Give me just one young man who has come to the school with this purpose, who masters the theory and then says, ‘Speaking for myself, I can do without everything else. It will be enough for me if I can live my life without obstruction or grief, hold my head up high in the world as a free man, and look up to heaven as a friend of God, with no fear of anything that might happen.’ [30] Let one of you show himself to be this kind of person and then I’ll say, ‘Come in, young man. You’re home now. For you are destined to become an ornament to philosophy, and so all this property is yours, all these books, all these discourses.’ [31] And then, once he’s completed the first domain and mastered it, have him come to me again and say, ‘I do indeed want to have both equanimity and serenity, but, as a respectful, thoughtful, and punctilious person, I also want to know how to behave appropriately toward gods, parents, brothers, country, and strangers.’ [32] Move on now to the second domain; it, too, is made for you. [33] ‘All right, I’ve now completed my training in the second domain as well. But I’d like what I’ve learned to be securely and unassailably available to me, not only when I’m awake but also when I’m asleep, drunk, and in a black mood.’ Man, these lofty ambitions make you a god!”*
-Epictetus, The Complete Works: Handbook, Discourses, and Fragments
*If the student mastered the third domain as well as the other two, he would be a Stoic sage. In calling him a god, Epictetus is acknowledging, as all other Stoics did, too, that sagehood is extremely rare. The point is to keep aiming for it.
In contemplating the power wielded by ideas, one finds a curious truth: depending on the context, pernicious ideas can wield as much force as virtuous ones. But bad ideas, particularly if they lead to self-deception, don’t have precisely the same power as being in touch with the world, as it is. Of course, there is a philosophical maze that we are avoiding, of defining true knowledge. If there’s one thing we can discern from experience, (and perhaps gleam from Epictetus’s teaching) it’s that we are ever tethered to our perceptions and interpretations, never quite able to grasp at an unblemished fragment of reality itself.
Yet, sidestepping this philosophical labyrinth reveals an evident truth: knowledge, however we define it conventionally, possesses undeniable power. The eventual cure for cancer or Alzheimer's will stem from a deep understanding of the biology underlying these diseases, a knowledge vastly different from our current state of relative ignorance. However, ignorance and confusion too hold formidable power, often underpinning the ills of our world. In today’s dharma talk, you’ll hear Stephen Batchelor describe the profound benefits of recognizing the space between good and bad, of recognizing ignorance. It is seldom that our world is populated by individuals intentionally committing malevolent acts. More frequently, it is good or potentially good people—psychologically typical individuals—who, unaware of ignorance, swayed by misguided ideas, perpetrate harm.
One comes to see that human thought is among the most potent forces on Earth. We inherit the cultural artifacts and assumptions of our forebearers, who shaped our world, established norms, wrote laws, built institutions, waged wars, and filled the reservoir of grievances among different peoples. Beneath the edifice of culture lies language, the bedrock of civilization, predicated on words like "freedom," "art," "science," "reason," "justice," and "democracy." Our task is to persuade one another with more enlightened concepts and ideas, for our ability to identify and solve problems—both current and more nuanced future ones—is entirely a product of thought.
Meditation practice does not negate the power of ideas. Rather, it poses the question of whether we need to be identified with, confused by, or ruled by our thoughts. Recognizing thought as a mere transitory appearance in consciousness is not just another thought, nor is it a replacement for necessary thinking. It is an acknowledgment of thought's transient nature, allowing us to engage with it without being overwhelmed. Thought is almost everything. Almost.
Meditation Practice
Pay attention to mental events as they occur in sequence. Notice how consciousness of a sensation or thought (contact) is followed by an affective response (feeling), leading to desire or aversion (craving), then to the arising of an intention to act (“becoming”), and finally to the action itself (“birth”).
Rest your mind wide open.
The Complete Works: Handbook, Discourses, and Fragments