/lit/ - Literature

>>12005209
>>12005214
Marcus Aurelius is really one of the few figures from the Western Canon i could imagine joining the Vinegar Tasting broskis around the cauldron (i mean they're not really going to turn anyone *away,* but some people are going to be a little more okay than others rubbing elbows with the Buddha and so on). a comparison between Stoic and Buddhist ethics would be interesting, if only because YH does a similar one in Cosmotechnics about the difference between Daoist and Stoic ethics. i greentexed some of this in Cosmotech #6:

>With all of this in mind, we might list the following differences between Daoism and Stoicism in terms of ‘living in agreement with nature':

>Cosmology: the Stoics model the cosmos as organism (and one might speak here of a cosmobiology or cosmophysiology), something that is not evident in Daoism, where there is an organic organization of the universe, but where it is not presented as an animal, but is instead guided by Dao, which is modelled on zi ran;

>Divinisation: for the Stoics, the cosmos is related to the divine qua lawgiver, while this role of the lawgiver or creator is not found in ancient Chinese thinking;

>Eudaimonia: the Stoics value rationality highly since it is what leads to eudaimonia, and the human plays a specific role in the universe owing to its rationality; Daoists may recognize the former, but reject the latter, since Dao is in all being, and freedom can only be achieved through wu wei (non-action);

>Rationality: for the Stoics, to live with nature is to develop rationality; for Daoists, it is rather a matter of restoring one’s original spontaneous aptitude.

and obviously there is no real decisive choice to be made between these; you're going to gravitate, ultimately, to whatever it is you're attracted to. but the one that they *do* have in common is that they are both *absolutely Cosmotechnical* in the ways that YH likes, that is, they are neither purely philosophical nor purely religious, but lived practices that derive their power from reflecting something true about the nature of human being that is also true about the nature of the world, and the role of reason and intelligence within it, however you parse these ideas. like software, really, for the mind...

>>12005228
good googly-moogly i am so in love with this picture also. the world's first divination program as the Book of Changes. fuck yes
>i should go and talk about it on the Book of Faces
>then again maybe not
>yeah definitely not
>the Threads of Facelessness are really much better
>what strange times we live in