I have just finished the second in a series of three paintings on the subject of moral development, entitled: Prokoptón (a prokoptón is someone who makes progress). It's about how to become a better person - and how hard it is.
The starmap serving as the
background for the painting contains the Saggitarius constellation
(the name can be found by the man's left ear). Saggitarius means archer.
You can bend over backwards trying to be good, but still, the outcome of your actions is something that is not in
your power, no matter how wonderful a person you are being. That's why I refer to the Stoic symbol of the archer in this painting. Of course, an archer's ideal
is to hit the bull's eye. However, even for an archer of olympic standard there are many things not
in his power that can put
a spanner in the works. There might be a sudden gust of wind, the arrow might be imbalanced, or the archer might get a sudden stitch in his side or muscle spasm.
The
Stoic archer's goal, then, is not to hit the target; it is to shoot
well: you can't do more than your best.
The
owl of wisdom is sitting on the man's shoulder, ready to whisper some good advice into
his ear, but its talons are digging into his
flesh, drawing blood.
Our
psyche is something that most of us find hard to manage. You only
have to look at the statistics to know that this is so: large numbers
of people are in serious psychological trouble, or will be at some point in their life. Living hurts. What Stoics wish for people, is for them to realize
that they can learn not to give in those fears and
desires that are harmful to themselves or others.
Pain, fear, and desire are like alarm bells that go off
in our brain, alerting us to danger and opportunities. What Stoics want to learn is to keep a little distance, a little wiggle room between thought and action. We want to teach ourselves to recognize false alarms. So hopefully, we won't start running blindly when the next siren goes off.
That learning process can be pretty painful, which is the reason for the injuries caused by the owl's talons...
Knowing that we only have to be concerned with what is in our power; knowing we can learn to choose not to give in to fears and desires: it's a relief, because what this knowledge brings is our surest chance of happiness: a happiness that does not depend on anything in the outside world. It's hard work, of course. But so worth it for the times when we succeed!
Knowing that we only have to be concerned with what is in our power; knowing we can learn to choose not to give in to fears and desires: it's a relief, because what this knowledge brings is our surest chance of happiness: a happiness that does not depend on anything in the outside world. It's hard work, of course. But so worth it for the times when we succeed!
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