Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

-William Henley

1888

If -

If you can keep your head when all about you

  Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

  But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

  Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

  And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

  If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

  And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

  Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

  And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

  And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

  And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

  To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

  Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

  Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

  If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

  With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

  And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son.

-Rudyard Kipling

1895

The Jefferson Bible

I recently discovered the Jefferson Bible, which was an attempt by Thomas Jefferson (as if the guy didn't do enough already) to approach the teachings of Jesus Christ as a philosophy. In fact, his title for it was "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth."

This Founding Father, in his spare time, used a razor blade to cut up a New Testament and arrange verses into a new book. He cut out pretty much everything supernatural, only including the actual teachings of Jesus himself and accounts of his actions (even excluding the miracles performed by him). TJ believed that Jesus' teachings had been corrupted and that the miracles and theology in the Bible had been manipulated by the Church. If, Jesus returned from heaven, he certainly wouldn't recognize "Christianity" today. TJ exclaimed to a friend that he was a truer Christian than anyone else, because he focused exclusively on living life as taught by Jesus and cut out all of the extraneous trappings added by men.

As far as my personal beliefs, well, I am not willing to go as far as Jefferson, who obviously didn't believe in the infallibility of scripture amongst other things. I do believe that too much focus is placed on theological nitpicking and not enough is placed on how to live life day to day. In that regard, I have really enjoyed reading the Jefferson Bible, which consists completely of practical Christianity.

As a student of Stoicism, this work now reads much more like the Enchiridion or the Meditations. It is much shorter, more practical, and to the point. It is indeed a sort of Christian "handbook."

I have always believed that, in order for Christianity to survive and thrive in the world, the practical way of life that the religion teaches must be superior to that of the "philosophy" of the general population. Otherwise, what is there to attract someone to the Church? There is much too much handwringing and Pharisee style debate over points that have little impact on how we should live our lives. Isn't that exactly the sort of thing that Jesus railed against in his own teachings? How many stories are there in the Gospels of Jesus rebuking some religious "leader" for being blinded by legalism?

Do I believe that this version of the Gospels should supersede or replace the original texts? Absolutely not. But I love the idea of grabbing people by the hair and turning their heads away from the hieroglyphic symbolism of miracles and signs and wonders. Let them remember that there is indeed clear practical advice on how to live their lives sandwiched between all of the other events over which they love to debate.

http://uuhouston.org/files/The_Jefferson_Bible.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible

Response: The Painted Porch Episode 8

I've recently subscribed to the "Good Fortune" podcast by Matt Van Natta and the "Painted Porch" podcast. I've started working my way backwards through the episodes of both. It didn't take me long to finish "Good Fortune," but "The Painted Porch" episodes are significantly longer at an hour each.

I'm 3/4 of the way through episode 8, in which the hosts are discussing what sort of theology, if any, is required to "be a Stoic." Apparently there is a lot of in-fighting in the Stoic online community on this subject. All 3 hosts are admittedly atheists, but they go out of their way to not throw any jabs at the deists.

I'm just not sure why this is a divisive issue. Stoicism doesn't belong to any one particular group. Isn't it incredibly un-Stoic to attack a group that doesn't believe as you do?

It seems to me that we should be more focused on the actions of the philosopher. 

Also, aren't we all turning to Stoicism for the same reasons? It provides us with a framework upon which to pursue virtue, almost all of which we universally agree on. Perhaps some atheists are seeking out a universal moral truth, because they have turned away from the traditional sources, but I think more people are trying to practice Stoicism because it simply works.

Within my faith, Jesus Christ even taught against getting hung up in the nitty gritty theological details. 

We need Stoics of action.

Let's see the forest for the trees. Let's not cut off our nose despite our face. Let's stop talking the talk and start walking the walk. Let's stop discussing what good Stoics should be and just be them. (cliches off)

Carl Sagan on Perspective...

The Pale Blue Dot

"We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam. 

The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

-Carl Sagan

Speak the Truth...

Marcus Aurelius on Forgiveness

When one of his most trusted generals and friends, Avidius Cassius, betrayed Marcus Aurelius and attempted to usurp the throne, Marcus had this to say:

"There is only one thing I fear, fellow-soldiers, for you shall be told the whole truth, — and that is, that either he will kill himself because ashamed to come into our presence or that someone else will do so upon learning that I am to come and am already setting out against him. For then I should be deprived of a great prize both of war and of victory, a prize such as no human being has ever yet obtained. And what is this prize? To forgive a man who has wronged one, to remain a friend to one who has transgressed friendship, to continue faithful to one who has broken faith. Perhaps all this seems incredible to you, but you ought not to disbelieve it; for surely all goodness has not yet entirely perished from among men, but there is still in us a remnant of the ancient virtue. And if anyone should disbelieve it, that but renders the more ardent my desire, in order that men may see accomplished what no one would believe could come to pass. For that would be the one profit I could derive from our present ills, if I could settle this affair well and show to all mankind that there is a right way to deal even with civil wars."

Learn by doing...

Why the Gods Envy Us

Musonius Rufus on Obedience to Parents

"Consider, then, a father who is neither a doctor nor acquainted with matters pertaining to health and sickness. Suppose he ordered something for his sick son that he thought would help but which was useless, if not harmful. Suppose, too, that the sick son knew this. If the son did not do what he ordered, is he disobeying his father and is he disobedient? This is unlikely."

- Lecture 16, Paragraph 2

One of the 10 Commandments is "Honor your father and mother." I don't think that honoring them means 100% blind obedience, as is expected in some cultures. I have seen in some Asian cultures, for example, that seniority is more important than correctness. This is even to the extreme example of "older" twins having authority over the "younger" twin.

Doesn't having a healthy child bring honor to the father and mother?

Doesn't having an educated child bring honor to the father and mother?

Doesn't having a morally upright child bring honor to the father and mother?

If the father asks the child to do something immoral, and the child obeys, aren't they both dishonored? But if the child picks the correct path, isn't the father honored for having raised such an upright child, despite the seeming disobedience?

If my father were to bring to me a multi-level marketing scheme and ask me to buy into it, and I knew that it was a fool's errand and would only lose him money, should I throw my money away to support my father? Or should I respectfully decline and let the scheme fail sooner, thus bringing my father back to reality?

Rufus, Musonius, and Cynthia Ann Kent King. "16. By Musonius, from the Lecture on Whether Parents Must Be Obeyed in All Things." Musonius Rufus: Lectures & Sayings. United States: Createspace, 2011. 65-68. Print. 

Raymond Tusk on Decision Making

"Decisions based on emotion are not decisions at all." 

-Raymond Tusk

"Chapter 12"

House of Cards

Raymond Tusk, a calculating billionaire, and Frank Underwood, a machiavellian Congressman, are walking in the woods. Underwood is secretly seeking the Vice Presidency, which is currently vacant. The president has tapped Tusk for the spot, but Tusk is reluctant. Underwood volunteers to travel to Tusk's home in an attempt to woo Tusk into accepting the President's offer. His real motive is to size up his new nemesis.

The juxtaposition in this scene is a great one. Though they have both ended up as powerful men, their chosen life paths are very different. Their clothing draws a more visual contrast of their characters. Also, their comfort level amongst God's creation is very telling. I wouldn't consider Tusk a Stoic overall, but he serves as a decent representation in this moment, especially when compared to such an unscrupulous anti-hero as Underwood.

Tusk and Underwood could not have achieved their goals more differently. Tusk is a billionaire and businessman who has used intelligence and hard work to build an empire around himself. He knows his own trade and has even taught himself Chinese to communicate with business partners. He also is seen in several scenes doing things for himself that he could obviously pay people to do. No personal chef here, Tusk is making his own bacon in the morning. Underwood is a career politician that has never really held a "real job." He has clawed his way up the political ladder through lies and manipulation. He enjoys the luxuries of his office, such as having his personal security detail.

The outward appearance of the two is an illustration of the differences within. Underwood is a portrait of the modern Machiavelli. He is wearing a neat suit and tie, with shiny shoes and a clean shaven face. Tusk, the billionaire, looks ready for a safari. His clothing appears comfortable and functional. He even has a pair of binoculars slung around his neck.

Apparently deep in the forest, the two gentlemen have very different comfort levels. Underwood is tense and confused about why they are walking in the woods. He even had off handedly remarked that he would've rather been touring one of Tusk's nuclear power plants. Tusk is at ease, strolling with purpose and direction. He knows where he is going and what he is looking for. Tusk laughed at the power plant suggestion, remarking that he much rather spend his time in the great outdoors.

A Stoic uses his reason and intelligence to make decisions, despite his emotional urges. This can result in worldly success for him, though he doesn't actively pursue it, per se. He dresses simply and functionally, not putting great emphasis on flashy possessions. The Stoic also loves and celebrates nature and sees his role in it. He will often look to lessons from the natural world around him to show him how he can live more in accordance with his own nature.