Head-dibs

“You have sent a letter to me through the hand of a ‘friend’ of yours, as you call him. And in your very next sentence you warn me not to discuss with him all the matters that concern you, saying that even you yourself are not accustomed to do this; in other words, you have in the same letter affirmed and denied that he is your friend. Now if you used this word of ours in the popular sense, and called him ‘friend’ in the same way in which we speak of all candidates for election as ‘honourable gentlemen,’ and as we greet all men whom we meet casually, if their names slip us for the moment, with the salutation ‘my dear sir,’ – so be it. But if you consider any man a friend whom you do not trust as you trust yourself, you are mightily mistaken and you do not sufficiently understand what true friendship means.” (Seneca, Letter 3, “On True and False Friendship”)

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. What does it matter how much a man has laid up in his safe, or in his warehouse, how large are his flocks and how fat his dividends, if he covets his neighbour's property, and reckons, not his past gains, but his hopes of gains to come? Do you ask what is the proper limit to wealth? It is, first, to have what is necessary, and, second, to have what is enough.”  (Moral Letters 2, “On Discursiveness In Reading”)

 

“. . . that certain moments are torn from us, that some are gently removed, and that others glide beyond our reach. The most disgraceful kind of loss, however, is that due to carelessness. Furthermore, if you will pay close heed to the problem, you will find that the largest portion of our life passes while we are doing ill, a goodly share while we are doing nothing, and the whole while we are doing that which is not to the purpose. . . . Lay hold of to-day's task, and you will not need to depend so much upon to-morrow’s.” (Seneca, On Saving Time)  

Ryan Holiday posted the following today in The Daily Stoic and I thought it was worth sharing. “We hear in Meditations Marcus Aurelius speak of “epithets for the self,” watchwords for his life. From Zeno to Marcus, the works of nearly every Stoic feature the repetition of four words, four virtues that go to the course of the philosophy: Courage. Justice. Moderation. Wisdom. These are mantras. These are reminders. A kind of living oral and written tradition for how to live and what kind of person to be. As beautiful—and in some cases, perfect—as these expressions are, we should remember that it’s a living tradition, one that can be added to and improved. Marcus himself writes about how if anyone ever finds a better list than those four virtues, it must be an extraordinary thing indeed. In 2016, the songwriter Lori McKenna took a stab at it . In a song that was written for her five young children and that has since become a hit for Tim McGraw ( as well as a book ), she puts together a ...

"When friendship is settled, you must trust." (Seneca, "On True and False Friendship."  Moral Letters . 3)

"The person who strives to reason and act correctly is doing philosophy. The person who reasons with care thereby takes care of his country, father, brothers, and friends — in a word, everybody." - Musonius Rufus, Letter to Pankratides, 8 Happy and safe 4th! 

Across the front of my rolltop desk, in front of pictures of my mother and step-mother and a sundry other items, one finds eight medallions on display. The first medallion is the "keystone", if you will, that unlocks the meaning of the other seven . These days of uncertainty and upheaval, both personally and worldwide, have driven me to meditate on that first medallion. It reminds me that when one acts according to wisdom (truth), one is emboldened with courage and self-control to do what is right (justice). It is not my intent to debate the number of virtues or begin some deep discussion of ethics or the nature of "good." I intend to stress that living in pursuit of these four virtues while job hunting, while grandbaby sitting, while thinking as I mow the lawn, as I try to maintain the six-foot rule at Walmart, good occurs and I am content and find peace. One would be hard-pressed to find anything better than wisdom (truth), self-control, courage and ...

Looking up the history of the meaning of a word is more important to me than searching for a definition for a couple of reasons. First, the general rule of thumb in serving a definition is that a word is never to be explained by itself. Consider Marriam-Webster's definition of the verb form of "fortune": "to give good or bad fortune to" and "to endow with a fortune." Nothing learned except to find another dictionary. Second, by considering etymology, one returns to the source of a word and there we find the core of a word. "Fortune," in this case means, "that which is brought." Think now on what this means: a wealthy man may be considered "fortunate" if one considers fortune to be money, property or all the good things in life. Does this mean the unhealthy are not fortunate? One philosopher observed that to want nothing is to own everything.  One of the greatest philosophical debates of all time is found in Shakespeare...

"troubles are followed by troubles." In Japanese, they say, “when crying, stung by bee.” The point of these expressions is to capture an unfortunate reality of life: that what can go wrong will… and often all at the same time. So during this COVID-19 quarantine, things are just that.  I've lost my job after 19 years I am no longer a doctoral student. The State has removed our niece from our home after yet another suicide attempt and has put us in a horrible position. Good thing we have friends and documentation of her history. Stay-at-home orders are in effect. We can't control the storm but we can control how we respond to it.  Yes, I mourn a little every day, but only when I'm not busy and start dwelling on what I can't control or change. God has me in a place where I have nothing or nobody to depend on but Him. I can now update my resume and my office is clean. I know who my real friends are (trouble has a way of sifting people). M...

I got this book for Christmas. I need to start reading it once I get my routine down for the new semester.

It's been such an exciting start to 2020 that I'm looking forward to a re-start in February. On Christmas Day, I came down with a cold. On Christmas Day, as our kids and grandkids were leaving at 9:00 p.m., our hallway toilet decided to get into the giving spirit. Spent Christmas night cleaning up the mess.  Day after Christmas, I (with a cold) had to drive across town (40 minutes, one-way), rent a machine, drive back home, ream the plumbing (three times, for good luck), drive the machine back across town, drive back home, reset the toilet, got cleaned up, had dinner, crashed. Rested all-day December 27. Whew! December 30, put car in the shop due to 3 recalls. Toyota paid for it. Such a good car. Been lots-o-miles in it. Found out still needs some repair work. Won't be able to do those repairs for a while, so driving with prayers tossed and fingers crossed.  January 1, 2020. Toilet got into the festive mood again and this time, disabled the kitchen. Out of funds for...

“You see this goblet?” asks Achaan Chaa, the Thai meditation master. “For me, this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; I drink out of it. It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it. But when I put this glass on the shelf and the wind knocks it over or my elbow brushes it off the table and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ When I understand that the glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious.” ____________ Epstein, Mark. 2013. Thoughts Without A Thinker: Psychotherapy From a Buddhist Perspective . Basic Books a Member of Perseus Books Group: New York.

"A good isn’t increased by the addition of time, but if one is wise for even a moment, they will be no less happy than the person who exercises virtue for all time and happily passes their life in it." —Chrysippus Quoted By Plutarch In Moralia: “Against The Stoics On Common Conceptions,” 1062 (LOEB, P.682) Perhaps wisdom and happiness are like winning a medal in the Olympics. It doesn’t matter whether you won a hundred years ago or ten minutes ago, or whether you won just once or in multiple events. It doesn’t matter whether someone beats your time or score down the road, and it doesn’t matter whether you never compete again. You’ll always be a medalist, and you’ll always know what it feels like. No one can take that away—and it would be impossible to feel more of that feeling. The Juilliard-trained actor Even Handler, who not only survived acute myeloid leukemia but also severe depression, has talked about his decision to take antidepressants, which he did for a deliber...

"Whosoever embraces necessity count as wise, skilled in divine matters."  --Euripedes, quoted by Epictetus, Enchiridion , 53

"It was for the best. Nature had to do it."  (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.9)

"Whom the rising sun hath seen high in pride,  him the setting sun hath seen laid low.  Let none be over-confident when fortune smiles;  let none despair of better things when fortune fails.  Clotho blends weal and woe, lets no lot stand,  keeps ever fate a-turning.  No one has found the gods so kind that he may promise to-morrow to himself.  God keeps all mortal things in swift whirl turning." (Seneca, Thyestes )