The Wisdom of Hypatia: Ancient Spiritual Practices for a More Meaningful Life (16 page)

Further, control of the moment requires mastery of reason over the feelings, which are distracting. Therefore the perfect sage is serene in the face of circumstances. The result of controlling what you can control, and not trying to control what you cannot, aligns your life with Universal Nature, so you live in accord with divine Providence, and experience a profound feeling of participation in Nature. This is the perfection of the moment, which, as those of the Garden also said, depends on its quality, not its quantity. A moment of joy is the supreme happiness, and is equivalent to an eternity of joy. As Seneca said, “Whether you draw a larger or a smaller circle, its size affects its area, not its shape.”94 All circles are perfectly round, no matter what their sizes.

Nature

Like other ancient philosophies, Stoicism was divided into
physics
(the study of nature),
logic
, and
ethics
, which deal with
being
,
knowing
, and
acting
, respectively. Thus, some Stoics said philosophy is like an enclosed field.95 Logic is the bordering wall, which with its carefully fitted stones delimits the discipline and controls what is allowed inside. Physics—the study of Nature—is the fertile ground and the trees growing in it. Ethics is the fruit, which we hope to harvest if we have maintained the wall and tended the soil and trees.

Although the Stoics developed a very sophisticated logic, in the end it is not very relevant to the other two, which were developed more intuitively. We will look briefly at Stoic physics since it provided the foundation for ethics. Of course natural science has made enormous progress since the ancient Stoics, but we will see that Stoic physics is more a way of looking at the world than a scientific theory, and hence its usefulness is largely independent of scientific progress.

80 the discipline of assent

Like Epicurean physics, Stoic physics was an account of Nature (
physis
in Greek), but this word was understood to mean everything that exists, not just the natural world as we think of it. It thus included things that we usually think of as nonphysical, such as the soul and the gods. In this chapter I’ll use “Nature” in this broad sense and for convenience

“physics” will refer to the study of this Nature.

In many respects Stoic physics was opposed to Epicurean physics. Thus the Epicureans had an essentially mechanical view of the universe, with atoms bouncing off each other and interacting through inanimate forces, like billiard balls. The Stoics, in contrast, viewed Nature (everything that exists) as an organism, a living whole constituted of mutually interdependent parts (organs). Likewise, contemporary Pagans, but many other people as well, find it enlightening to see ecosystems, the Earth as a whole (Gaia), and even the entire universe as super-organisms.

The Stoics analyzed Nature into two inseparable aspects, the active principle, which they sometimes called the
Cause
, and the passive principle, which they called
Matter
. Here

“matter” does not have the same meaning it does in modern physics, but refers to the hypothetical formless and quality-less substrate of all things. The Cause gives form to Matter; it gives it its qualities. We may say that the Cause
informs
Matter (gives it form).

In modern terms we might think of the Cause and Matter as the laws of physics and the

“stuff ” (matter and energy) that those laws govern, but the modern view is more mechanical than the Stoic view, which is organic.

For the philosophers of the Porch, the Cause is the origin of all change in the universe, and because the universe follows orderly laws, the Cause is considered rational, and in fact a sort of rational mind. For this reason Stoics call the Cause by many names, including God, Zeus, Jupiter, Force, Soul, Spirit, Destiny, Providence, Fate, Necessity, Reason, and Logos.

The word
logos
is essential to all ancient Greek philosophy, including Hypatia’s. It is often translated “word” (e.g., “In the beginning was the Word”: John 1:1), but its meaning is much richer. In broad terms it refers to the orderly principle of anything, whether an explanation in speech or thought, or an active organizational principle. In modern terms we may think of the Logos as the laws of the universe, not just as descriptions, but also as living, active, dynamical causes, rather like gods. This is the Stoic sense of the Cause.

Logos is central to the three parts of philosophy. It is the source of truth in logic, which investigates the laws of thought and rational discourse; here the role of Logos is
descriptive
.

In physics Logos has a
constructive
role, for it is the governing principle of the universe. In

the discipline of assent 81

ethics its role is
normative
, since the goal of philosophy is to live in accord with Nature, that is, in accord with the Logos.

Since, according to Stoic physics, Nature is one, a unified whole, so also the Logos is one and Matter is one. Furthermore, since there can be no unformed (quality-less) matter, and no immaterial form, Logos and Matter are co-extensive; neither exists without the other. Therefore Deity informs all matter, and thus pervades the universe, but there is also no Deity apart from matter. The philosophy of the Porch is
pantheistic
, which means that Deity is immanent in nature, as opposed to being a transcendent being existing in some supernatural realm (heaven, for example). Therefore, Nature itself is divine and sacred.

This is the common view in contemporary earth-oriented religions, such as Neo-Paganism and Wicca, but it is often controversial in those religions that emphasize the transcendence of God.

In summary, Stoics view the cosmos—Nature in the broad sense—as a living being

imbued with an intelligence, the Logos, which governs it. All of the other intelligences in the cosmos, including gods, celestial beings, and terrestrial life, including humans, are split-off bits of this Cosmic Intelligence. This is important for understanding our role in the cosmos.

Divine Nature:
Reflect on your own views on the intelligible order of the universe and the role of divinity in it. How are your beliefs similar to and different

from the Stoics’? Is Nature governed from within or from outside? Record your

thoughts in your journal.

Human Nature

The philosophers of the Porch advise us to live in harmony with universal Nature, but to do so we need to explore Stoic ideas of
human
nature. Humans, as parts or emanations of Nature, have similar aspects to it. This is expressed by the ancient idea of the
macrocosm
and the
microcosm
. The macrocosm is the cosmos in its entirety, the universe, including the principles by which it is organized. The microcosm is the “little cosmos,” that is the universe that is the individual human being, both body and soul. Many ancient philosophies taught that the microcosm is an image of the macrocosm, that is, a universe in miniature, and therefore that human nature is a reduced image of universal Nature. There is some 82 the discipline of assent

truth to this notion, in part because human nature must be adapted to universal Nature in order to survive, and in part because human nature (specifically our sense organs and brains) is the lens through which we understand universal Nature.

Stoic physics analyzed the human being into three principal parts. First, we have a
body
, which is formed matter. Second, we have a
lower soul
: a vital energy, which maintains our life processes, including metabolism, healing, perception, movement, cognition, reproduction, and so forth. It is animating and gives life to living things, making them organisms as opposed to nonliving things.

Third, we have a
higher soul
, which is variously described as an intellect, a power of reflection, and a
guiding principle
. It is, as we will see, the power of conscious judgment and free choice. Since the Universal Reason is a unified whole, Stoics understand the higher soul as a portion of Universal Reason, and thus of God.

You must now at last realize of what cosmos you are a part,

and that you subsist as an emanation of the governor of the cosmos.96

According to those of the Porch, the higher soul, this split off bit of the divine, which is enthroned in the body (in the wide sense, incorporating the body proper and the lower soul), is a
daimon
. The ancient Greek word
daimôn
(pronounced DYE-moan) has a completely different connotation from the English word “demon.” Originally it meant any divine being; later it became restricted to lesser divinities as opposed to the high gods (Zeus, Athena, etc.). In fact,
daimon
is closer in meaning to “angel,” and in Platonic philosophy angels (
angeloi
in Greek) were considered one kind of daimon. Hence, the higher soul is the god within.

Every person’s mind is god,

and is an emanation thence.97

The philosophers of the Porch say that your guiding principle or inner divinity is what is truly you; the rest (body and lower soul) is “exterior” (outside of the true you). This is important for understanding the Stoic way of life.

Notice that since everything is formed matter (that is, an inseparable composite of

an active cause and passive matter), the soul is considered material, not immaterial or incorporeal. At death these two substances (body and soul) separate, but the Stoics did not the discipline of assent 83

think that the soul outlives the body for long. That is, they both disperse, and our lives as independent beings come to an end; we merge back into universal Nature.

Since the distinguishing characteristic of humans is our power of conscious reason and reflection, that is, our higher soul, for humans to live according to (human) nature means to live in accord with this guiding principle. Your body and lower soul (which you share with other living things) is part of your nature, but not peculiar to humans. According to ancient philosophy, the aim of every being, human and otherwise, is to bring its own nature to completion and perfection. Since reason is the good that is peculiar to humans, we reach the end intended by Nature when we bring our reason to perfection. Therefore to live a
human
life, and also the most godlike life, your guiding principle should follow reason. Now let’s turn to the method.

Three Fundamental Disciplines

The Stoa teaches three fundamental
disciplines
, which are practices by which the guiding principle regulates its judgment, impulse, and desire. These three faculties govern the corresponding parts into which Plato divided the soul: the mind or rational part, the will or spirited part, and the appetites or desiring part, that is—metaphorically—the head, heart, and belly.
Judgment
is the faculty by which we decide what is true and what is false. Our goal in judgment is to assent to the true, reject the false, and suspend judgment on the uncertain. As judgment is the realm of true and false, so
impulse
is the realm of choice and refusal, for our goal is to choose what we should do and refuse to do what we shouldn’t.

Finally,
desire
is the realm of the good and the bad, for we desire what’s good, try to avoid what’s bad, and should be indifferent to that which is neither. In order to behave in harmony with human nature, we should use reason to decide between true and false, between choice and refusal, and between desire and aversion. (At first blush, it may seem that desire and aversion are out of our control, but the next chapter teaches spiritual practices to gain that control.)

These three mental faculties correspond to the three divisions of philosophy: logic, ethics, and physics (natural science). It is pretty obvious that logic relates to truth and falsity, and ethics to choice and refusal, but the connection between physics and desire or aversion is probably more mysterious (we’ll get to it). Therefore wisdom consists in three
disciplines
, of
assent
,
impulse
, and
desire
, which I’ll explain in three chapters, along with the spiritual exercises that support them. (Remember them by the abbreviation AID.) Marcus summarizes where we will be going:

84 the discipline of assent

Every nature is contented with itself when it goes on its way well;

and a rational nature goes on its way well:

[1] when in its thoughts it assents to nothing false or uncertain;

[2] when it directs its impulses to social acts only;

[3] when it confines its desires and aversions to the things that are in its power;
and when it is satisfied with everything that is assigned to it by universal Nature.98

I have added the numbers to show that these are the disciplines of assent [1], impulse

[2], and desire [3].

The Discipline of Assent

In our imagination we can look into a small room in the palace where the Stoic