Aphoristic

I'm intent on writing something philosophical here but life and laziness keep on intervening. Once I do it there will be aphorisms. Something like this:

Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow...

Okay I'm back now. My wanting to do something 'philosophical' is spurred by the fact that this blog has a sorting label called that and I try to cover all such tags from time-to-time. This may seem artificial but then I think artificiality is natural to humans. The distinctions we draw over the complexity of life are useful as long as we acknowledge they are simply tools.

Aphorisms are also tools. They encapsulate in a short statement a concept that guides action. At other times I have criticized the simplification inherent in meme-worthy sloganeering but it depends on how one uses them. Are they all you are saying or do they serve to give flowing and evolving conversations some structure and direction? I'm fine with the later and here will comment on a few I have adopted or adapted.

Moderation in all things.

Well in most things anyway. If this were a political post I would note that I'm a progressive who values liberty and equality over stability and that this contrasts with a true moderate who seeks to optimise all three values. But this philosophical post focuses more on the personal. Besides which I interpret this aphorism as referring to an approximate rather than an absolute balance of forces in ones life. This 'happy medium' is a space in which to move rather than an exact coordinate in which to be stuck. Other statements support this notion.

Variety is the spice of life.

And...

The poison is in the dose.

If you are only having so much of anything it is likely you will also be having something of everything. And most things are fine in moderation - even a bit of excess is okay as long as it only happens sometimes.

I neglect to attribute any of these sayings to the thinkers that may have originated them. That is deliberate because there is a tendency to assess them on the basis of who uttered them. This can be taken to extremes.

Recently I saw some astounding comments online suggested that 'forgiveness' is a problem because of its role in religious thinking. The risk of abandoning such a value is that it will simply give way to vengeance as an alternative driver of action. This is arguably an even more traditional concept and I hardly think that trading in iron age for bronze age thinking will serve us well.

The chellenge is that, for much of history, slow and deliberate thinking was almost monopolized by magico-religious specialists, and they inevitably stumbled upon some profoundly worthwhile concepts. Religion can be oppressive but it would be a mistake to...

Throw the baby out with the bath water.

But you can always modify statements to better fit your own circumstances and objectives. Besides, you also find that the same basic concept was often conceived of in isolation at different times and places. Consider the Serenity Prayer.

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

This was devised by Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in the 30s. But if you like you can also use it in other forms.

If there's a remedy when trouble strikes,
What reason is there for dejection?
And if there is no help for it,
What use is there in being glum?

And...

Make the best use of what is in your power,
and take the rest as it happens.

The first is from Buddhist scholar Shantideva in eighth century India. The last is from Stoic philosopher Epictetus in first century Greece. Wisdom is universal and will occur in different forms over and over. Yet some feel the prayer is too complacent and even make clever remixes of it.

I'm no longer accepting the things I cannot change.
I'm changing the things I cannot accept.

And yet the original never specifies what exactly can or cannot be changed - that is left for you to decide - contention has been exaggerated but it also demonstrates how versatile these adages can be.

There are plenty more aphorisms I could discuss but that risks an over-long and poorly focused post. I can always do sequals to this as the mood takes me. I will do so in moderation.