Saturday, 11 February 2012

Post No. 368A - This week's speculation, reading and other stuff

As a first point, don't forget the Hope, Peace, Love and Prosperity spell for the 11th of each month - here - today.

I've just finished reading "Rubicon", by Tom Holland (pub. Abacus, 2010, ISBN 978-0349-11563-4, first pub. Little, Brown, 2003), about the fall of the Roman Republic (not the Roman Empire). The obvious question after having done so, is "why did the Romans give up their freedom for peace?" Of course, Mr Holland has given his explanation in this excellent book, but I have another aspect I wish to consider on the matter.

Let us begin by considering a fairly frequently used definition of maturity: the willingness to defer pleasure. That means that one will, for instance, leave the best piece of food on one's plate until last, and eat all the other food first. It also means not acting on impulses as soon as they come to your awareness, as if you are a stereotypical teenager (and I emphases, yet again, that such stereotypical behaviour can be found in all ages, whereas some teenagers can be quite genuinely mature).

However, there is another, too-often unstated aspect of this: being prepared to do what is one's "duty". I know that is an unfashionable word these days, duty, but it is one way of describing things done out of regard for others - whether that is the self-sacrifice of being a loving parent, a boss who works hard to make sure there is work for her (or his, or hir) employees, or those who take on a role protecting those who are unable to protect themselves.

Ah, notice I wrote "those who are unable" - not "those who are unwilling".

What I noticed most about "Rubicon" is that, ultimately, the Romans gave up their freedom for peace. To be sure, they were war-weary after a century or so of civil wars, and a history of many other wars, but they effectively gave up their freedom - and the awkward inconvenience of things like voting and being prepared to risk their lives defending their land (easier to pay or bribe some barbarian to invade other barbarian's lands and thus take the conflict further away, they seemed to think) - for what they considered an acceptable peace. Now, there are all sorts of arguments about the falsity of that sort of peace (it largely consisted, for instance, of pushing the physical conflicts that were still happening to the edges of the Roman Empire, rather than having them in sight), but what I want to focus on here is this: they gave up their duties for personal convenience.

That is, as far I am concerned, another expression of immaturity.

So, every time someone these days parks illegally in a disabled spot, they are continuing the same sacrifice of freedom for their personal convenience that brought down the Roman Republic :) So ... let the disabled have their parking spots for the sake of freedom!

There is actually a serious aspect to that apparent jest ... Cato (the Younger) was the only person who came out Tom Holland's book with anything like what I would consider respect. Cato, who condemned Caesar's invasion of Gaul for being an illegal war, who mourned every death on both sides of the Roman civil war, who mourned the death of the Republic and the principles that underlay it by sitting upright to eat (the Romans in those era lay on their sides to eat) and ultimately committed a politically very effective suicide. He stuck to principles when it was inconvenient to do so, and things like the essential consideration of being able to access disabled parking spots is a principle that may mildly inconvenience the abled, but is often essential for the differently abled.

As I was reading Mr Holland's book (and I will now look for the others he has written), my speculation was this:

Duty is the unfashionable expression of love, the part that people have to learn just as inevitably (or, possibly, even more so) than the lovey-dovey, fluffy white niceness stuff - and by "duty", I refer to "doing or not doing something out of a sense of duty".

Reading
Not many reading links this week:

Other stuff

I'm come across some quotes that I quite like. Here they are ...

"Some people bring out the best in us, some the worst.....however, they both show us what we are capable of. "Comfort" is no test of truth; on the contrary, truth is often far from being "comfortable." " - Swami Vivekananda

"If you wish to drink water at the tap, you will have to bend. Even so, if you wish to drink the divine nectar of joy, you will have to bend. You will have to be meek and humble. If you are truly humble you will possess a magnetic personality and attract many persons. All lives will now be drawn to you." — Sri Swami Sivananda

Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")

Tags: freedom, immaturity, maturity, peace, responsibility

First published: Laugadagr, 11th February, 2012

Last edited: Saturday, 11th February, 2012
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