Retriever Replacement
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I have an affinity for Diogenes that I don't have for the other Cynics. When it comes down to it, as negative as my perspective and experiences have often been, I prefer Stoicism (for the most part, anyway). I've long felt that the way Diogenes carried himself, his deeds, his chosen path- he had a good deal of prototype Stoicism in him. So either a Cynical Stoic, or a Stoic Cynic. Something like that.
Both philosophies put virtue and non-material value well above that which can be physically horded. Both also acknowledge many of the more difficult to swallow truths about existence itself & human nature.
After a certain point I made a pragmatic decision to look at my life, past, present, and future, with this simple approach:
>“A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it.” - Marcus Aurelius
Rival philosopher: So are you one of the men (sometimes translated as "honest man" but that adjective doesn't describe it by half) that you seek with your lantern lit in the middle of the day?
Diogenes: I am not a man, but a dog. Dogs and philosophers do a great good. We nuzzle the kind, bark at the greedy, and bite the scoundrels (In Diogenes's case sometimes literally).
Rival philosopher: Then if you are not one where can we find your men?
Diogenes: Men I find nowhere, but good boys in Sparta.
This is in reference to the Spartan Agoge. Boys were forced into constant athletics, made to go barefoot, had to steal for their food, were beaten if they were caught, and slept on a bed of reeds they made themselves. They didn't have to. These were rich kids of Spartiate citizen families, the top 3% of Spartan society. They had plenty material wealth. They knew that material wealth would be there after they graduated. But instead they eschewed all that wealth, chose the destitution of the Agoge because that's what "men" do.
Kinda sounds like the Stoics. Marcus Aurelius, rich beyond your wildest dreams, but always kept his nose to the grindstone in body, mind, and spirit. The material was just.. there, other. It can be put to use, sure, not bad in and of itself, but wasn't sought for its own sake or lusted after.