoking. . . . And you never try to find out how much solid comfort, relaxation, and enjoyment a man derives from smoking in the course of a lifetime (which is worth ten times the money he would save by letting it alone), nor the appalling aggregate of happiness lost in a lifetime by your kind of people from not smoking.

Smoking pot is now cool and healthy, and I wish you the best of luck with it. Please leave me alone with my own humble enjoyment. 

You always tell me that my kind should die off, that my views mean I have no right to live, so why should you object to my pipe a day? By your worship of holy science, it will rid you of me all the quicker,

I understand. You so love what is in fashion, that you must hate what is out of fashion. You cannot bear a man who is not exactly like you. This is why I love Mark Twain over a gutless follower.

One of my greatest treasures is a set of two Peterson pipes given to me by my parents. It includes a reproduction of a system pipe that Mark Twain himself smoked, as well as a poker meant to evoke the corncob pipes that Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer would have smoked by the river. 

It has taken me twenty years, but I have learned to smoke my pipe with moderation and with peace. I wish that sort of contentment for everyone, and I wish to deny it to no one. 

I remain convinced that almost all of our problems come from bossy people trying to tell other people what to do. Twain understood that we should allow people to live on their own terms. That makes him a hero for me.

—3/2017