My Mneme

In my efforts to live the excellent aretes, to exercise utmost kathekonta, for the sake of universal oikeiosis,

I have the courage to face the world and its visicitudes.

By my faith in divine logos, my trust in providential phusis and my hope of fulfilling eudaimonia,
I receive the serenity of knowing all is as it should be.

Through my practice of careful aproptôsia, constant prosoché, and proper epilegein

I acquire the wisdom to choose my own path.

Definitions:

aretes = Virtues (sort of) it really means an excellent disposition of the mind, or the healthy and perfect way of being. we use virtuous, but it has some victorian baggage (victorian morality mostly) that is not part of it.

kathekonta = appropriate action, or the correct and right way to do something given all the available choices and options.

oikeiosis = our interconnection to each other and the univers, which brings with it the obligation of care and support.

logos = the active and creative Reason and intelligence that underlies the structure of the universe

phusis = Nature and all of the natural processes, from evolution to growth and change, and that which makes a thing truly what it is.

eudaimonia = flourishing, the fulfillment of our individual natures, being and doing what we are made to be and do, sometimes experienced as joy, caution, hope or flow.

aproptôsia = the Stoic practice of not assenting too quickly to judgements that correspond directly to representations.

prosoché = the exercise of self-attention or mindfulness.

epilegein = to add something to an impression, like "it is a bad thing' or 'i have no control over this'. It can be good or bad, depending on how you use it. (that is why I used the adj. 'proper')

Are we here for a Good Time?

A song was going through my mind this morning. Trooper's "We're Here for a Good Time," and the song follow with 'not a long time.' For some reason I started to think seriously about the implications of these lines.

It is true that we aren't here for long time, relatively speaking. The billions of years that stretch uncaringly on either side of our lives are testament to the brevity of the flicker that is our existence. But, of course, that doesn't invalidate the meaning of that flicker. Duration does NOT equal meaning.

The question then remains, are we here for a good time? Back to this in a moment.

In an effort to find meaning, or at least to quell the chaos, over the years I have searched for the Time Management System, from Covey, to GTD to everything in between. The hope, the aim was that I would find a way to find a way. To manage all the noise so that I could get the right things done. Do the work, clean the yard, read the book. But the real question isn't how to manage my life and time. The real question is, what can I do with my life and time that MATTERS. I can stay busy, but busy at what.

In the grand scheme, if there is one, what is it that I am to do with the small 3 score and 10 I have allotted to me, and that now is over half spent. Am I to merely embrace pleasure, and avoid pain. The Stoic path even points to this, by redefining true pleasure to be eudaimonia. But it amounts to the same thing as Epicureanism, just with the points redefined. Are we here for a "Good Time", however we may define 'Good'?

Is this even the right question? Wherein lies the meaning, the mattering? Where should I be pouring my daily resources and my concious hours? Should I strive to maintain the job I have, so that I can keep paying for the life I have, the house, the kids, food, clothing, bills? Should I leave, seek to fulfill the 'true inner self' and damn all the consequences?

The answer to that question lies partly in compromise, partly in cowardice, and partly in comfort. I WILL keep working at my job, though it is  no longer one that fulfills any direct purpose in my life, to support the choices of the past, the moments of comfort and joy, though they are brief. Perhaps because this is what they call a 'difficult' time.

But there are other things that have filled my time. Things that not part of my comfort, things that do not add to me, but draw from me. The challenge there is that I am loved and admired. And that is a form of repayment. But sometimes it feels like an audience/actor relationship. And it is a large time commitment.

But as I asked Adam, what else would I be doing with my time? Maintaining the house, living the Canadian dream? Waiting to die? What AM I here for? A good time? or a meaningful one?

Towards a Stoic Methodology

Recently, my daughter interviewed me as part of a university project. In it we discussed Stoicism in some detail. She asked me to define Stoicism, and after some round about discussion, I finally came down to this. Stoicism is a Methodology, a WAY to live, not necessarily a set of rules for living. It is all based on 'living according to nature'. First, we must understand what nature is, what OUR nature is, what ALL nature is, then live to the best of our ability according to that knowledge. Stoicism is, in effect, a rational life style that is an extension of scientific discovery. It is life, lived in the best way that we can, in the most rational way we are capable of.

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.

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.