Final Mneme - The Last SES Assignment

I have been undertaking for the last year or so, a study of Stoic principles through the New Stoa. Today marks the submission of my final exercise, the mneme. This is intended to be a memory aid, of my own creation, to assist me in bringing to mind the principles I have learned through my reading and studies.

The Virtues great today will I express
To choose my acts to benefit mankind
And work to help all men learn happiness
For only then will I find peace of mind

I will my fate entrust to thought Divine
To guide my steps to follow Nature's way
And let my light upon the world to shine
That when I pass I will have lived each day

With clarity all judgements I review
And in the present ever mindful be
That I may always say that which is true
And thus the path to wisdom I will see

These are the words I repeat morning and night, and sometimes throughout the day. They are added to the other reminders I have put in place to keep me conscious of my oaths.

Between Ancient and Dead

Pam and I have been struggling, wrestling even with our search for  Rule of Life that would be rational, compassionate, and fulfilling. Most revealed religions were passed by, not because of their tenets or life-styles, but by the appeal to the supernatural to fill the gaps. Organized atheism and secular humanism spent most of their time focused on religion as well, strangely enough. So when we stumbled upon Stoicism about a decade ago, we though this just might be 'it'. Rational (check) as far as rationality could go. Even the most disruptive emotions were explained by bad judgments. Compassionate (check) because we are all one, each of connected to each other and to the universe itself in a chain of unbroken relationships. And fulfilling (double check) due to some of the most uplifting and beautiful reflections of reality we have ever come across.

Recent events in some Stoic online groups have left the idea of a virtual community in question. The real issue though is the continuing perception that because of the fragmentary nature of the record, the distance in time, place and culture, and more recent theories about optimal human function mean that the Stoic path is not a viable one. Leaving aside the incessant grinding of minutiae on the International Stoic Forum, there is some validity to these concerns.

But here is the reality. Stoicism isn't a religion, with the need for plenary innerancy in it's supporting documents. Nor does it require flawless saints and leaders to shepherd the hapless flock. It is a series of documents, letters, journals, student notes, with common themes. That we can live our lives rationally, without fear or apprehension, without debilitating grief or guilt, and with joy and optimism. That we can love and give with great compassion, because it is what we do that matters, not whether some other deserves eternal punishment for abrogating some minute religious law, and that each day is an opportunity to challenge the 'that is the way it has always been' as well as the vicissitudes of fate. That we can be fulfilled, mindful of the present blessings, understanding beauty and goodness, feeling life all around us, and being grateful for the moment.

This is was Stoicism has offered us. This is living philosophy, and a philosophy of life. While it is ancient, it is also growing, and changing, and making lives meaningful today.

Getting Myself Committed

Confirmation comes in strange clothes. This blog is about my personal journey, and so the only ones I expected to have any real interest are my friends and family. Imagine my surprise when I received a comment from a new contributor to yesterday's blog. The comments were positive, encouraging and served to confirm my resolve to resolve to commit.

The idea of having commitment as my personal theme for 2010 really only coalesced at the end of yesterday's blog. I think that validates the psychological practice of 'talking it out.' So if 2009 was the 'Year of Change,' which had the result of not changing a damned thing, then 2010, as the 'Year of Commitment,' is going to change everything. As a Stoic, I just love paradoxes.

So here are the things that I am doing right now, that I am going to keep doing throughout the year.

1. I am currently working on the DP, and will complete it by year's end.
2. I have already started the Olympian Oracle, to prepare it for publication. That is also to be done by year's end.
3. Complete the Oak Leaves submissions on time for the balance of the year. I have to get to work on this one, as the blue line for the Spring issue is due in a few days.
4. I have made some significant progress on the Stoic Studies program with Erik at the College. I am going to complete this, which shouldn't take more the 4 - 5 months. Afterwards, I am going to continue working through the yet to be developed Stoic Mentorship program.
5. Pam and I have decided to work our way through some personal Stoic studies. We will start the year off with Keith's Stoic Serenity course, and when that is complete, work on William's Guide to the Good Life. This may not take us to the end of the year, but some other course may come up in the meantime to flesh it out. The point is that we study, deeply, together.
6. Words of the Ancient Wise. Everyday, alone or together.
7. This Blog, 3 times/week minimum. I have already experience of the power of writing, beyond mere catharsis.
8. Renovations to the upstairs of the house. With the holidays over, there are simply no excuses for not finishing what we started.
9. Health. This one is a bit of a stretch, but I might just try to shoehorn it in. The car broke down this week (New Year's Eve) and we decided to go car-less, for the time being at least. This means more walking (a lot more!). I am also going to be taking the bus to and from work. The extension of more activity in my life seems to be reasonable though. Wii on nights when we have no-where to go, and walking to places where there are things to do.

So these are the nine things I have committed to continue. None of them introduce new intentions or practices, none are strictly speaking, new. The list even breaks down nicely into Spirit (1-3 in green are focussed around the ADF), Mind (4-6 in blue are all about Stoic Studies) and Body (7-9 in red). The last is also easy enough to figure out, with the physical/emotional action of writing, the labour of renovations, and the obvious health focus.

Not too much. Not too little. So I am committed to the Nine through the end of Ten.

Little Brothers Rock!

Yesterday was a good day, as many of them are in my very charmed life. During lunch I continued to work on the Rune Poem, with a lot of help for Arthur Shipkowski (MA for ADF). I combined the three extant Rune Poems (Icelandic, Norwegian & Anglo-Saxon) and made some adjustments to the underlying Anglo-Saxon. It was fun. Thanks Art. Also, Julie provided the final script for Friday's ritual, and it looks great!

Second on the list, Erik from the College of Stoic Philosophers (and the New Stoa) responded to my assignment and proceeded to send the next one (on Sellars' book 'Stoicism')! But in the interest of the holidays, he gave me an additional week to get it done. More fun, but since I have already done quite a bit of work on Sellars, at least this first assignment should be easy.

André was over last night to help me work on the hallway floor. Thanks to him, we were able to get quite a bit finished! The best part of the night was when he looked at what I had accomplished already and said, "You did all this in two nights? That is incredible! This is freaking hard work!" We spent the balance of the evening (with short breaks for dinner, Christmas cookies, and picking up loved ones) ripping, cutting, marking, laying, slapping, smacking, sweating, cursing, re-marking, re-cutting, re-cursing, and in the end achieved a work of art! Still needs to be finished, and with the accumulation of responsibilities over the next several days, the completed floor may end up being more delayed than I would like, but we will be plugging away at it.

Pam has been getting the Saturnalia ritual ready for Saturday (How appropriate!) It is looking great too. We have some elements to pick up tonight while we are out for Lin's NATS rehearsal (see above regarding accumulating responsibilities).

Finally, one of those moments occurred last night. You know, the moments that lasting memories are made of. While André and I were working away at the floor, Pam decided that she was going make Christmas cookies with Katie (pictured here) who was also there (as was Bill, who had gone to hang out with Josh and Derrick). They measured and mixed and blended and baked away happily as they chatted away, making small talk. Katie kept tasting the frosting while they waited for the dough to chill. When the dough was ready, Bill came up and helped them cut the cookies into shape. A few short baking minutes later and the cookies were ready. Pam called out to everyone in the house (André was gone to get Chantal at this point) and in moments the table was surrounded with laughter and sprinkles and frosting. Everyone was into it, including Derrick and Josh! As soon as Emilie found out (she was at work) she asked to be picked up so she could join in the fun. At that point, everyone stopped, mid-cookie as it were, and the fun resumed unabated when she joined the table. We have pictures, and a little video. The cookies will likely only last a few days. But, because Pam was open to an opportunity, we also have a wonderful memory, as do the kids. Thanks, my love, for making life flavourful.

A Study is to Studying as a Living Room is to...

Living? Yesterday, I began, continued, and completed 3 different projects. That is to say, I began one project, continued another, and completed a third.

The project I began was a study of the Runes. I am attending the Thornhaven right this Friday night (eek that is only 2 days away!) To that end, I have built a study sheet to teach myself the Runes. I have used elements from the old Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, along with the meanings and names of the Runes, to create my own mnemonic Rune Poem that uncovers the meaning of each individual Rune over three verses. I haven't quite completed it yet, however, the time is fast approaching.

I continued work on the hallway floor. Tearing up the old subfloor is diffucult and exhausting work, but I manage about 1/3 of it each night. There are hundreds of screws and nails to tear out, all of which are covered by a half inch of thin set. I am using a heavy duty ice scraper, levered over a 10 lb sledge hammer, to pop the floor up from the screws, then coming along afterwards and removing the screws and nails. Once this is done, it will be short work to lay down the next bit of floating floor.

The project I completed, and this was at 2 am this morning, is the first assignment of the College of Stoic Philosophers. The assignment is a response to a Questionnaire on S.E. Cannavo's Think to Win. I am inordinately proud of this irreverent little 5 pager. I honestly feel that I have accomplished something, that I have finally FINISHED something! Why am I going to all of this work for an uncredited college? My personal aim is to be a mentor under this school, and I know that this is going to take some time and study. The discipline that I develop by completing these assignments will serve me well in my many future projects.

By the way, the title of today's blog is a reference to where I spent the majority of my evening working on the Logic assignment.

A lot more happened yesterday, but I will save some of that for 'slow news' days.