Complacency in the Modern Age

"For I know what a slave is, blinded by what he thinks good fortune." - Epictetus

We tend towards complacency when we have a "comfortable life". We can sit in suburbia and not feel the plight of the homeless or those suffering loss at the hands of natural disasters, etc. The challenge is to act in a virtuous manner in spite of the fact that we are comfortable. If we choose not to act or do what we can, we are making ourselves a slave to our comfort and good fortune. The very level of comfort that we strove to attain becomes the master that enslaves us to complacency.

Above our my thoughts based on our Stoic reading of the day. As a "kept woman" I often struggle with a lack of motivation and complacency. Quite often the larger principles of "living close to nature" etc. shout out the day to day principles of virtue and doing what is right and living in the present. Lately, I have been lost in a tangent of looking for a country spread in which to live closer to nature but this has caused my suburban spread to look more neglected and less loved and more "lived in". I have decided to focus less on the search for a country spread and focus more on living fully day to day. A principle that can save me from spinning my wheels and never fully accomplishing much on a daily basis.

First: Home blessing - surface clean the house from top to bottom, make chili for supper so we are ready for the gym.
Second: Sort through my fabric to see what I can use for robes that I need to make.
Third: Get ready to lead the Skira for Midsummer this weekend.

setting appropriate goals

We need to understand what is truly in our power. If we set a goal and it is something that is totally beyond our capacity to achieve, we will be miserable and feel thwarted. We need to put value in the appropriate goals and principles and will thus achieve a happy and productive life.

I can want to be a CEO of a major corporation but the only thing that is in my control for this goal is getting the skills necessary and being the best employee I can. Whether I am actually hired as a CEO is beyond my control. This is why so much of our society is frustrated and angry, they have set their goals as a title rather than being the type of person worthy of that title.

Mike and I have decided that we need more income and less expenses for our household. We are reducing costs wherever possible and I am looking for work. We would like to renovate the house and it is impossible to do with the budget the way it is. I am also going to work on The Portable Library while I am looking for an "outside" job. Getting a job is outside of my control so I am going to apply for anything that looks like a good fit but focus on reducing costs and increasing our income as much as possible. Reducing involves the process of deciding what we value at home and reducing our outgoing money accordingly. Part of this process of cutting back must involve slowing down as we spend more money when we are too busy and running everywhere. Two weekend festivals in a row has wreaked havoc on our budget so we must prioritize and decide what "vacations" we can handle without breaking the bank.

Here is my personal summation of our WOAW reading for this morning...

What you hold to have the most value in your life is what your enemy can use to capture you. You are free when you truly hold everything, even your very existence, with an open hand. Ultimate freedom is to realize that everything in life is a gift and can be easily lost, even life.

Reading some Musonius Rufus this morning and the 100 mile diet and the Small Home movement were very prominent. These are two things that Mike and I feel are important to help with Affluenza and to lessen the environmental impact of our lives on our planet. We are contemplating purchasing an acre and building a small house that we will move to once we are alone rattling around in our house and all of the chicks have flown the nest. :) We would need to use a local sustainable building source though. Stack Cordwood building techniques can be used for an efficient local building method. We will need to continue to do research on the best techniques and resources to use.

The 100 mile diet is something we have meant to implement for awhile. There are some staples like oranges, orange juice, bananas, etc. that would not fall into this 100 mile requirement! Also Coffee is something that would need to go as there are no coffee growers in our area. ;) We do have a friend who lives close by who runs an organic tea business though! This diet is something that we could do immediately though and does not need to wait. Next groceries I will strive to be as 100 mile diet compliant as possible. :)

Both of these initiatives, small home and 100 mile diet, fit within my mandate for this blog, Voluntary Simplicity within a Stoic lifestyle. Little but steady progress will win the race towards this ultimate goal.

Talents and Abilities

The worth of an object is not in itself but in its ability to be used to craft a life. A talent is also much the same in that it is the use of the talent that gives it worth. If we use our lives, talents and abilities with skill to enrich our world it is far more valuable than if we hide our talents and keep them to ourselves.

Learning to increase our talents for the betterment of society increases their capacity to bring enlightenment, joy and wonder to the world we live in. We should strive to perfect our various skills and share them in benevolence with our family, friends and the greater world around us.

I have varied talents, as do all of us, music/singing, writing, cooking/baking, sewing, crafts, organizing, administration, homemaking, gardening. I am sure my husband and children would probably add other things to this list but what am I doing with these talents and abilities? They need to be used to enrich our daily lives personally and for the greater community as a whole. I challenge myself to continue to grow and learn to use these abilities within this greater community.

True Friendship

This mornings readings were centered around the concept of friendship and its role in society.

Lately I have had the pleasure of having many friends come into my life. Over the past three years my circle of friendships has grown in an increasing manner. I have always tended to be somewhat reclusive and retiring which has tended to keep myself somewhat isolated with only a handful of close friends. This has changed as I am allowing myself to be more outgoing and I am being rewarded with not just acquaintances but really good and close friends.

Many of these close friends are quite a distance away which means we can only get together, in the flesh, once or twice a year at festivals or meetings, etc., but some of these friends live in the same city and can be visited on a more regular basis. Last night, for instance, I spent a few hours in the company of amazing women, some already my friends, but some new friends, and the experience was wonderful. An inclusive circle of women friends sharing and talking together. :)

In our net driven society I think that the quality of friendship is often lost. Time seems to be spent in isolation watching television or surfing the net, the "old fashioned" past times of socializing, crafts, women's sewing circles etc. seem to have fallen out of use and this saddens me. I think that the time spent with friends away from technology is invaluable and I will make these activities a priority in my calendar.

The flower of friendship flourishes with the sunshine of love and the water of time. Let's all strive to cultivate a varied and thriving garden of friendship in our lives. :)

Appearances can be Deceiving

DO not say to what excels, Who are you? If you do, it will, somehow or other, find a voice to tell you, "I am like the purple thread in a garment. Do not expect me to be like the rest, or find fault with my nature, which hath distinguished me from others."

What then, am I such a one? How should I? Indeed, are you such a one as to be able to hear the truth? I wish you were. But, however, since I am condemned to wear a grey beard and a cloak, and you come to me as to a philosopher, I will not treat you cruelly, nor as if I despaired of you, but will ask you—Whom is it, young man, whom you would render beautiful? Know first who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly. You are a man ; that is, a mortal animal, capable of a rational use of the appearances of things. And what is this rational use? A perfect conformity to nature. What have you then particularly excellent? Is it the animal part? No. The mortal? No. That which is capable of the use of the appearances of things? No. The excellence lies in the rational part. Adorn and beautify this, but leave your hair to him who formed it, as he thought good.

EPICTETUS. DISCOURSES. Book iii. §1. ¶4,

This was our Stoic reading for today and I felt I needed to copy it here so that there is a context for what I have to say this morning...

In reading this I am struck with the purple thread reference. Purple thread was costly and used only by the highest levels of society and the senate. It set the wearers apart as the glitterati of Greek society much like our own celebrities who are set apart by outward beauty and designer clothing. We are only truly worth what our mind and moral fiber is worth. Appearances are nothing if we are rotting on the inside.

I am reminded of the saying attributed to Jesus in the Gospels were he is talking to the Pharisees and likens them to whitened sepulchers. White and beautiful on the outside, adorned with carvings and statues, yet holding a putrefying corpse inside.

Let us strive to the highest standards, caring for each other, ourselves and our world above all concerns for outward beauty as defined in our society.

Health and Cleanliness

Mike and I were reading some Epictetus this morning and the message was about the need to treat our bodies with care and respect. At the time the Cynics were proliferating a message of denial of the body was closer to holiness. This "doctrine" continued into the early Christian church with St. Augustine and is somewhat rampant today.

There seems to be a marked dichotomy in society of those who obsess over their bodies; plastic surgery, 7 gym visits a week, etc. and those who neglect their bodies; excessive weight gain, lack of hygiene, lack of care over appearance. There must be a balance between the two!
We only have one body while we are in this life, it requires constant care and attention, appropriate food, regular cleaning and care. The trick is to care for out bodies without obsessing, allowing ourselves to age but to age gracefully. For every individual the type of care differs, some dye their hair, while others allow the salt and pepper to slowly appear on its natural schedule. I think you need to be true to how you feel about the standards of appearance you wish to set for yourselves. I have joined a gym but my goal is not to lose every pound I have gained through five pregnancies and many years to get back to my pre-marriage weight. My goal is to be healthy and vital and eat sensibly with the least amount of additives and chemicals as possible.

My motivation for taking care of myself is to have as long a life as possible to share with my husband and family. I guess the decision for everyone is to decide what level of care needs to be kept and strive to maintain our bodies to the best of our ability.

Life and health to all!