Beyond Philosophy

~ Unamuno conceives faith as a process whereby we imagine the world as a divine person. This is only possible, really, because the world acts in us to make such a revelation desirable, before we are consciously or deliberately aware of it. Seeing God in the world is only possible because he operates within us to make such a vision possible, compelling, desirable. Why do we see anything? For Unamuno, the answer is that God wants to reveal himself to us. When we see him there, outside, we recognize him here, within ourselves. Not as something we control or define, with perfect clarity, but as someone we can love, and make, and believe in. ~ Mas, aunque decimos que la fe es cosa de la voluntad, mejor sería acaso decir que es la voluntad misma, la voluntad de no morir, o más bien otra potencia anímica distinta de la inteligencia, de la voluntad y del sentimiento. Tendríamos, pues, el sentir, el conocer, el querer y el creer, o sea crear. Porque ni el sentimiento, ni la inteligencia, ni...

 ~ Seneca warns Lucilius against those who render philosophy as pedantic word-play, a game of making & arguing verbal definitions. ~ O pueriles ineptias! in hoc supercilia subduximus? in hoc barbam demisimus? hoc est quod tristes docemus et pallidi? Vis scire quid philosophia promittat generi humano? consilium. Alium mors vocat, alium paupertas urit, alium divitiae vel alienae torquent vel suae; ille malam fortunam horret, hic se felicitati suae subducere cupit; hunc homines male habent, illum dii. Quid mihi lusoria ista componis? non est iocandi locus: ad miseros advocatus es. Opem laturum te naufragis, captis, aegris, egentibus, intentae securi subiectum praestantibus caput pollicitus es: quo diverteris? quid agis? Hic cum quo ludis timet: succurre, quidquid laqueti respondentium poenis (†) . Omnes undique ad te manus tendunt, perditae vitae perituraeque auxilium aliquod implorant, in te spes opesque sunt; rogant ut ex tanta illos volutatione extrahas, ut disiectis et er...

 ~ Marcus advises himself to avoid carrying pride or grudges to the grave, which awaits all of humanity as something natural (& in his mind, good, though we commonly regard it as evil). ~ Ἐννόει συνεχῶς παντοίους ἀνθρώπους καὶ παντοίων μὲν ἐπιτηδευμάτων, παντοδαπῶν δὲ ἐθνῶν τεθνεῶτας, ὥστε κατιέναι τοῦτο μέχρι Φιλιστίωνος καὶ Φοίβου καὶ Ὀριγανίωνος. μέτιθι νῦν ἐπὶ τὰ ἄλλα φῦλα· ἐκεῖ δὴ μεταβαλεῖν ἡμᾶς δεῖ ὅπου τοσοῦτοι μὲν δεινοὶ ῥήτορες, τοσοῦτοι δὲ σεμνοὶ φιλόσοφοι, Ἡράκλειτος, Πυθαγόρας, Σωκράτης, τοσοῦτοι δὲ ἥρωες πρότερον, τοσοῦτοι δὲ ὕστερον στρατηγοί, τύραννοι· ἐπὶ τούτοις δὲ Εὔδοξος, Ἵππαρχος, Ἀρχιμήδης, ἄλλαι φύσεις ὀξεῖαι, μεγαλόφρονες, φιλόπονοι, πανοῦργοι, αὐθάδεις, αὐτῆς τῆς ἐπικήρου καὶ ἐφημέρου τῶν ἀνθρώπων ζωῆς χλευασταί, οἷον Μένιππος καὶ ὅσοι τοιοῦτοι. περὶ πάντων τούτων ἐννόει ὅτι πάλαι κεῖνται· τί οὖν τοῦτο δεινὸν αὐτοῖς; τί δαὶ τοῖς μηδ’ ὀνομαζομένοις ὅλως; ἓν ὧδε πολλοῦ ἄξιον, τὸ μετ’ ἀληθείας καὶ δικαιοσύνης εὐμενῆ τοῖς ψεύσταις καὶ ἀδίκοις διαβιοῦν....