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Have you ever started a book, and been immediately smacked by its current relevance?
November 18, 2020, 12:31 PM
sigcrazy7Have you ever started a book, and been immediately smacked by its current relevance?
During these troubled, and frustrating, times, I have felt a need to get a bigger picture. To that end, I decided I’d try a new book. I began reading
The Enchiridion by Epictetus. Oddly, I’ve never really read much of the Stoics, and I was immediately floored by the relevance of the first three pages. If you will pardon the long quote. I want to quote the first section in its entirety.
quote:
“There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs.
Now the things within our power are by nature free, unrestricted, unhindered; but those beyond our power are weak, dependent, restricted, alien. Remember, then, that if you attribute freedom to things by nature dependent and take what belongs to others for your own, you will be hindered, you will lament, you will be disturbed, you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you take for your own only that which is your own and view what belongs to others just as it really is, then no one will ever compel you, no one will restrict you; you will find fault with no one, you will accuse no one, you will do nothing against your will; no one will hurt you, you will not have an enemy, nor will you suffer any harm.
Aiming, therefore, at such great things, remember that you must not allow yourself any inclination, however slight, toward the attainment of the others; but that you must entirely quit some of them, and for the present postpone the rest. But if you would have these, and possess power and wealth likewise, you may miss the latter in seeking the former; and you will certainly fail of that by which alone happiness and freedom are procured.
Seek at once, therefore, to be able to say to every unpleasing semblance, “You are but a semblance and by no means the real thing.” And then examine it by those rules which you have; and first and chiefly by this: whether it concerns the things which are within our own power or those which are not; and if it concerns anything beyond our power, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.”
Wisdom from 2000 years ago. I am very much looking forward to finishing this book.
Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well. -Epictetus November 18, 2020, 12:42 PM
RogueJSKWell, as a fan of history books, it's not uncommon to find very close parallels between events and situations in history and current events.
But yes, a lot of the classical thinkers' opinions on life are still highly relevant to life today. The surrounding details of the world may have changed, but the underlying human condition has not.
November 18, 2020, 12:48 PM
nhtagmemberYes. Several Tom Clancey books fit this precisely.
November 18, 2020, 12:53 PM
flesheatingvirus1984
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-- Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. --
November 18, 2020, 12:55 PM
vinnybassMatt Bracken's 'Enemies, Foreign & Domestic' series & Kurt Schlichter's Kelly Turnbull series. Fiction (for now) but prescient.
"We're all travelers in this world. From the sweet grass to the packing house. Birth 'til death. We travel between the eternities." November 18, 2020, 01:05 PM
sigcrazy7quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Well, as a fan of history books, it's not uncommon to find very close parallels between events and situations in history and current events.
But yes, a lot of the classical thinkers' opinions on life are still highly relevant to life today. The surrounding details of the world may have changed, but the underlying human condition has not.
Exactly. I recently read a history of the Peloponnesian War, and couldn’t help but note the similarities of the world politics to pre-Trump U.S. foreign policy. We look a lot like Athens in the early 5th century BC.
Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well. -Epictetus November 18, 2020, 01:08 PM
reloader-1quote:
Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Well, as a fan of history books, it's not uncommon to find very close parallels between events and situations in history and current events.
But yes, a lot of the classical thinkers' opinions on life are still highly relevant to life today. The surrounding details of the world may have changed, but the underlying human condition has not.
Exactly. I recently read a history of the Peloponnesian War, and couldn’t help but note the similarities of the world politics to pre-Trump U.S. foreign policy. We look a lot like Athens in the early 5th century BC.
China is the Spartans? Interesting parallels, the US democracy and naval based dominance...
November 18, 2020, 01:10 PM
tatortoddI used to do a lot of business travel for work, and routinely read two novels every business trip. I was sitting in my seat on the airplane and began reading the first novel in the Left Behind series. Not that the rapture has occurred, but it was pretty eery to be sitting on an airplane reading about pilots disappearing midflight.
Tom Clancy's 1994 novel Debt of Honor had a distinct similarity to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In the novel, the Japanese terrorist flew the 747 into a joint session of Congress and Jack Ryan becomes President.
Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity
DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer. November 18, 2020, 01:11 PM
nhtagmemberMatt Brackens books are very good.
November 18, 2020, 01:41 PM
darthfusterAnimal Farm. Brave New World. Lord of the Flies.
You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier November 18, 2020, 01:58 PM
1gkekI read Atlas Shrugged during the 2008 election.
November 18, 2020, 02:10 PM
BamaJeepsterYours is a good example.
Also, I am currently reading "Blood Red Snow", a German soldier's personal account of his time fighting on the Eastern front in WWII. He arrived at the front in late October of 42 outside of Stalingrad, so yeah - pretty similar to the vibe going on in the US right now - impending doom.
“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
- John Adams November 18, 2020, 02:19 PM
RichardCEcclesiastes.
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November 18, 2020, 02:31 PM
car541Fahrenheit 451 pretty much predicted social media
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"I don't own the night, I only operate a small franchise" - Author unknown
November 18, 2020, 02:35 PM
sigcrazy7quote:
Originally posted by reloader-1:
China is the Spartans? Interesting parallels, the US democracy and naval based dominance...
Pretty much. The alignment of the world into two camps, the weakness of alliances, the Athenians lack of desire to sustain the losses necessary for a win, the expense of maintaining a formidable Navy, the financial effects of a protracted fight, a plague in the middle of it, the expectation that the Athenian Navy would arbitrate every fight of the satellite states, etc.
Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well. -Epictetus November 18, 2020, 02:48 PM
Scoutmasterquote:
Originally posted by darthfuster:
Animal Farm. Brave New World. Lord of the Flies.
Seems some of those authors were quite prophetic.
"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it....While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it"
- Judge Learned Hand, May 1944 November 18, 2020, 03:04 PM
celticwolfUnintended Consequences
"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of
avoiding reality." Ayn Rand
November 18, 2020, 03:07 PM
az4783054Any super hero comic versus evil villains, and President Trump.
November 18, 2020, 03:11 PM
SteynHerodotus, “The Histories”.
November 19, 2020, 12:59 AM
YooperSigsAlas, Babylon.
End of Earth: 2 Miles
Upper Peninsula: 4 Miles