December 7, 2022 by Zeal4living - 0 comments

Fortitude

~ Fortitude ~

The virtue of fortitude allowed me to remain steadfast. Agile, I bend like a palm tree in the wind. If my roots are deep within virtue, then firmness will be the fruit my life yields. Fortitude is a trust that I have the prowess to deal effectively with any challenge. Pressure teaches me what is really important and lack tutors me to be happy with less. These are the pointers to true freedom and personal liberation. Fortitude is about cultivating an attitude of strong will and the resolve to stand firm under all circumstances. Virtue upheld by a firm will, will endure confidently that which cannot be resisted. I accept as part of my life path the lessons I need to learn in order for me to experience the presence and full potential of myself.

© Jurgens Pieterse 2022

October 1, 2018 by Zeal4living - 0 comments

Happiness

Stoic Week 2018 is upon us and I am as usually attempting to participate. The timing of this week is usually a bit difficult becuase it seems that this is usually a very busy time of the year for me.

The theme is on happiness this week. The question to ponder: “What do you think about the Stoic idea of happiness as a framework for holding your core values together and giving them coherence? Can you see how their pattern of thinking links up with yours? Is there anything you see as missing in the Stoic view – or something new but helpful in the Stoic idea?”

It is one of the ideas where I tink Stoicism differs radically from Budhism in that it does not sit suffering at its core but it actually places happiness at its core. Rosicrucianism does a similar thing. Seneca warns: “You need never believe that a man can become happy through the unhappiness of another” in that sense happiness as a central theme or base is not just about happiness as an individual but happiness to society. We cannot find our happiness in the unhappiness of another person. Such an approach will simply lead to a critical judgement that serves no value in itself.

Seneca further explains that: “The sum total of our happiness must not be placed in the flesh; the true goods are those which reason bestows, substantial and eternal. ” which means mere greed to satisfy bodily desires will not lead to complete happiness. A Stoic acknowledges the dual nature of man as having both a body and spirit or the temporal and the eternal. It is only when both aspects of humanness is addressed that happiness becomes an achievable goal.

January 29, 2018 by Zeal4living - 0 comments

Courage: Taking on the battle

The clock struck midnight…its time for a fundamental shift in my life. I do not know how it will play out nor how I will traverse the period of challenge that lies ahead. I am entering a period of deep self analysis, facing my own weaknesses where my own karma is coming back to haunt me. The forces coming down on me is outside of my current control and will be severe but hopefully also cleansing. It is as if the dark forces are gathering for the battle. I can fight issues one by one but I cannot fight them all when they happen all at once or in the same time frame. Defeat will be humiliating and victory is a slim possibility.

Paulo Coelo summarise it beautifully in the book: “The Devil and Miss Prym”: “When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, ther is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we ar not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny. ”

It is in these circumstances that I ask myself again and again how I should behave. What does it mean to have the courage? The definition of courage is: the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain. The internet is abundant about the topic of courage. I like the one of Maya Angelou that reads “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently”. I like this definition because it shows you haw the virtues are interrelated and where each virtue if seen on its own seems to be the most important of the virtues.

Courage does not shrink back, but rather faces the situation head on. Proverbally taking the bull by the horns. There is no procrastination when it comes to courage. Courage accesses the odds, make up a battle plan and then go into the fight fully without hesitation. Courage accepts the outcome of the battle whether it is victory or failure. The odds no longe matter but the focus remains singularly on victory and accepts defeat only when there is no more options.

Courage enables us to maintain our equanimity and friendliness to those around us. When we are courageous we do not allow our issues to spill over into the lives of those around us. We remain the pillar that other can lean on irrespective how weak we feel. Courage is not being frozen my circumstances but to maintain the agility and awareness to find a way forward.

Maybe I should end of this contemplation on courage with a quote from Napoleon Bonaparte: “Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have the strength”

January 25, 2018 by Zeal4living - 0 comments

Facing disasters

We all face challenges at some stage that seems to like disasters, as a matter of fact some are indeed disasters that will lead to a loss of some kind for us in life. This is part of normal life. Stoic philosophy says it is external and and externals should not determine our level of happiness. It is our perception on these externals that will change how we experience these significant life events.

I am currently experiencing it on both a macro and micro level. The micro level relates to my own finances where I am struggling to make ends meet while succeeding in my duty to assist my children with their studies. The macro level relates to me living in a metropolitan city that is preparing to run out of water. Both are equally eminent and will bring a level of discomfort and challenge along with it. In magnitude of course the macro issue is far greater since it will affect many people and can lead to the actual death of many people. Without water there is no life.

Within these periods of times I reallise more than ever the value of philosophy. To have an approach that you can follow with confidence. I cannot avoid the problems or issues but I do have a choice how to deal with the situation. It calls for courage, integrity and creativity. These types of unavoidable disasters challenge our core philosophical concepts and drives us to work from divine creative inspiration. We need to find new solutions and make fundamental shifts in our way of life.

Contemplating this situation it reminds me of the image of the Tower card in the Tarot. Sometimes the breakdown of our existing way of living, as painful as it is, will lead to new life and living patternd. For the mystic it is never to get dismayed but to keep living with hope to keep contemplating on solutions. The Stoic on the other hand accepts fate even if it threaten to shorten life. For the Stoic the aim remain ever to live with virtuous integrity remaining in tact.