Stoic Poetry

As you may (or may not know, and may or may not care) I am an amateur poet (some would consider me a rank amateur). I recently came across a truly horrible little book, where the author had attempted to convert passages of Marcus Aurelius into verse. Of course, I immediately decided to join him (well, not immediately). While reading Seneca (Loeb edition - R. Gummere trans.), I came across a passage that had a very poetic feel to it. So, of course, since I am not one to leave well enough alone, I have expressed the passage in Sonnet (modified Petrarchan, if anyone cares).

What follows is the passage then the poem.

"And so we should love all of our dear ones, both those whom, by the condition of birth, we hope will survive us, and those whose own most just prayer is to pass on before us, but always with the thought that we have no promise that we may keep them forever -nay, no promise even that we may keep them for long. Often must the heart be reminded - it must remember that loved objects will surely leave, nay,  are already leaving. Take whatever Fortune gives, remembering that it has no voucher. Snatch the pleasures your children bring, let your children, in turn, find delight in you, and drain joy to the dregs without delay; no promise has been given you for this night - nay, I have offered too long a respite! - no promise has been given even for this hour."

SENECA: TO MARCIA ON CONSOLATION, x. 3, 4

Fortune's Gifts

So we should love those dearest to our heart,
Both young and old, whose lives we would prolong.
No hope have we that we will never part, 

None even that we keep them very long.

How often must the heart reminded be
that those we love will surely someday leave?
They are already leaving, don't you see?
For Fortune’s gifts no voucher we receive.

So drain the cup of joy without delay,
No promise has been given for this night.
Nay, I have offered too long a respite!
No promise has been given for this day!

Snatch now the pleasures that your children bring
That through delight in you their hearts can sing!

We ARE All Connected

I was studying for the Sellars questionaire (section 3 on Physics). To deepen it, I have also been reading to White (Cambridge Companion to the Stoics) and Sandback (The Stoics). I was reading the sections on tensions (hexis, phusism, psuche) as well as those on the classical elements (fire, water, earth and air). There was some talk of the creative fire, the great conflagration, the 'not-something' status of surfaces and the Stoic theory of interconnectedness and harmony of the cosmos.

As I tried to combine these ideas into a single, unified system in my mind, I was reminded of images I have seen describing the electro-magnetic spectrum, a wide stripe of multiple shades and colours, strecthed out in a linear pattern.

Think of Stoic tonos as tensions (more easily visualized as concentrations) of the 'stuff' of the cosmos, and then plot the increasing tension on a similar stripe, like the bands of frequencies in the EM Spectrum. The very top of the scale would represent the complete attenuation of the cosmos into pure logos or pneuma, as described during the great conflagration. This is the universe at its most basic energy, as super-strings or even the energy that strings are composed of, and occupying the greatest volume (reminiscent of the theories regarding the ever increasingly fast expansion of the universe). The very bottom of the scale, the Stoic passive princple, is the singularity that exists before the moment of creation, the ultimate concentration of all cosmos at the beginning of the big bang, occupying the least possible volume, possibly even to the level of the Dirac constant. Stretched along the continuum between these two points in a widening stream (to reflect the overall increase of volume), from bottom to top, are hexis, phusis, psuche, even logike psuche as regions or overlapping bands along the continum, where the fabric of the universe is concentrated at different tensions. Even within hexis, we can place the four basics states of matter, solid [elemental earth], liquid [elemental water], gas [elemental air], and plasma [elemental fire]. These are not absolutes (as the ancient Greeks believed) but points again along a continuum. The various combinations of concentrations through the cosmos give us the myriads of materials and forces that constitute our cosmos.

Given the Stoic rejection of the corporeality of surfaces, and the subsequent research into subatomic particle, we are litterally merely thicker parts of the cosmos, swiming in a soup of matter. In my minds eye the entire universe looks like pointillist or impressionistic paintings, perhaps as envisioned by Van Gogh, Monet and Degas.

Now I am not trying to say that the Stoics foresaw all of this, but rather that their cosmology, their physics, on which their ethics are based, can be modernized without sacrificing much of the ethics that stand on it. We can still live a rational, ethical life, and live according to nature, using the most up to date science, much like the Stoics did in their day.

On the Meaning of Death

This morning, on my way to work, driving down Sussex, I noticed a memorial that had been erected outside the Lester B. Pearson building. From the brief glance I got of it, it was a multi-speed bicycle, completely spray-painted a mat white. This was tied to a lamp-post, along with a large wreath, some ribbons etc. This was the site where an STO driver hit and killed a cyclist. It seemed to be a remembrance of this woman's death. I know no other details of this person's life, and not many seem to have been handed out. By contrast, I recalled another death, that of a young girl struck by a drunk driver, who was also cycling. The outrage poured out as a result of this tragedy was focused on making this girl the poster child against drunk driving. The father of this young girl was quoted as saying that, by contrast, he didn't want his daughter's life defined by the moment or method of her death, but rather, that her life be measured by her accomplishments and her potential.

As a Stoic, I was reminded that death is not an evil thing, whether it is a sudden, 'un-natural' death, like these two were victims of, or one that come after a long life. It isn't death that makes a life worthwhile, but the life that led up to it. The moment by moment, choice by choice building of our lives, the victories and losses, the valiant stands and courageous retreats, these are what make a life. Not the death.

So many have said "I would die for this," as if it would make their commitment meaningful. Better to say, "I will live for this," and bend all of your will and energies to it. Then, when death comes, your life will have been lived, and you will have fulfilled the promise you were born to.