That may be strategically sound, but those who've actually witnessed White Supremacist rallies (for instance) testify that the spirit was all too manifest and out in the open. My judgment about such people is about such people, not just about itself. Is the best way to combat them really through an inward turn? Maybe, if the inner transformation then radiates in the form of action towards social justice. Detach from hatred, then attach to reform. Repeat as needed.
Does it help to replace anthropomorphic gods with a pantheistic sense of divine unity? You'd have to accept the bundle, wouldn't you, bad apples and all? The world is one but it's also many, including many joys and sorrows. I can affirm the former without reservation, but less of the latter would have to be better.
Epictetus's dogcart analogy suggests "we need to unite our wills with the necessity of destiny." Are we the dog? Or the cart-driver? I'll accept the journey and even enjoy it if I know my intended destination.
If we cannot ever "bend the world to our desires" we may as well stop seeking satisfaction. What if we can occasionally bend it a bit, though? That might be enough reward for our effort to elicit more, for many.
Samsara, the cycle of birth, suffering, death, and rebirth that Buddhists say sustains our "erroneous perception of reality," is (they say) rooted in desire. But the desire to ameliorate suffering does not distort reality, it improves it. The problem isn't desire per se, it's too many of the wrong desires and not enough of the good ones. No?
Samsara, the cycle of birth, suffering, death, and rebirth that Buddhists say sustains our "erroneous perception of reality," is (they say) rooted in desire. But the desire to ameliorate suffering does not distort reality, it improves it. The problem isn't desire per se, it's too many of the wrong desires and not enough of the good ones. No?
Cosmopolitanism, for my money, is the Stoics' greatest invention. We're all citizens of the world, indeed the cosmos, and can be trained to desire the good of all sentient beings. Narcissistic individualism is just a stage, if we're smart enough to enter training.
Chuang Tzu and Montaigne both liked to laugh. "These two skeptics mock the dogmatic, enjoy relating irreverent anecdotes, deride the complacent and are able to laugh at themselves..." Que scay-je? What, me worry? But don't get carried away, skeptic, "seek a balance between dogmatism and skepticism... 'reach an opinion and [don't] hesitate to proffer it'..." Montaigne's wisdom, says Lenoir, "comes down to a sort of great, sacred 'yes' to life." His yes seems more genuinely affirming than Nietzsche's, seems to me. We'll talk about that later.
Chuang Tzu and Montaigne both liked to laugh. "These two skeptics mock the dogmatic, enjoy relating irreverent anecdotes, deride the complacent and are able to laugh at themselves..." Que scay-je? What, me worry? But don't get carried away, skeptic, "seek a balance between dogmatism and skepticism... 'reach an opinion and [don't] hesitate to proffer it'..." Montaigne's wisdom, says Lenoir, "comes down to a sort of great, sacred 'yes' to life." His yes seems more genuinely affirming than Nietzsche's, seems to me. We'll talk about that later.
Taoist paradoxes can be frustratingly cryptic: forget yourself to find yourself, try not to try etc. Apparently that frustration is supposed to be instigating and revealing, not just annoying.
But I am a bit annoyed by the suggestion that we should be "content with the radiance [of the sun] without trying to scrutinize its source." We need to understand the source, and thereby intensify our contentment and magnify our competence to replicate the radiance. You don't have to be a Platonist about suns and Forms of the Good to think so.
Some questions: Do you agree that things are inherently neutral, with respect to their bearing on your happiness, and that it's only your opinion of them that matters? In general, what's your attitude towards desire and attachment? Are they obstacles to happiness or prerequisites for it?
How important are "willpower" and self-control to your happiness? What can you do to strengthen them? What does "Living the present" mean to you? Is there a problem with it, as either a goal or a possible attainment? Does anticipating bad possibilities (as Cicero did with his daily praemeditatio) make you happier in the long run, or less so? What did John Lennon mean by "instant karma"? (It was his birthday yesterday, he'd have been 77. Hard to imagine.)
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It's playwright Harold Pinter's birthday. He said: "How can you write a happy play? Drama is about conflict and general degrees of perturbation, disarray. I've never been able to write a happy play, but I've been able to enjoy a happy life." WA... and on this day in 1899, "African-American inventor Issac R. Johnson patents the bicycle frame"...
Some questions: Do you agree that things are inherently neutral, with respect to their bearing on your happiness, and that it's only your opinion of them that matters? In general, what's your attitude towards desire and attachment? Are they obstacles to happiness or prerequisites for it?
How important are "willpower" and self-control to your happiness? What can you do to strengthen them? What does "Living the present" mean to you? Is there a problem with it, as either a goal or a possible attainment? Does anticipating bad possibilities (as Cicero did with his daily praemeditatio) make you happier in the long run, or less so? What did John Lennon mean by "instant karma"? (It was his birthday yesterday, he'd have been 77. Hard to imagine.)
==
It's playwright Harold Pinter's birthday. He said: "How can you write a happy play? Drama is about conflict and general degrees of perturbation, disarray. I've never been able to write a happy play, but I've been able to enjoy a happy life." WA... and on this day in 1899, "African-American inventor Issac R. Johnson patents the bicycle frame"...
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