I know there’s not exactly an overwhelming demand to learn more about stoicism but, after my last post about The Church of Spock, I thought there might be a need. Besides, “The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius” is one of my favourite books. So here’s a lecture in five parts about it.
And a quick summary of my own philosophy: I think we’re basically born in a dark room full of cacti, porcupines and vampire monkeys. We just sort of grope our way through the room and try not to get hurt. There’s no point but we invent one because it’s just too fucked up and scary otherwise. Although there’s no light some people pretend to “have seen the light” or claim to possess special powers. They don’t. They’re just scared in the dark like everyone else. Maybe they’re not even lying. Just hallucinating.
We meet people who either lie to us about where the dangerous stuff is or are unreliable and lead us into danger through their own ignorance. We meet other people who give us good and reliable information such as – don’t turn left, there’s a big cactus there or turn right, there’s a hamburger. Most people are a mix. So we try to avoid our enemies and hold hands with our friends. We just basically try to, you know, move around without getting ourselves hurt or killed and to entertain ourselves with stories and whatnot. Sometimes we make love but that’s all it is – making love.
It’s a despicable and vile sort of life but it’s all we have. If we get hurt – when we get hurt – it does no good to scream. That just attracts the blood drinking monkeys. To us and to our friends. When you bump a cactus, a quiet word of warning will suffice. If we find something good, the same quiet words. So we should try to be honest and well intentioned; brave enough to share our suffering when we think it will do some good and to keep our mouths shut when we know it won’t. Things are hard enough without calling down the blood monkeys.
And then we die. There’s no light. We just die as we lived. In the dark. It doesn’t matter.
Anyway, here’s all the links for the lecture on the Meditations. Enjoy. It’s almost a map. Not complete, of course, but it’ll tell you where to find some food and how to avoid some porcupines.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
