Most of my day was consumed with Oak Leaves. Since I was sick anyway, I thought I might at least make a productive day of it. So today I chose to work on Oak Leaves. As I only received the final files tonight, completion some time tomorrow will be acceptable.
I spent a few minutes chatting with Brett Wheat-Simms about the Words of the Ancient Wise blog, and my goals for the year. I also received my evaluation back from Erik for my first Sellars assignment. All in all, it was very positive. He has also asked me to help him set up a mechanism to discuss common Fallacies. Should be very interesting.
At around 8pm the ADF chat started and we discussed, in some depth, the concepts of Kindred. It was interesting, and I am thinking of reintroducing some kind of joint vespers idea with Pam. We have been asked to sing some samples of Taize on the Thursday video chat.
I think that maybe that is the essence of productivity. Always be actively engaged in something. Sunday's reading on the Words of the Ancient Wise brought this to mind:
NOT to be slack and negligent; or loose, and wanton in thy actions, nor contentious, and troublesome in thy conversation, nor to rove and wander in thy fancies and imaginations. Not basely to contract thy soul; nor boisterously to sally out with it, or, furiously to launch out as it were, nor ever to want employment.
MARCUS AURELIUS. MEDITATIONS. Book viii. 19.
It reminds me also of Franklin's Virtue of Industry: "Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions."
Never fall to the default, but rather choose your next activity. This is what is really important. Am I really doing something I intended to do, or just something I fell into. I spent quite a bit of time figuring out this virtue of Industry (what ADF calls Fertility). I even wrote a complete Meditation on it. It bears re-reading.
Showing posts with label Virtues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virtues. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
There is work and then there is work
I have been wondering lately what it is that I am working at. I have my job of course, which is vitally important to our survival. It provides the resources that support our life and lifestyle. And to do so, it requires my attention and effort. So work is, well, work, a job, a series of consecutive tasks.
But then there is my work. What am I all about? What, besides merely struggling to stay alive, is my work. The Stoics were big fans of differentiating between those things that all animals do, and what sets us apart as a species. The fact of working to feed, shelter and clothe myself and my family doesn't really separate me from the cats, etc. They do the same.
Now the Stoics believe that two things made us distinct from other animals. We are able to reason at higher levels. We are also able to act virtuously to protect and provide for the entire species, to go beyond the family or tribe, and make global differences.
If we are able to combine the two types of work, that which causes us to survive at an individual level, and that which enhances the species, we are well placed. In some small way, most of us do qualify for that, if you follow the rabbit down the hole far enough. But for myself, I know that I want my impact, my contribution to society and the species, to be direct. I want to know that something I have done has made a concrete contribution.
But the brutal truth of it is, that I am just one fairly average man (given the context I am in) so I really can't expect to set the world afire. Perhaps that is why I try to find smaller ponds, in which I can act as a bigger fish, not in the predatory sense, but as a contributor. If I can make a bigger difference in a smaller group, will that satisfy my ego?
Perhaps that is all that it is. Ego, a desire for self-aggrandizement, to be a legend in my own time. Is it because I want to KNOW that I am important, that I need for the people around me to tell me that I matter? Maybe it is because I know that I am merely one of over 6 billion people, a small cog in a massive machine. And the machine grinds on into eternity, occasionally throwing up one of it's parts as a peak of achievement. But as Marcus says, when we are dead we are forgotten by the vast majority of people, and soon even those who remember us are dead and forgotten as well. And not long after that, cosmically speaking, even the energy and particles that made up our existence have been recycled to make other creatures and people and plants. We are litterally dust in the wind.
But that is the point. The thing we must, I must, understand. It is foolish and irrational to wish that I am other than I am. I am a cog in a six billion piece machine. I am going to die, and within a few hundred years, I will be completely forgotten. My ego rails against this, screams for fame and immortality. But my rational mind looks on. If I am to be a cog, I will be the best damned cog I can be. I will do the work that falls within my reach to the best of my ability. I will strive to be human. And that is my real work.
But then there is my work. What am I all about? What, besides merely struggling to stay alive, is my work. The Stoics were big fans of differentiating between those things that all animals do, and what sets us apart as a species. The fact of working to feed, shelter and clothe myself and my family doesn't really separate me from the cats, etc. They do the same.
Now the Stoics believe that two things made us distinct from other animals. We are able to reason at higher levels. We are also able to act virtuously to protect and provide for the entire species, to go beyond the family or tribe, and make global differences.
If we are able to combine the two types of work, that which causes us to survive at an individual level, and that which enhances the species, we are well placed. In some small way, most of us do qualify for that, if you follow the rabbit down the hole far enough. But for myself, I know that I want my impact, my contribution to society and the species, to be direct. I want to know that something I have done has made a concrete contribution.
But the brutal truth of it is, that I am just one fairly average man (given the context I am in) so I really can't expect to set the world afire. Perhaps that is why I try to find smaller ponds, in which I can act as a bigger fish, not in the predatory sense, but as a contributor. If I can make a bigger difference in a smaller group, will that satisfy my ego?
Perhaps that is all that it is. Ego, a desire for self-aggrandizement, to be a legend in my own time. Is it because I want to KNOW that I am important, that I need for the people around me to tell me that I matter? Maybe it is because I know that I am merely one of over 6 billion people, a small cog in a massive machine. And the machine grinds on into eternity, occasionally throwing up one of it's parts as a peak of achievement. But as Marcus says, when we are dead we are forgotten by the vast majority of people, and soon even those who remember us are dead and forgotten as well. And not long after that, cosmically speaking, even the energy and particles that made up our existence have been recycled to make other creatures and people and plants. We are litterally dust in the wind.
But that is the point. The thing we must, I must, understand. It is foolish and irrational to wish that I am other than I am. I am a cog in a six billion piece machine. I am going to die, and within a few hundred years, I will be completely forgotten. My ego rails against this, screams for fame and immortality. But my rational mind looks on. If I am to be a cog, I will be the best damned cog I can be. I will do the work that falls within my reach to the best of my ability. I will strive to be human. And that is my real work.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
June 4, 2009
It has been a difficult morning. I am trying to remain Stoic about it, but it is really difficult.
I have to start on the Meditation portion of my DP. So far, I see it as two fold. The Oracle Meditation, and the Virtues Meditation. I will be adding the Nature Meditation in due time.
For the Oracle Meditation, I figure that if i spend 1 week on each of the Greek Alphabet Oracle letters, and one week on each of the Major arcana in the Tarot, this gives me 49 weekly Meditations. I could do something like the visualizing exercise I once did for the Fool. It was quite moving. Trying that with the Greek Alphabet Orcale will be interesting. Is there a story I can use to tie them all together?
The second method will be the Virtues Meditation. I have about 11 months to complete this. If I spend the balance of June writing the introductory meditation (maybe 500 words). Then implement it in July while I re-write the Industry Meditation to better include the character stregths and the Stoics into the meditation.
Using this system, I could complete the entire series in a year, perhaps even publish it as a book through Lulu. With all of the footnotes, and an introduction. With worksheets in the back. Virtues based, not salesman based like the Greatest Salesman in the World.
Ok, on to the letter meditation. Start at the temple at Delphi. Good place to start meditation.
I have to start on the Meditation portion of my DP. So far, I see it as two fold. The Oracle Meditation, and the Virtues Meditation. I will be adding the Nature Meditation in due time.
For the Oracle Meditation, I figure that if i spend 1 week on each of the Greek Alphabet Oracle letters, and one week on each of the Major arcana in the Tarot, this gives me 49 weekly Meditations. I could do something like the visualizing exercise I once did for the Fool. It was quite moving. Trying that with the Greek Alphabet Orcale will be interesting. Is there a story I can use to tie them all together?
The second method will be the Virtues Meditation. I have about 11 months to complete this. If I spend the balance of June writing the introductory meditation (maybe 500 words). Then implement it in July while I re-write the Industry Meditation to better include the character stregths and the Stoics into the meditation.
Using this system, I could complete the entire series in a year, perhaps even publish it as a book through Lulu. With all of the footnotes, and an introduction. With worksheets in the back. Virtues based, not salesman based like the Greatest Salesman in the World.
Ok, on to the letter meditation. Start at the temple at Delphi. Good place to start meditation.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
The Path of Most Resistance
Pam and I signed up as members of the ADF a few weeks ago. Several things about it caught my interest. Their focus on scholastic research when considering one's religion was a huge appeal. Yes, we are all making it up as we go, however let's make sure that we acknowlegde our own creations instead of trying to give them weight by laying over a veneer of history.
ADF also has a lot of SIGs that I find intriguing, such as the Bard and Liturgical groups.
And so the walk begins with the Dedicant's path. I am planning a schedule of what to do when, so that I can hit all of the marks in about a year. The first exercise I have started to focus on is the Virtues work. I am planning to build a series of meditations on each of the virtues, to increase their number from 9 to 13, to marry each one with a one of the Greek pantheon AND to have a new once completed every lunar month.
Other portions, such as the attendance to rituals etc. are being accomplished in their own time, with our Lammas celebration postponed to this coming weekend. I am really looking forward to it.
ADF also has a lot of SIGs that I find intriguing, such as the Bard and Liturgical groups.
And so the walk begins with the Dedicant's path. I am planning a schedule of what to do when, so that I can hit all of the marks in about a year. The first exercise I have started to focus on is the Virtues work. I am planning to build a series of meditations on each of the virtues, to increase their number from 9 to 13, to marry each one with a one of the Greek pantheon AND to have a new once completed every lunar month.
Other portions, such as the attendance to rituals etc. are being accomplished in their own time, with our Lammas celebration postponed to this coming weekend. I am really looking forward to it.
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