Blog Archives

Real Good is Simple (Day 110)

4/20/2019

Image Credit: dailystoic.com - Facebook

The more I look into the heart of media, the more I see people and companies trying to exploit what is “good”. These entities offer (more like SELL) elements of what they believe to make up “the good life”.

Hobbies, fine clothes, gym memberships, better job, season tickets, coolest car, etc. etc. etc.

Those things done make up a “good” life. They’re distractions and coverings. They advocate for appearance-based value and blind consumerism. Worst of all, to achieve all this we have to devote a tremendous amount of time, energy, and heart to resource-building…

… all to be able to convince ourselves and others that all this complex bullshit is coming together to form something “good”.

REAL good, however, is derived from a more simple set of elements.

Wisdom, justice, self-discipline, courage… virtue.

Looking “good” and being good are vastly different.

When I invest in the above, I don’t ever suffer buyer’s remorse.

(See y’all tomorrow)

Our Sphere of Impulses (Day 109)

4/19/2019

There are limitations to my power and control. Severe limitations, actually. Remember, focusing on that which is within my control will bring peace as assuredly as focusing on that beyond my control will bring me ruin.

Impulses are moments in time when I delusionally believe my sphere of control is my sphere of influence, or can even control things beyond itself. When I lose touch with the reality of my sphere of control it becomes the sphere of my impulses… a zone in which my ego is monarch.

Dwelling in my sphere of impulses causes me to believe I’m “above” certain situations, or even certain people. It’s delusional arrogance at its finest.

Being mindful of when the reality of control shifts to the delusion of impulse is a core element in unraveling the biases which permeate my thoughts.

It’s a constant practice.

Join me, won’t you?

(See y’all tomorrow)

Opinions are like… (Day 108)

4/18/2019

Image Credit: Ann Telnaes

We’ve ALL heard the saying that opinions are like assholes… everyone has one, and most of them stink.

Whether those opinions be:

Liberal or conservative.

Democrat, Justice-Democrat, Constitutionalist, Republican, Green, or Libertarian.

Successful or a failure. It doesn't matter, because opinions are like... ;)

What is bad luck? Opinion. What are conflict, dispute, blame, accusation, irreverence, and frivolity? They are all opinions, and more than that, they are opinions that lie outside of our own reasoned choice, presented as if they were good or evil. Let a person shift their opinions only to what belongs in the field of their own choice, and I guarantee that person will have peace of mind, whatever is happening around them.”
(Epictetus, Discourses, 3.3.18b-19)

How many of the above definitions are influenced by social or spiritual dogma, privilege, implicit expectations, and idiocy?

ALL of them.

(See y’all tomorrow)

No Harm, No Foul (Day 107)

4/17/2019

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

I want to front-load today’s post with the following acknowledgement:

Words can hurt, and gaslighting is real. Much of Stoicism is easier said than done, and certain elements of the practice are easier depending on your level of privilege…

… AND

… sticks and stones can break bones, but words will never hurt.

I’d like to find more happiness in life, but before I can, I’ve got to remember that it’s my interpretations of the world around me that have the greatest effect on my happiness. It’s more difficult than it sounds, honestly. Filtering through my life, I’m always surprised to find how much of my experience of living is colored by my own ignorance and blindness. I’d have hoped to have gotten a better handle on things, but alas, ignorance and blindness are a part of living.

Marcus Aurelius says, “Do away with the opinion I am harmed, and the harm is cast away too. Do away wit( being harmed and harm disappears.” (Meditations, 4.7)

Did they mean what they said to be hurtful? Were they trying to harm or injure with what they said? No? Well…

We can’t control when people say shitty things… but we CAN control what we do, how we feel, or what we say next.

(See y’all tomorrow)

Observe Cause and Effect (Day 106)

4/16/2019

Image by Peggy & Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

Pay close attention in conversation to what is being said, and to what follows from any action. In the action, immediately look for the target, in words, listen closely to what is being signaled.”
(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.4)

The techniques and methodology of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are designed to help clients/patients recognize patterns of behavior that are destructive and harmful with the goal of being able to gain control over these behaviors and steer them toward a more positive, wholesome outcome. Until recently, I didn’t know that CBT’s founder, Albert Ellis, was inspired by Stoic practices and principles in its creation.

Unbiased thought, our focus-goal for the month of April, and as such, has a direct connection to CBT’s practice of identification and positive influence. We don’t know how biased our thoughts are until we look back and see the results of those biases. Even those who claim to be and act without bias are full of it (bias, that is). One way to move from bias to unbiased is to place yourself in observer-mode (witness consciousness), and turn the power of that mode inward.

When we become the observer we can work toward knowing the origins of our thoughts, our biases, and our egoic mind. It’s in this knowing, and through this process, that we can find the interstitial space wherein cause and effect meet.

How can we know that we’re not bullshitting ourselves with more clever techniques? Like anything, it comes with practice.

(See y’all tomorrow)

Pay Your Taxes (Day 105)

4/15/2019

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

TAX DAY! Hooray?

Yes. Hooray!

Why the hell am I so happy about tax day? Well, to be honest, I’m not. I hate taxes… but, when practicing perspective, I can see their value and benefit.

How many services are available to society, myself included, that are funded by taxes? Dozens? More? What about the fact that for thousands of years people have complained about their taxes, and to no avail? Now, they’re dead, and still had to pay in one way or another. I’m not special. Finally, if we’re paying taxes, we’re making enough to warrant paying taxes. If we weren’t, we’d be living in a primal anarchy where every basic service and necessity of life would take Herculean effort to acquire.

Nothing will ever befall me that I will receive with gloom or a bad disposition. I will pay my taxes gladly. Now, all the things which cause complaint or dread are like the taxes of life - things from which, my dear Lucilius, you should never hope for exemption or seek escape.”
(Seneca, Moral Letters, 96.2)

If we go by Seneca’s above analogy, we could say that every day is tax day, in its own way. Everything has a price, and every road has a toll. Waiting at layovers and for rides is a sort of travel tax. Rumors and gossip are the tax one pays for having a public persona. Disagreements and frustrations are the taxes of relationships. Stress and problems are success’ taxes.

Like their financial counterparts, we go through trouble and time trying to avoid them, or reduce their impact. We expend so much energy and intentionality to resist paying.

Image Credit: Memegenerator.net & Paramount Domestic Television

Pay the toll. Move on with life. You’ll thank yourself.

(See y’all tomorrow)

Becoming an Expert in What Matters (Day 104)

4/14/2019

Image by ElasticComputeFarm from Pixabay

Believe me, it’s better to produce the balance-sheet of your own life than that of the grain marker.”
(Seneca, On the Brevity of Life, 18.3b)

Let’s say that we were blessed enough to all have the kind of death where we’re surrounded by those we love, by those in whose lives we’ve made a difference, and all sorts of other people who were connected to us … let’s say we were in that space, looking into the faces of all these wonderful people, remembering all the times we shared together, all the adventures…

… in this moment, what matters?

Is it how many dead languages you could translate?

Is it how many merit badges you got to sew on to your accomplishment-sash?

Is it random sports trivia? Obscure, nonsensical anecdotes?

Is it how virtue affected your daily life?

Is it how love influenced all the decisions in your 20’s?

Is it the stories of those around you, their accomplishments, and their great deeds?

What matter?

Train in that.

(See y’all tomorrow)

Less is More (Day 103)

4/13/2019

Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay

“Don’t be a person of too many words…” - Marcus Aurelius

“He would never use one word when none would do.” - Philip Levine

“More matter with less art.” - Gertrude, Hamlet, W. Shakespeare

Ask yourself: how many of the plentiful words spoken are for the edification of my ego? How many of my actions are only done to draw attention to me, thus feeding my ego? How much of my above-and-beyond serves others, and how much is for my own moral masturbation?

The results are shocking… if we can actually reach them.

Anything given beyond that which is necessary is for the giver, not the receiver.

(See y’all tomorrow)

Reject Tantalizing Gifts (Day 102)

4/12/2019

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Not every gift is a Trojan Horse. Truthfully, it’s a rare gift that’s sole purpose of being given is to serve as a container, metaphorical or otherwise, to hide ill intentions.

Here, though, we’re not talking about Trojan Horses. We’re talking about any gift that excites us to the point of losing our good senses. We’re talking about gifts that are nigh-irresistible. You know what I’m talking about… think of them…

Ah, yes… the magnetic pull of the new & improved, the shiny & enticing. We can viscerally feel them tugging at our desires, pulling at our hunger, our lust for the glistening and gleaming.

Gross.

Let's stop it. Just stop it.

Atreus: Who would reject the flood of fortune’s gifts?
Thyestes: Anyone who has experienced how easily they flow back.”
(Seneca, Thyestes, 536)

Remember, happiness isn’t about getting what we want. It’s about wanting what we’ve got.

The first is all about ego and ourselves. The latter is about right-relationship, and NOT us.

In all this, I keep asking myself: where does Hospitality factor in to all this?

Perhaps, the answer will be found on Moderation’s road?

Our mantra: “No, thank you” as we continue our journey.

(See y’all tomorrow)

If You Want to Learn, be Humble (Day 101)

4/11/2019

Some of the best parts about this year-long, public exploration of Stoicism is that I get to, for at least a few moments each day, be vulnerable that I may see from new angles, and to rest in a place of not-knowing. The more I engage in this daily practice, the more I both encourage others to join me in these contemplations, and recognize the privilege it takes to find even a moment for humble self-reflection.

Looking back over the last 100 entries, I noticed a theme. The shorter entries were connected to days I needed more time sitting with their root topics, while the longer entries were on days where the lessons made much more sense. More grok, more words… and a lot more already-knowing. In other words, I’m finding the more I have to say about something, the more self-satisfying it is to say it, and thereby, “less” humble.

I’m laughing to myself remembering the much-overused “empty the cup” story.

Opportunities to practice, and to learn, can only be taken full advantage of when I don’t try to over-identify with my own experience, but instead, fully-embrace my not-knowing and be present with the lesson.

So… yeah.

Humility.

(See y’all tomorrow)

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About the Blog

Awakening the desire to explore Stoicism, and how it relates to his existing beliefs, Rev. William committed to working through the text, The Daily Stoic, a year-long journey to awaken the Stoic mind.
How things are structured can be found in the first post.

About the Author

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Rev. William attended Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado where in 2007 he graduated with a degree in Religious Studies, minoring in Psychology. Currently residing in Longmont, CO, he is one of the Priests and founder of Mountain Ancestors Grove. He spends his time playing mandolin (and some guitar), writing, engaging in LGBTQIA+ advocacy and education, community service, and sharing a larger vision of how a polytheist perspective can lead to greater human understanding, acceptance, and gods be good, peace.

A Year of Contemplation