Beyond Philosophy

Marcus here reflects on the power of the mind to overcome obstacles, including opposition that we encounter from other people. He would approach such opposition no differently than if it came from bad weather, or wild animals. When fate forced his hand, he stayed true to these principles: instead of resenting his wife for her role in the rebellion of Avidius Cassius (175 CE), he forgave her freely, and used only necessary force to put down that rebellion. No resentment or recrimination; just business. Contrast this with the behavior of the ancient Persian king Xerxes, who supposedly had the waters of the Hellespont whipped after a storm interrupted his troops' attempt to cross (480 BCE, cf. Herodotus 7.35). He was not indifferent to weather! Or to mankind, for that matter.  Καθ’ ἕτερον μὲν λόγον ἡμῖν ἐστιν οἰκειότατον ἄνθρωπος, καθ’ ὅσον εὖ ποιητέον αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀνεκτέον· καθ’ ὅσον δὲ ἐνίστανταί τινες εἰς τὰ οἰκεῖα ἔργα, ἕν τι τῶν ἀδιαφόρων μοι γίνεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὐχ ἧσσον ἢ ἥλιος ἢ ...

Unamuno warns the reader that he is going to share personal sentiments: what follows are lessons from his life, rationalized only enough to make them accessible to us. They will not withstand every logical challenge, as we are all capable of approaching them from premises that reveal the limits of their force. Like many ancient philosophers, Unamuno finds the fundamental form of philosophy to be living , not thinking or writing or systematizing per se, and its final expression is art, not science. Si en lo que va a seguir os encontráis con apotegmas arbitrarios, con transiciones bruscas, con soluciones de continuidad, con verdaderos saltos mortales del pensamiento, no os llaméis a engaño. Vamos a entrar, si es que queréis acompañarme, en un campo de contradicciones entre el sentimiento y el raciocinio, y teniendo que servirnos del uno y del otro. Lo que va a seguir no me ha salido de la razón, sino de la vida, aunque para trasmitíroslo tengo en cierto modo que racionalizarlo. Lo más de...

How to shake our fear of death? Seneca presents Bassus' method, which was to recognize that fear is about our anticipation of some bad feeling, then to realize that death presents no feeling at all: it is the end of feeling. Bassus noster videbatur mihi prosequi se et componere et vivere tamquam superstes sibi et sapienter ferre desiderium sui. Nam de morte multa loquitur et id agit sedulo ut nobis persuadeat, si quid incommodi aut metus in hoc negotio est, morientis vitium esse, non mortis; non magis in ipsa quicquam esse molestiae quam post ipsam. Tam demens autem est qui timet quod non est passurus quam qui timet quod non est sensurus. An quis quam hoc futurum credit, ut per quam nihil sentiatur, ea sentiatur? Ergo inquit mors adeo extra omne malum est ut sit extra omnem malorum metum. Our Bassus seemed to me always a credit to himself, putting his life together and bearing his desire to overcome so wisely that he appeared likely to survive his own demise, when the time came. ...

Marcus notes the power of our minds to bend facts, or events. What matters to our judgment is not the fact per se, no matter what it is, but how it fits into our mind's narrative of self. That narrative will determine what the fact means, for us, and orient us in active terms relative to it.  Τὰ πράγματα αὐτὰ οὐδ’ ὁπωστιοῦν ψυχῆς ἅπτεται οὐδὲ ἔχει εἴσοδον πρὸς ψυχὴν οὐδὲ τρέψαι οὐδὲ κινῆσαι ψυχὴν δύναται, τρέπει δὲ καὶ κινεῖ αὐτὴ ἑαυτὴν μόνη καὶ οἵων ἂν κριμάτων καταξιώσῃ ἑαυτήν, τοιαῦτα ἑαυτῇ ποιεῖ τὰ προσυφεστῶτα. On their own, events take no hold upon the soul. They have no access to her, nor can they turn or move her. Instead, she turns and moves herself alone, unaided, and whatever judgments she deems worthy to render upon herself, these are confirmed for her by everything that occurs.

Unamuno introduces the second part of his book, in which he will attempt to illustrate how we can use despair, the insoluble conflict between morbid reason and vital faith, to craft a good life, marked by great deeds. He traído hasta aquí al lector que ha tenido la paciencia de leerme al través de una serie de dolorosas reflexiones, y procurando siempre dar a la razón su parte y dar también su parte al sentimiento. No he querido callar lo que callan otros; he querido poner al desnudo, no ya mi alma, sino el alma humana; sea ella lo que fuere y esté o no destinada a desaparecer. Y hemos llegado al fondo del abismo, al irreconciliable conflicto entre la razón y el sentimiento vital. Y llegado aquí, os he dicho que hay que aceptar el conflicto como tal y vivir de él. Ahora me queda el exponeros cómo, a mi sentir y hasta a mi pensar, esa desesperación puede ser base de una vida vigorosa, de una acción eficaz, de una ética, de una estética, de una religión y hasta de una lógica. Pero en lo ...

Seneca discusses the death of Aufidius Bassus, which exemplifies for him the best Stoic approach to mortal senility (death by creeping old age, as opposed to sudden accident). Bassum Aufidium, virum optimum, vidi quassum, aetati obluctantem. Sed iam plus illum degravat quam quod possit attolli; magno senectus et universo pondere incubuit. Scis illum semper infirmi corporis et exsucti fuisse; diu illud continuit et, ut verius dicam, concinnavit: subito defecit. Quemadmodum in nave quae sentinam trahit uni rimae aut alteri obsistitur, ubi plurimis locis laxari coepit et cedere, succurri non potest navigio dehiscenti, ita in senili corpore aliquatenus imbecillitas sustineri et fulciri potest. Ubi tamquam in putri aedificio omnis iunctura diducitur, et dum alia excipitur, alia discinditur, circumspiciendum est quomodo exeas. Bassus tamen noster alacer animo est: hoc philosophia praestat, in conspectu mortis hilarem et in quocumque corporis habitu fortem laetumque nec deficientem quamvis de...