Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 08:13:41 -0400
From: roger <pelecat-AT-bellsouth.net>
Subject: Re: stoic peace




Senex R. Rupicapra wrote:

> "Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of
> one principle: some things are within our control, and some
> things are not. It is only after you have faced up to this
> fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what
> you can and can't control that inner tranquility and outer
> effectiveness become possible."--Epictetus
>
>         old goat.



seems it's the "distinguishing between" part that gives so much
trouble.  to carry it further:

nothing is under our complete control except our own thoughts and
dreams.  the only PAZ/TAZ we'll ever find is between our ears.  thus,
tranquility.  outer effectiveness?  if personal autonomy without
coercion is the root of justice, then politics is the extension of our
personal soverignty to include another . . . family, kin, people, faith,
nation.  to care more for the fate of another than for oneself is love;
and it is the heart and soul of community; to extend that soverignty to
include all is virtue.  to do so and survive is wisdom.

to deny any individual these uncoerced choices is the root of
oppression.  the challenge is to forge individual action into a common
enterprise and to collectively act without diminishing individual
choice.  this would be anarchy.


>         Of all the benefits which virtue confers on us,
>         the contempt of death is one of the greatest.
>         --Michel Eyquem De Montaigne
>         ÐÏࡱ

sounds a bit the optimist to me.

roger