Beyond Philosophy

Marcus Aurelius advises himself to identify the good life with personal actions and integrity, not the actions or integrity of society too large to be personal. Πείρασον πῶς σοι χωρεῖ καὶ ὁ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἀνθρώπου βίος τοῦ ἀρεσκομένου μὲν τοῖς ἐκ τῶν ὅλων ἀπονεμομένοις, ἀρκουμένου δὲ τῇ ἰδίᾳ πράξει δικαίᾳ καὶ διαθέσει εὐμενεῖ. Convince yourself that the good life becomes yours whenever you are content with your allotment from the universe, whenever you are satisfied by just actions, privately undertaken, and your own kindly disposition.

Reason imposes limits, teaching us that we are mortal, not immortal. El gran maestro del fenomenalismo racionalista, David Hume, empieza su ensayo Sobre la inmortalidad del alma , con estas definitivas palabras: «Parece difícil probar con la mera luz de la razón la inmortalidad del alma. Los argumentos en favor de ella se derivan comúnmente de tópicos metafísicos, morales o físicos. Pero es en realidad el Evangelio, y sólo el Evangelio el que ha traído a luz la vida y la inmortalidad». Lo que equivale a negar la racionalidad de la creencia de que sea inmortal el alma de cada uno de nosotros. Kant, que partió de Hume para su crítica, trató de establecer la racionalidad de ese anhelo y de la creencia que éste importa, y tal es el verdadero origen, el origen íntimo, de su crítica de la razón práctica y de su imperativo categórico y de su Dios. Mas a pesar de todo ello, queda en pie la afirmación escéptica de Hume, y no hay manera alguna de probar racionalmente la inmortalidad del alma. H...

Seneca reminds Lucilius that deeds are prior to words, which exist merely to indicate them, not to supplant or surpass them. Philosophy belongs deep in our guts, in the emotions and reasons we cultivate to motivate deeds worthy of our humanity. It is an artifact of life rather than speech, of deeds rather than words. Don't become so concerned with your words that you forget to notice your behavior, which is the true foundation and expression of your character as a human being, and a philosopher. Si vales et te dignum putas qui aliquando fias tuus, gaudeo; mea enim gloria erit, si te istinc ubi sine spe exeundi fluctuaris extraxero. Illud autem te, mi Lucili, rogo atque hortor, ut philosophiam in praecordia ima demittas et experimentum profectus tui capias non oratione nec scripto, sed animi firmitate, cupiditatum deminutione: verba rebus proba. If you are well and can find a moment in which to be yourself, then I rejoice. Glory shall be mine if I manage to pull you from the sea of ...

Marcus Aurelius wants to avoid doing too many things. He tells himself to act only when nature and necessity call him out, to avoid the temptation to become very busy doing unnatural, unnecessary things. Such things compromise our ability to do what really matters, allowing our minds to become so occupied with trivia that we cannot engage in serious work. «Ὀλίγα πρῆσσε, φησίν, εἰ μέλλεις εὐθυμήσειν.» μήποτε ἄμεινον τἀναγκαῖα πράσσειν καὶ ὅσα ὁ τοῦ φύσει πολιτικοῦ ζῴου λόγος αἱρεῖ καὶ ὡς αἱρεῖ; τοῦτο γὰρ οὐ μόνον τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ καλῶς πράσσειν εὐθυμίαν φέρει, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀλίγα πράσσειν. τὰ πλεῖστα γὰρ ὧν λέγομεν καὶ πράσσομεν οὐκ ἀναγκαῖα ὄντα ἐάν τις περιέλῃ, εὐσχολώτερος καὶ ἀταρακτότερος ἔσται. ὅθεν δεῖ καὶ παρ’ ἕκαστα ἑαυτὸν ὑπομιμνῄσκειν· μήτι τοῦτο οὐ τῶν ἀναγκαίων; δεῖ δὲ μὴ μόνον πράξεις τὰς μὴ ἀναγκαίας περιαιρεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ φαντασίας· οὕτως γὰρ οὐδὲ πράξεις παρέλκουσαι ἐπακολουθήσουσιν. "Make your actions few, if you intend to be happy." Wouldn't it be better...

In the end, the Catholic solution to the human condition is one that leaves us rationally unsatisfied, Unamuno says. Why? The next chapter of his book will make it easier to see, from his perspective, by laying out his view of what reason teaches us, when we allow her to engage without imposing the restraints required by dogmatic theologians. La solución católica de nuestro problema, de nuestro único problema vital, del problema de la inmortalidad y salvación eterna del alma individual, satisface a la voluntad, y, por lo tanto, a la vida; pero al querer racionalizarla con la teología dogmática, no satisface a la razón. Y esta tiene sus exigencias, tan imperiosas como las de la vida. No sirve querer forzarse a reconocer sobre-racional lo que claramente se nos aparece contra-racional, ni sirve querer hacerse carbonero el que no lo es. La infalibilidad, noción de origen helénico, es en el fondo una categoría racionalista. Veamos ahora, pues, la solución o, mejor, disolución racionalista o...

Seneca does not think you can buy friends with favors. But you can get enemies this way. Poteram tecum hac Maecenatis sententia parem facere rationem, sed movebis mihi controversiam, si novi te, nec voles quod debeo in aspero et in probo accipere. Ut se res habet, ab Epicuro versura facienda est. Ante inquit circumspiciendum est cum quibus edas et bibas quam quid edas et bibas; nam sine amico visceratio leonis ac lupi vita est. Hoc non continget tibi nisi secesseris: alioquin habebis convivas quos ex turba salutantium nomenclator digesserit; errat autem qui amicum in atrio quaerit, in convivio probat. Nullum habet maius malum occupatus homo et bonis suis obsessus quam quod amicos sibi putat quibus ipse non est, quod beneficia sua efficacia iudicat ad conciliandos animos, cum quidam quo plus debent magis oderint: leve aes alienum debitorem facit, grave inimicum. Quid ergo? beneficia non parant amicitias? Parant, si accepturos licuit eligere, si collocata, non sparsa sunt. Itaque dum ...

Marcus Aurelius believes that nature gives us no evil. Even death — when viewed properly, as something natural — is a blessing (καρπός) to him. Πᾶν μοι συναρμόζει ὃ σοὶ εὐάρμοστόν ἐστιν, ὦ κόσμε· οὐδέν μοι πρόωρον οὐδὲ ὄψιμον ὃ σοὶ εὔκαιρον. πᾶν μοι καρπὸς ὃ φέρουσιν αἱ σαὶ ὧραι, ὦ φύσις· ἐκ σοῦ πάντα, ἐν σοὶ πάντα, εἰς σὲ πάντα.  ἐκεῖνος μέν φησιν· «ὦ πόλι φίλη Κέκροπος»· σὺ δὲ οὐκ ἐρεῖς· «ὦ πόλι φίλη Διός»; Everything well joined to thee, dear World, dost thou wed to me. There is no movement of thy dance can find me late, or out of time. Whatever thing thy seasons bring, o Nature: all of it is sweet to me. From thee all, within thee all, and into thee all things must go. Some fellow hails Athens, "Dear city of Cecrops ( † ), the ancient king!" Shall you not give voice in response, speaking the praise of your founder? "Dear city of Zeus the king!" --- ( † ) Myth made Cecrops the first king of Athens: born of the earth in Attica, with the lower body of a snake, he w...

Unamuno sees Catholicism attempting to strike a balance between irrational longing for life (mystical union with deity) and rational limitation of our desire (sober calculation that indicates our mortality). On the one hand, too much belief yields wild and dangerous fantasies, as people pursue desires with abandon. On the other hand, too much reason destroys hope, giving people no fantasy, no illusions, no desire, and so in time no life except that of a trapped animal barely existing. Theology exists to express and defend the value of believing just enough — neither too much (as mystics & gnostics do), nor too little (as rationalists). In the final paragraph of this section, Unamuno suggests that what really matters is not what we profess or even think, but what we do. True Catholicism, he insinuates, might be better taken as ethics (rituals, behavior, actions, life) than as values (beliefs, confessions, dogma). Y es que el catolicismo oscila entre la mística, que es experiencia ...

Seneca warns Lucilius that he cannot afford to waste time planning for future escape from present danger. If you let yourself be swamped constantly in a sea of business, never altering the course of your life because you must ride the tides of its eternal storms, prepare to die at sea. Every moment will present some peak to you, some summit or invitation to final achievement that awes you and commands your attention. You must learn to ignore these invitations, realizing that they distract you from your true goal: to find land beyond the sea of business, terra firma where you can serve philosophy at peace without being tossed and tumbled. Volo tibi hoc loco referre dictum Maecenatis vera in ipso eculeo elocuti: ipsa enim altitudo attonat summa. Si quaeris in quo libro dixerit, in eo qui Prometheus inscribitur. Hoc voluit dicere, attonita habet summa. Est ergo tanti ulla potentia ut sit tibi tam ebrius sermo? Ingeniosus ille vir fuit, magnum exemplum Romanae eloquentiae daturus nisi...

Marcus Aurelius reminds himself to stay vigilant. Life requires us to act and react appropriately, with keen insight into our immediate environment. Move decisively, and remember to watch what happens. Μὴ ἀπορρέμβεσθαι, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ πάσης ὁρμῆς τὸ δίκαιον ἀποδιδόναι καὶ ἐπὶ πάσης φαντασίας σῴζειν τὸ καταληπτικόν. Don't let yourself wander. Meet every attack with just defense, and save a vivid memory of each impression that reaches your mind.

Why did the Catholic church try to justify religion with reason? Because that is something our life demands. We want reasons that explain and justify life. But the truth is that life comes prior to reason, and resists submitting absolutely or essentially to any explanation or justification. Tragedy. Y ¿por qué fué esto? Porque la fe, esto es: la vida, no se sentía ya segura de sí misma. No le bastaba ni el tradicionalismo ni el positivismo teológico de Duns Escoto; quería racionalizarse. Y buscó a poner su fundamento, no ya contra la razón, que es donde está, sino sobre la razón, es decir, en la razón misma. La posición nominalista o positivista o voluntarista de Escoto, la de que la ley y la verdad dependen, más bien que de la esencia, de la libre e inescudriñable voluntad de Dios, acentuando la irracionalidad suprema de la religión, ponía a ésta en peligro entre los más de los creyentes dotados de razón adulta y no carboneros. De aquí el triunfo del racionalismo teológico tomista. Y ...

Proper rest must be hunted. It is not enough to desire rest, retirement, study, reflection. We must cultivate them actively, or lose ourselves to the tides of life that drive us naturally to distraction, despair, and ruin. If you give the course of your life over to some material fortune or business, it will own you much more than you can ever own it. Cut it loose, or it will damn you. Thus Seneca. Quomodo inquis exibo? Utcumque. Cogita quam multa temere pro pecunia, quam multa laboriose pro honore temptaveris: aliquid et pro otio audendum est, aut in ista sollicitudine procurationum et deinde urbanorum officiorum senescendum, in tumultu ac semper novis fluctibus quos effugere nulla modestia, nulla vitae quiete contingit. Quid enim ad rem pertinet an tu quiescere velis? fortuna tua non vult. Quid si illi etiam nunc permiseris crescere? quantum ad successus accesserit accedet ad metus. "How shall I escape from business?" you inquire. Anyway you can! Think how many rash thin...

Marcus Aurelius explains why individual immortality makes no sense to him. His approach depends upon an ancient notion of soul ( psyche ) that identifies it with breath & movement (especially movement that involves some kind of repetitive order that is regular without being automatic or precisely iterative). He conceives the soul as something material, albeit of finer matter than other things we observe, and argues from the principle that matter is conserved always, that the universe is not without limits. In his view of things, our souls develop from momentary junctures of enduring matter and mind that exist beyond us, as the ocean lies beyond every drop of water on earth. As my body is made of other bodies and will decay to make more bodies after I am gone, so my soul comes from intelligence that predates me, and it will eventually dissolve to become new souls. Body and intelligence appear potentially immortal here, but no individual body or mind is. Εἰ διαμένουσιν αἱ ψυχαί, πῶς ...