The stoic Epictetus is supposed to have said, \u201cFreedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.\u201d\u00a0 When I read up on what Epictetus thought was within our control it\u2019s pretty small.\u00a0 All that\u2019s under our control is our thoughts and opinions.\u00a0 Even our actions are constrained by the external world.\u00a0 So, this freedom he speaks of is internal.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t seem to be much.\u00a0 But I guess if you live in a world where there is one Nero and a hundred million Romans without any real freedom you have to take what\u2019s available.\u00a0 And who knows, some of the good emperors were stoics.\u00a0 At least Marcus Aurelius has been presented to us through his writings as one.\u00a0 Maybe he was.<\/p>\n
Then what about our world?\u00a0 We brag that we are a free people.\u00a0 And compared to the Roman Empire I guess we are freer.\u00a0 But when I think of the direction, we are headed it\u2019s not that much better and in fact because of the efficiency of our technology maybe eventually we will be more thoroughly enslaved than my ancient forebears on the Italian peninsula.\u00a0 In that case maybe I should consider the wisdom of Epictetus and his world view.<\/p>\n
This all came up because I saw a quote that said something like, \u201cHopelessness is freedom.\u201d\u00a0 I took it to mean that hoping for things that won\u2019t happen is wasting your life.\u00a0 That the better way is to take the situation as you find it and work around it to accomplish what is possible.<\/p>\n
This makes sense to me.\u00a0 I waited decades for things to go the way I wanted them to go and it only ever got worse.\u00a0 That\u2019s because I thought that other people believed what I did.\u00a0 I thought that George W. Bush was a \u201cconservative.\u201d\u00a0 Well, maybe he was, by his definition.\u00a0 But reality wasn\u2019t the same for him and me.<\/p>\n
Now, Donald Trump seems more like what I hoped for.\u00a0 But Donald Trump isn\u2019t the Emperor of America.\u00a0 He\u2019s not even the boss.\u00a0 He\u2019s just someone trying hard to fix things.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t exactly equate him to Marcus Aurelius.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think anyone who spent any time with Stormy Daniels could be considered a stoic.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think he\u2019d even qualify as an epicurean.\u00a0 He\u2019s a well-meaning man trying to fix things by plugging holes in a collapsing dam.\u00a0 Will he succeed, even temporarily?\u00a0 It\u2019s really hard to say.<\/p>\n
Stretching the Roman Empire analogy way beyond recognition, the Goths are already over the Rhine and the legions are undermanned and poorly trained.\u00a0 So, things look pretty bad.<\/p>\n
Maybe it is time to start looking within to see what can be done to make the best of a bad situation.\u00a0 The stoic viewpoint was an important part of the Christian philosophy that allowed something to survive the wreck of the Western Roman Empire.\u00a0 The Christians couldn\u2019t become legionnaires and defeat the barbarians.\u00a0 But they could become monks and form a nucleus of knowledge and civilization to help the common people survive the chaos of the dark ages.<\/p>\n
Maybe we will see something similar.\u00a0 Any help that is going to come in the future might have to come from ourselves.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d express it as, \u201cHopelessness is freedom.\u201d\u00a0 Maybe a better way to say it is. \u201cThe truth shall set you free.\u201d\u00a0 Facing reality is the best way to make progress.\u00a0 See things for how they really are and you are less likely to be disappointed in how things turn out.\u00a0 Do I feel freer now?\u00a0 Maybe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The stoic Epictetus is supposed to have said, \u201cFreedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[552,5,551],"tags":[1297,29,4889,1298,4888],"class_list":["post-33114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-country-music-reviews","category-current-events","category-music-reviews","tag-epictetus","tag-freedom","tag-hopelessness","tag-stoic","tag-stoicism"],"yoast_head":"\n