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Musings Report 2021-16 4-17-21 The Stoics Were Grateful--But For What?
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The Stoics Were Grateful--But For What?
An expression of gratitude in service of aw-shucks humility is now a public-relations cliche: when the microphone is shoved in the winner's face, the response is a well-worn script: I couldn't have done this alone, I'm grateful for the support of our coach/director and my teammates, etc.
The gratitude and humility may well be sincere but they've been devalued by the "must be grateful and humble" public gushing. The iron demand to express public gratitude and humility is now a poorly cloaked vanity, emptied of meaning by its cliched excess.
I did not associate Stoicism (being dispassionate, virtuous and emotionally resilient to misfortune) with expressions of gratitude, and so I was surprised to find that the first book of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations is a lengthy list of all the lessons Marcus was grateful to have learned from his elders. For example, in describing what he learned from his father, Marcus wrote: "I observed his meekness; his constancy without wavering... how free from all vanity he carried himself in manner of honor and dignity."
Meditations is the name given by later publishers to Marcus's personal diary of self-help and insight; he did not compose it as a volume intended to be read by others.
Many passages are "notes to myself," for example:
"Say to yourself in the early morning: I shall meet today ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, uncharitable men. All of the ignorance of real good and ill...I can neither be harmed by any of them, for no man will involve me in wrong, nor can I be angry with my kinsman or hate him; for we have come into the world to work together..."
What are we grateful for? In our time, the scripted expressions of gratitude and humility are intended to mask the real gratitude, which is for winning, adulation, riches and glory.
But what was Marcus Aurelius grateful for? It seems clear that his gratitude was for being given the tools needed to do his incredibly burdensome duty as emperor and general.
Duty is not a popular concept in our era. It seems constrictive in a time that worships Modernism with a capital M, the glorification of individuality. To do one's duty requires the sacrifice of one's time and freedom.
If duty is spoken of at all, it's as another cynical PR ploy: you should do your duty so I can continue enjoying my wealth and power. Duty is ultimately a sacrifice demanded of others to serve those in power.
But this narrow view of duty doesn't do the concept justice.
Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard argued that it was the duty of believers to be obedient to God's Will. His essays in The Lilies of the Field and the Bird of the Air are on silence, obedience and joy. Where Marcus considered the fulfillment of duty as virtuous, Kierkegaard views obedience (a form of duty) and joy as bound together.
Beyond our duty to others (family, society), our duty to ideals (virtue), and the duty of the faithful, there is also the duty to (in Kierkegaard's phrase) acquire ourselves, our duty to fully express our unique nature.
I recently came across a passage attributed to Martha Graham, the modern dance choreographer, by fellow choreographer Agnes de Mille, in Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham (Random House, p. 264):
“The greatest thing she ever said to me was in 1943 after the opening of Oklahoma!, when I suddenly had unexpected, flamboyant success for a work I thought was only fairly good, after years of neglect for work I thought was fine. I was bewildered and worried that my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. I talked to Martha. I remember the conversation well. It was in a Schrafft’s restaurant over a soda. I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be. Martha said to me, very quietly:
"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. As for you, Agnes, you have so far used about one-third of your talent."
The duty to attempt to fulfill 100% of our talent is as heavy as our other duties.
Are all these forms of duty reconcilable? Perhaps we can follow Marcus in being grateful to have acquired the tools needed to fulfill all our duties, however imperfectly the mix might be.
Highlights of the Blog
Posts:
If You Don't See Any Risk, Ask Who Will "Buy the Dip" in a Freefall? 4/17/21
What's Taboo? Everything Except Greed 4/16/21
The Middle Class Has Finally Been Suckered into the Casino 4/14/21
The "Helicopter Parent" Fed and the Fatal Crash of Risk 4/12/21
Best Thing That Happened To Me This Week
Read Bruce Lee: A Life, a 650-page biography of Bruce Lee published in 2018 (copious footnotes and references). Also have to mention lemon pie, made with lemons from our yard. We don't have that many desserts, which is why they're such highlights....
From Left Field
Rates of Parkinson’s disease are exploding. A common chemical may be to blame -- may also be linked to the microbiome...
10 of Britain’s most eccentric villages: chosen by readers
The Deceit and Conflict Behind the Leak of the Pentagon Papers -- interesting history of a seminal leak of government documents...
A Well-Preserved Nodosaur -- wow...
100 Companies Account for More Than Half of the "Blue Economy" (via Jesse H.)
Over 1 Million Brits Are Reportedly Suffering From "Long COVID"
How Resource Depletion Leads to Collapse. The Story of a Lost Kingdom
A third of COVID survivors suffer neurological or mental disorders: study
We can’t expect COVID-19 to go away; we should plan accordingly -- good points...
Five reasons why COVID herd immunity is probably impossible (nature.com)
How Facebook let fake engagement distort global politics: a whistleblower's account -- long read but worth the effort...
Where hyperinflation really threatens -- Tim Morgan...
‘A scary scenario’: Water bills in San Jose headed for costly, decade-long spike starting this summer: Water companies blame worsening drought conditions and aging infrastructure. (via Laserlefty)
"Santa Clara Valley Water District, the region’s wholesale water provider, plans to raise its rates by up to 9.6% each year for the next eight years, followed by an 8.7% jump the following two years." -- sign of the times--inflation in essentials for which there are no substitutes....
"You are the moderate man, the invaluable understrapper of the wicked man. You, the moderate man, may be used for wrong, but are useless for right." Herman Melville
Thanks for reading--
charles |
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