The Few Real Goods: Treasures of the Ages
Posted by Andrew | Filed under A Farewell to Authority, Art, Breakfast in the Ruins, Commentary, General, Lost Geographies, Retrovision, The Destruction of History, Uncategorized
What follows arose from a morning reflection upon Ryan Holiday’s “The Stoic Journal” and “The Daily Stoic” for April 20th.
It has been difficult for me to return to the habit of writing, as my life in Korea has been rather chaotic over the last few years, but enforcing upon myself the semi-habit of writing a daily Stoic journal has, partly at least, rekindled the desire and pointed to the need, for the writer, of suitable “prompts”, which is the essential purpose of Ryan’s Journal: Pose a question to the reader, who then writes a response.
In truth, of course, some questions are difficult to answer in the moment, and sufficient perspective to frame a reasonable response may actually follow much later, in my experience, when something unexpected happens in your life and the idea suddenly crystallises into clarity in your mind. This happened to me again today.
One question which the Stoics dealt with was the real worth of things, bearing in mind that they were mortals, having a finite lifespan, living in times when death was a commonplace phenomenon, seen daily on the streets, at home and of course, for the Roman citizen, on many battlefields during the lifetime of a single individual. Therefore, given the desire of the ordinary mortal to acquire as much wealth as possible during one lifetime, the question arose as to whether increasing one’s personal fortune was an automatic guarantee of happiness, and the answer seemed to be a negative one.
This was not meant to be a remorseless statement of fact in the face of the inevitable; after all, what the Stoics were seeking was a more joyful and at the same time virtuous life. They simply observed that increasing wealth did not guarantee a life that was happier or more virtuous, and since financial wealth in those days was a material thing (precious metals, property), it was something that you could not take with you when you died (I need hardly point out that, having come close to mortality myself a couple of times in recent years, my mind often dwells on these things nowadays…). Many of them did indeed achieve (or inherit) sufficient wealth to understand that it could be a less-than-perfect experience, so they were in a good position to comment.
Noting that Ryan names wisdom, self-control, justice and courage as “virtues” (quoting from Marcus Aurelius) and that people will work hard all their lives to achieve it, and also that though desirable, “wealth” itself is not a “virtue”, one has to ask two questions:
1: If the acquisition of wealth is not a “virtue”, then what kind of “wealth” could be considered a “virtue”? What have past commentators had to say about this?
2: If wealth can be acquired by a life of hard work, what, then, is required to acquire wisdom, self-control, justice and courage? What kind of “work” or “study” is required to obtain these things?
Marcus Aurelius named these four latter as “things that are unquestionably good” – in other words, things which are undoubtedly beneficial to obtain. Financial “wealth” can be seen as being a more dubious “benefit” because it does not automatically guarantee happiness – it is, perhaps, a liability because those who do not have it always want to take it from you – including, of course, governments. However, in the civilisations that we have had, the value of money (which is more nominal or virtual than real nowadays) allows us to obtain at least the necessities that we need on a daily basis, such as food, clothing and utilities; a necessary evil, perhaps, but a useful means of value exchange.
Maybe we should take Marcus himself as an example. His times were very different from ours: he knew well that he was mortal (in his position, he probably had someone whispering “Memento mori!” in his ear several times each day) and understood better than anyone that he couldn’t take the wealth of the Roman Emperor with him when he passed on. In Marcus’s case, the inheritance that he bequeathed to posterity (in other words, ourselves) was not the gold and silver of Rome, but the philosophical wealth of his “Meditations”; the physical riches of Rome have been lost to time, but the wealth of Marcus’s (and other individuals’) thinking was preserved, and there is a lesson in this.
Realising, as I did today when I sat at my desk for the morning meditation, that the whole question related to the transitory nature of life and that material wealth (such as accumulated financial savings and other property) is therefore only a temporary pleasure at best, I was reminded of some hymns that we used to sing during morning assemblies at school in Leicester; in particular, I recalled a children’s song about natural treasures – experiential pleasures which we can only appreciate precisely because we are alive.
Therein lies the point that we are making here, which was the point that Ryan was trying to make: material wealth can only be enjoyed or appreciated while we live; hence, since we are mortal, material wealth is as fleeting and temporary as other living things, which have short lives and pass before us each year, according to the seasons.
I had some difficulty finding copies of that particular hymn, but what follows is taken from a *.jpg picture [1] and a simple PowerPoint file which you can download [2] (see “References” below). This was “Daisies Are Our Silver” by the English writer Jan Struther (Joyce Maxtone Graham, Joyce Placzek) [3], and I quote it here in full:
Daisies Are Our Silver [4]
Daisies are our silver,
Buttercups our gold:
This is all the treasure
We can have or hold.
Raindrops are our diamonds
And the morning dew;
While for shining sapphires
We’ve the speedwell blue. [3]
These shall be our emeralds,
Leaves so new and green;
Roses make the reddest
Rubies ever seen.
God, who gave these treasures
To your children small,
Teach us how to love them
And grow like them all.
Make us bright as silver,
Make us good as gold;
Warm as summer roses
Let our hearts unfold.
Gay as leaves in April,
Clear as drops of dew –
God, who made the speedwell,
Keep us true to you.
Though intended for children rather than adults, this has always been one of the most powerful memento mori that I have ever known – powerful enough for me to remember throughout my whole life. I will return to the works of Struther again in the future.
This is, however, one of so many cultural reminders that the works we undertake during our lifetimes are the things by which we are remembered: and that the achievement of wisdom, self-control, justice and courage originate in our Socratic reflection upon our own lives and experiences, putting them into perspective, adding them to our existing experiential schemata and, perhaps, using that knowledge to create things that naturally outlast our own existence. This work, this study in search of the virtuous, is lifelong, and it only ends when we end.
It is not without reason that we are able to wonder at the great works of the past – pyramids, bridges, ancient Roman and Greek buildings, paintings and sculptures, and of course, Homer and Shakespeare. Our bodies are only temporary shells which we inhabit, by means of which these things are realised and become part of the public inheritance: the treasures of the ages.
References
[1] https://www.pinterest.com/pin/83879611794491343/
[2] https://www.slideserve.com/yli/daisies-are-our-silver-buttercups-our-gold-this-is-all-the-treasure-we-can-have-or-hold-powerpoint-ppt-presentation
[3] Speedwell: Or Veronica, perennial flowering plants with small blue flowers, e.g. Veronica spicata; see https://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-flowers/blue-flowers/speedwells/
[4] There is a collection of Struther’s works available to read at https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/struther/struther.html
The Return to Writing
Posted by Andrew | Filed under Art, Breakfast in the Ruins, Commentary, General, Living in Korea, Lost Geographies, Odds and Ends..., Uncategorized
For some time, it has been apparent to me that I need to return to writing. By this, I mean not embarking on some unfinishable science fiction novel, but more the reflective type of stuff which I used to post on a weekly basis on my old blog, say ten years ago, before I went north to work in Gyyeonggi for a year (and which, like so many jobs here, led absolutely nowhere).
I would grind away at my job until the weekend, and on the Saturday or Sunday, take a bus down to Nopo (when I was living in Yangsan) and/or the subway to Haeundae, and descend upon the Wolfhound to have a meal, and then sit alone with a glass of dry cider, physically writing in my old B5 note folder. Especially when the weather was inclement or the customers already there were few and far between, it was a good time and place for contemplation, and let’s face it, ‘contemplation’ is something you start to do more and more as you get older and your life experience increases. The Wolfhound was a great place for this, for which I am grateful; it was generally quiet before the multitude descended upon it, and people mainly left me alone to think and write.
Interestingly, I could do the same at the Wolfhound in Itaewon while I was working for the KDLI in Icheon; alas, however, Itaewon has also changed, including the loss of another regular watering-hole there, the Seoul Pub. It would be nice to revisit a few places there some time; I have experienced so many ‘lost geographies’ since I first arrived in Korea.
It would have to be said also that there is an aesthetic quality in the physical act of writing, on paper with your favourite pen, to be able to take the time required in a comfortable place, which is somehow lacking when using modern media, as I am doing now, writing this. Of course, publication would eventually be on a web site, so we are not talking about abandoning technology – after all, one of the great benefits of having a computer is that the intermediate steps of editing and revision are so much easier and faster, and besides, how else would you finally upload and finalise it? If there is WiFi available, you could do this (with difficulty, perhaps) using the likes of a tablet, but the natural spatial and temporal separation between the writing location and the editing/uploading location was helpful in itself, as the time for reflection upon what was written was thereby extended, and additional ideas could be incorporated into the whole before finishing. In any case, there was no pressure with regards to time because what I was writing was (mostly) personal.
Fast forward some ten years (as I transitioned temporarily back to the elementary school in Yangsan following a year at YBM in Seomyeon, and then off for a year in Gyyeonggi), and I had already had to transition to a private blog (on server space in Singapore, no less) because Opera, the browser company, had decided to dispose of their social media and I already had to move years of blogs and pictures between servers. I had settled on using WordPress as a publishing platform after the loss of Opera’s own, and that has also had little ‘issues’ caused by the kind of ‘improvements’ that one might expect more from the likes of the GNOME desktop… and the aesthetic and emotional need for physical writing, on paper and using a pen rather than my more customary keyboard, has reared its head again.
Predictably, this was where the problems started. Last time, I had my favourite (and factually rather cheap) three-hole B5 folder which doubled as my schedule planner for the daily lessons, something which I still do. However, it has proven surprisingly difficult to find a similar three-hole B5 folder with pleasing aesthetic qualities, and so, this afternoon (a Sunday, of course), I lashed out on a new, black one… but this time, the paper has nine holes. Again, neither difficult nor expensive to procure, but annoying, since (as far as I am aware) I will only be able to order such things online for the foreseeable future. Despite the cost, it did seem to me that the aesthetic and emotional aspects justified the expenditure; last time, I never thought about the costs involved, which were cheap, but that was because I was co-opting materials which had an existing use, which mitigated them. Plus, as suggested above, although much of this process might be possible on (say) my latest tablet, it could in fact be more difficult than simply writing it out in the first place.
Another odd consideration is the actual writing implement itself. Way back when I had to wear a two-piece uniform with a shirt and tie five days a week, and school gravy was a penny a slice, I developed a passion for ink pens, meaning, of course, fountain and cartridge pens; at one point I had a small collection of red Shaeffer No Nonsense pens, as all of these things (including refills) could be purchased locally at a reasonable price. Later, I changed over to fibre pens, which seemed to glide nicely over the paper, although in both cases I was writing so much that I wore the nibs down quite rapidly. More recently, I have changed back to ball pens, although I note that the “Rolly” type with 1mm balls no longer seem to be available; everything else now seems rather ‘scratchy’, which I think has a lot to do with the state of my finger joints these days… maybe I should go back to Shaeffer?
However, what I am really talking about here is a transition to journalling, rather than straightforward ‘blogging’. This practice is wonderful for a number of reasons, not least because it allows the writer to organise both thoughts and actions, gives him or her time to think and perhaps even get out of an otherwise claustrophobic Korean apartment and even meet people. Well, who would’a thunk? I was surprised to discover that this particular area is huge on the Internet, although the kind of dedicated materials (i.e. writing notebooks) often on sale are rather smaller (A5 or less) than I would prefer, largely because I have always found that physical writing becomes cramped on small pages, and of course, crossing-out, rearrangement and other general editing is so much easier on a bigger page, although a page size as large as A4 might be somewhat intimidating, so B5 represents a kind of ‘happy medium’ for me, personally.
The use of the term ‘journalling’ however, implies a sense of privacy rather than preparation for publication, which may not be a bad idea. Previous experience showed that the relaxation factor plus the time factor were helpful in improving both the quality and the content, although space for mind maps, schemata and concept diagrams on the physical page might also be valuable; and the very fact that I am considering these things now shows that I have acquired new and useful ideas in the course of the intervening ten years, especially ideas which came from my time as a TESOL trainer.
We might ask whether there will be any change in topic areas, and my answer might be ‘no, but there will be greater depth of consideration’, especially with regard to historical and computing-related topics, and also new ideas which I have been considering for the future, which would involve other technologies which I expect to interface well with those where I already have experience. Clearly, it is a major error to rush a piece of writing through without sufficient consideration and research; also, we should perhaps consider that things which (in the past) might result in a Saturday night rant are really things which either deserve no emotional or physical reaction, or if they do, perhaps a sideways glance, a wry smile and some verbal rolling of the eyes. Not everything in life deserves a response. Seriously.
With regard to the computing side of things, I note that we are actually coming up to version 9 of Mageia Linux very soon, which I transitioned to (again) literally ten years ago, when Mandriva dismissed a whole load of their devs, who, in a huff, got together and created Mageia 1 by forking Mandriva, and the transition was completely trouble-free. Linux has turned out to be much more productive, not to mention less hassle, than the Windows environment, and has a host of free apps which have proven great for my workflow.
Another odd development was that over the last few years, but especially during the more recent times of Covid idiocy, I made inroads into screenshot videos, both on Mageia and even on Win 10 (although I had to spend money to do the latter). Most of these were intended for my students when I was working for Times Media, but I did make a few others which can be seen in various places. I now have equipment for virtually every possible kind of media, so there may be a lot to learn there, too, as I ended up with some cheap voice recording equipment.
All of which means that I will be out for an exercise walk later tonight (after doing a bit more cleaning) and pay for the purchases at the local ATM (as phone-based payments are temporarily in need of being transferred to my new phone); the new materials should then be here later in the week. Thereafter, I will be looking for suitable places for scribbling on a Saturday or Sunday (because somehow, the Starbucks across the main drag there seems too easy a target), which will undoubtedly be a good thing, as this particular area could hardly be described as ‘interesting’.
Who knows, with a little contemplation and focus, maybe my weekends will be more productive in the future?
Great Stuff!
Posted by Andrew | Filed under Art, Commentary, General, Gripes, Humour, Uncategorized
Had to add this once I saw it. A whole load of stuff at Ill Will Press.
Handle your shit:
Appearance and Reality
Posted by Andrew | Filed under Art
Strange that as things generally have progressed since Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto was published, technology and other spheres of Western life seem to have tended in the direction he indicated. Otherwise, why (for example) would there be such a huge push to make CGI as veridical as possible? That observed reality should suddenly be merged into the realm of dreams, so that we might not be able to discern any difference?
Kay Sage is a good discovery… I must delve further:
