atmachaitanya// shankara and i debate

[Guest guest]

January 13, 2002

 

Dear Atmataichanya- (and others, welcome!)

 

 

It is my hope that you will debate the ethics of our

noble shankara with me, as described through my

thoughts below. I welcome your words on something I

have thought endlessly about from my throne.

 

I begin the morning by saying to myself, I shall meet

with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant,

deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen

to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good

and evil. But I who have seen the nature of the good

that it is beautiful, and of the bad that it is ugly,

and the nature of him who does wrong, that it is akin

to me, not only of the same blood or seed, but that it

participates in the same intelligence and the same

portion of the divinity, I can neither be injured by

any of them, for no one can fix on me what is ugly,

nor can I be angry with my kinsman, nor hate him, For

we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands,

like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower

teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to

nature; and it is acting against one another to be

vexed and to turn away.

 

Whatever this is that I am, it is a little flesh and

breath, and the ruling part. Throw away thy books; no

longer distract thyself: it is not allowed; but as if

thou wast now dying, despise the flesh; it is blood

and bones and a network, a contexture of nerves,

veins, and arteries. See the breath also, what kind of

a thing it is, air, and not always the same, but every

moment sent out and again sucked in. The third then is

the ruling part: consider thus: Thou art an old man;

no longer let this be a slave, no longer be pulled by

the strings like a puppet to unsocial movements, no

longer either be dissatisfied with thy present lot, or

shrink from the future.

 

We ought to observe also that even the things which

follow after the things which are produced according

to nature contain something pleasing and attractive.

For instance, when bread is baked some parts are split

at the surface, and these parts which thus open, and

have a certain fashion contrary to the purpose of the

baker's art, are beautiful in a manner, and in a

peculiar way excite a desire for eating. And again,

figs, when they are quite ripe, gape open; and in the

ripe olives the very circumstance of their being near

to rottenness adds a peculiar beauty to the fruit. And

the ears of corn bending down, and the lion's

eyebrows, and the foam which flows from the mouth of

wild boars, and many other things- though they are far

from being beautiful, if a man should examine them

severally- still, because they are consequent upon the

things which are formed by nature, help to adorn them,

and they please the mind; so that if a man should have

a feeling and deeper insight with respect to the

things which are produced in the universe, there is

hardly one of those which follow by way of consequence

which will not seem to him to be in a manner disposed

so as to give pleasure. And so he will see even the

real gaping jaws of wild beasts with no less pleasure

than those which painters and sculptors show by

imitation; and in an old woman and an old man he will

be able to see a certain maturity and comeliness; and

the attractive loveliness of young persons he will be

able to look on with chaste eyes; and many such things

will present themselves, not pleasing to every man,

but to him only who has become truly familiar with

nature and her works.

 

But if nothing appears to be better than the deity

which is planted in thee, which has subjected to

itself all thy appetites, and carefully examines all

the impressions, and, as Socrates said, has detached

itself from the persuasions of sense, and has

submitted itself to the gods, and cares for mankind;

if thou findest everything else smaller and of less

value than this, give place to nothing else, for if

thou dost once diverge and incline to it, thou wilt no

longer without distraction be able to give the

preference to that good thing which is thy proper

possession and thy own; for it is not right that

anything of any other kind, such as praise from the

many, or power, or enjoyment of pleasure, should come

into competition with that which is rationally and

politically or practically good. All these things,

even though they may seem to adapt themselves to the

better things in a small degree, obtain the

superiority all at once, and carry us away. But do

thou, I say, simply and freely choose the better, and

hold to it.- But that which is useful is the better.-

Well then, if it is useful to thee as a rational

being, keep to it; but if it is only useful to thee as

an animal, say so, and maintain thy judgement without

arrogance: only take care that thou makest the inquiry

by a sure method.

 

Body, soul, intelligence: to the body belong

sensations, to the soul appetites, to the intelligence

principles. To receive the impressions of forms by

means of appearances belongs even to animals; to be

pulled by the strings of desire belongs both to wild

beasts and to men who have made themselves into women,

and to a Phalaris and a Nero: and to have the

intelligence that guides to the things which appear

suitable belongs also to those who do not believe in

the gods, and who betray their country, and do their

impure deeds when they have shut the doors. If then

everything else is common to all that I have

mentioned, there remains that which is peculiar to the

good man, to be pleased and content with what happens,

and with the thread which is spun for him; and not to

defile the divinity which is planted in his breast,

nor disturb it by a crowd of images, but to preserve

it tranquil, following it obediently as a god, neither

saying anything contrary to the truth, nor doing

anything contrary to justice. And if all men refuse to

believe that he lives a simple, modest, and contented

life, he is neither angry with any of them, nor does

he deviate from the way which leads to the end of

life, to which a man ought to come pure, tranquil,

ready to depart, and without any compulsion perfectly

reconciled to his lot.

 

What kind of things those are which appear good to the

many, we may learn even from this. For if any man

should conceive certain things as being really good,

such as prudence, temperance, justice, fortitude, he

would not after having first conceived these endure to

listen to anything which should not be in harmony with

what is really good. But if a man has first conceived

as good the things which appear to the many to be

good, he will listen and readily receive as very

applicable that which was said by the comic writer.

Thus even the many perceive the difference. For were

it not so, this saying would not offend and would not

be rejected in the first case, while we receive it

when it is said of wealth, and of the means which

further luxury and fame, as said fitly and wittily. Go

on then and ask if we should value and think those

things to be good, to which after their first

conception in the mind the words of the comic writer

might be aptly applied- that he who has them, through

pure abundance has not a place to ease himself in.

 

I am composed of the formal and the material; and

neither of them will perish into non-existence, as

neither of them came into existence out of

non-existence. Every part of me then will be reduced

by change into some part of the universe, and that

again will change into another part of the universe,

and so on for ever. And by consequence of such a

change I too exist, and those who begot me, and so on

for ever in the other direction. For nothing hinders

us from saying so, even if the universe is

administered according to definite periods of

revolution.

 

Reason and the reasoning art (philosophy) are powers

which are sufficient for themselves and for their own

works. They move then from a first principle which is

their own, and they make their way to the end which is

proposed to them; and this is the reason why such acts

are named catorthoseis or right acts, which word

signifies that they proceed by the right road.

 

Hare OM, OM!

 

O. Peshtin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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