What does it mean then to take on a new Way of Life? A person may put on a new shirt but can you put on a new spirit? Ever since the ancient of days, there have been people who became dissatisfied with their lives and with all their society had to offer. Even before the advent of the great monotheisms, people sought “salvation” in a new or different way of being.
One way to realize such a radical transformation, was to join a school of philosophy — or “philosophia.” This required a total commitment involving reading, study, conversation, writing. Such activities were called “spiritual exercises.” In other words, the emphasis was not put on the “answers” that philosophia provided, but on the “process” of seeking those answers.
The ancient Greek terms for such change is “metanoia,” literally, “going the other way.” One turned their back, sort to speak, on the norms of society, and found value and satisfaction in another direction. The Romans translated “metanoia” as “conversio” from which we derive the English word “conversion.” As Pierre Hadot put it in, “Philosophy as a Way of Life,” “Every person who is in training for wisdom…chooses [to]…avoid the company of busybodies, and to hold in contempt the places where they spend their time…[the lovers of wisdom] are like embers of wisdom kept smoldering in our cities….”
As the pagan world descended and the Christian world ascended, around the 4th century A.D., “metonia” was practiced by the first Christian hermits. They fled to the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, Arabia and Persia. They thought that living in society was a disaster, and that only by living alone in poverty and chastity could they find their way. They became known as the Desert Fathers.
Today, in our secular, technological, postmodern world, there is much that we may learn from the classic way of life of the ancient thinkers, or even from any we esteem as “Great” or as a “Genius” in our rich culture. (For example, Henry David Thoreau is a prime teacher.) There must be many seeking meaning in silent desperation. We distract ourselves by keeping busy with activities that don’t satisfy. Society offers us a shallow depersonalized and abstract world, and unhappiness is the result. One has only to consider say, television to realize we inhabit a spiritual desert.
Where does one turn? How “change direction and go the other way?” There is of course religion. But there is much more. Business, banking, politics are not the only alternatives. There is art, music, literature, science, entertainment, sports; all the spheres where value and meaning may be found, where one may realize their capabilities. The point is that one must have the courage to decide and go against social expectations; to commit oneself totally — 100 percent. If we are lucky, I suppose, we find such wisdom in youth, or we find it in time and age and experience. Metanoia is not easy. We are bombarded with fast food, fast media, traffic and temptation. And the trouble with temptation is, well, it’s tempting.
Puzzle
There is a six digit number. The sum of the digits is 43. Two of the following statements are true about the number: (1) It’s a perfect square; (2) It’s a perfect cube; (3) The number is under 500000. Can you find the number?
Answer to last week’s puzzle
The answer is 2/3.
