The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command
As for us, common men to whom heaven has not allotted such great talents and destined for so much glory, let us remain in our obscurity. Let us not run after a reputation which would elude us and which, in the present state of things, would never give back to us what it would cost, even if we had all the qualifications to obtain it. What good is it looking for our happiness in the opinion of others if we can find it in ourselves? Let us leave to others the care of instructing people about their duties, and limit ourselves to carrying out our own well. We do not need to know any more than this.
O virtue! Sublime science of simple souls, are so many troubles and trappings necessary for one to know you? Are your principles not engraved in all hearts, and in order to learn your laws is it not enough to go back into oneself and listen to the voice of one’s conscience in the silence of the passions? There you have true philosophy. Let us learn to be satisfied with that, and without envying the glory of those famous men who are immortalized in the republic of letters, let us try to set between them and us that glorious distinction which people made long ago between two great peoples: one knew how to speak well; the other how to act well.
We suffer a lot in our society from loneliness. So much of our life is an attempt to not be lonely: ‘Let’s talk to each other; let’s do things together so we won’t be lonely.’ And yet inevitably, we are really alone in these human forms. We can pretend; we can entertain each other; but that’s about the best we can do. When it comes to the actual experience of life, we’re very much alone; and to expect anyone else to take away our loneliness is asking too much.
- Ajahn Sumedho
Three compelling and succinct summaries of the Stoic practice, preserved for the sake of posterity.
Dr. Jan Garret:
1. The key to successful living (sometimes called happiness) is freedom from the violent feelings.
2. The key to freedom from the violent feelings is living in accordance with virtue.
3. The key to virtue is living consistently in agreement with nature.
4. The things called good by most people, such as life, health, possessions, good reputation, and the like, are often in accord with our nature.
5. But they are not consistently in accord with our nature, as they are sometimes purchased or preserved at the expense of a person’s integrity.
6. Virtue and successful living are not inborn but result from deliberate choice and continuous attention to what is in our power and what is not.
Paul Lecorde:
1. One to live in accord with Nature; worldly Nature and human nature.
2. The Unity of All; all gods; all substance; all virtue; all mankind into a Cosmopolis (Universal City).
3. That the external world is maintained by the natural interchange of opposites (poioun / yin, paskhon / yang)
4. That everyone has a personal, individual connection to the All; a god within.
5. That every soul has Free Will to act and that the action of the soul is opinion.
6. Simple Living through moderation and frugality.
7. That spiritual growth comes from seeking the good.
8. That Virtue is the sole good, Vice the sole evil, and everything else indifferent.
9. That the Cardinal Virtues are Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance.
10. That the path to personal happiness and inner peace is through the extinguishing of all desire to have or to affect things beyond ones control and through living for the present without hope for or fear of the future; beyond the power of opinion.
11. The sequential reabsorption and recreation of the Universe by the Central Fire; the Conflagration.
Dr. Gordon L. Ziniewicz:
1. The overall purpose or Summum Bonum or reason for living: Apatheia, serenity or mental tranquillity, peace of mind, one’s own reason in accord with universal reason.
2. The universe is governed by intelligence, and everything happens as it should. Do not ask that the universe conform to your will; conform your will to the universe.
3. The universe as a whole is good. Every event has its place in the scheme of things. No event is good or bad. Events (like sickness, death, impoverishment) appear bad to persons who expect things to conform to their wishes and are disappointed. Be calm in the face of what has been destined (fated).
4. Do not be disturbed by anything that happens to you. External events are outside of your control.
5. Do not desire anything. Rid yourself of the “will to get.”
6. Do not try to avoid the inevitable and the fated. Rid yourself of the “will to avoid” those things that are outside of your power.
7. “Will to avoid” only those things that are under your control. Only things under your control can be called good or evil. “Will to avoid” those thoughts, impulses, desires, and judgments which enslave you to external things or which are disturbing.
8. Be your own master. Depend on nothing outside of yourself. Nature gives and nature takes away. External goods do not last. Depend only on your reason, which is a spark of divine reason.
9. Do not depend upon other people. Do not become so attached to other people that you cannot be happy without them. Know that even your spouse and children are human beings, are mortal.
10. Help others in need. Treat all persons equally. Give them food and shelter if they need it. Stay with them when they are grieving; grieve outwardly with them, if need be. But do not grieve on the inside. Do not let their disturbance make you disturbed. Do not feel their feelings.
11. In all your affairs, remain outwardly involved and inwardly detached and serene. Do not let anything “get to you.” Remain calm. We cannot calm the storm of external events. We can calm our own minds. Objective knowledge of what we can and cannot control leads to peace of mind.
12. Let nothing disturb you. Expect nothing. Want nothing. Do not blame the gods or other people for your unhappiness. Only you can make yourself happy (serene) or unhappy (disturbed).
13. To blame others for one’s own misfortunes shows a lack training; to blame oneself shows that one’s training has begun; to blame neither oneself nor others shows that one’s training has been completed (after Epictetus). When you are disturbed, you have only yourself to blame. When you are undisturbed, you have no one to blame.
Retract yourself from the familiar circles and wait to see how many come looking for you; you will be startled at how easily you are forgotten and how unimportant your presence is. You are forgotten in an instant and the people only feign concern once you are formally dead, once you are in the papers or pronounced in a cell phone message. These sycophants feign concern because they are expected to and only recall your life and deeds by spitting generalities as though they were profound insights into your person. “He was a father, a husband, a community leader, he will be missed.” Save your pretend tears. Who will speak the truth of me?
The small sounds you make are inaudible from space. The greatest scream you can muster is less than a whisper in the course of time. You may scream the truth but it will not be received, it will not be heard by the deaf mob. Sincere love will be traded for caprice. You may be virtuous and true and be smeared as a villain, you will die as such, there is no justice in the world, no equity, no returning balance to set things straight. You will behold vile men branded as saints instead. The greatest of the past are not known to the people of today; great empires and emperors lay smashed to dust, forgotten as if they never existed. As the coming generations are not educated in the ways of the past they repeat a cycle which has always been: the stage is the same and the emperors have different names, but they kill themselves in vain the same. The people continue to cry and lie over the same as they always have, even when wisdom holds a flame to the absurd, they trudge forward to defeat themselves. In a life so meaningless and so irrelevant, how are you so distressed, so concerned, why do you feel loneliness from your isolation when your breath is ever present?
No need to feel distress as this will be over soon. Time destroys everything and nothing can resist it: entropy will crush what is false and cleanse the world of the minds which are plagiarized.
You can still be a good man even if no one realizes it.
The true love of virtue is in all men produced by the love and respect they bear to him that teaches it; and those who praise good men, yet do not love them, may respect their reputation, but do not really admire, and will never imitate their virtue.
- Plutarch
A girl in my sociology class said my life would be wasted as a librarian and that I should put my powers of oratory to use; that my skill with words and rhetoric must be applied or else I would be doing myself a disservice. Her words rose in me an immediate concern over what my place in this city is. She suggested I become a lawyer or a teacher. As I would find myself at the front of revolutionary deeds espousing supposedly dangerous ideas in either charge…
to be continued, class begins.