Prism of Self

​

Before establishing a Core Philosophy, one must erect a scaffold that will allow the perception and understanding of the internal and external influences that shape the Individual – A Prism of Self.

​

Two ideologies, Stoicism and Taoism, taken together, offer a balance between the secular and the sacred tension that exists in the human conscience. This intersection and synthesis of their respective tenets and virtues provides both a window and a magnifier to one’s existence and insight to life.

 

Stoic Watercourse

​

The confluence of Stoicism and the Watercourse Way of Taoism presents the self not as a fixed sovereign will, but as a prism: a receptive center through which circumstance, reason, nature, and action are clarified into character.

The Stoic facet

Stoicism gives the prism its inner structure. It distinguishes what belongs to us—judgment, intention, assent, and chosen conduct—from what does not: reputation, outcomes, bodily fortune, other people, and the turning of events.

The Stoic self is therefore not defined by control over the world. It is defined by the quality of its response. Whatever enters the prism of experience is met with disciplined perception: What is this? What does it require? What is mine to do?

The Watercourse facet

The Watercourse Way—associated with Taoist images of water—gives the prism its fluidity. Water does not need to dominate a landscape in order to shape it. It yields, finds openings, follows the contours of reality, nourishes what it touches, and over time wears down what is rigid.

Here the self is not merely a commander of impulses. It is an attuned participant in a larger movement. Rather than forcing life to conform to private designs, it learns timing, proportion, and effortless adequacy: action that fits the moment because it begins with seeing the moment clearly.

​

Together, the traditions correct each other’s possible excesses.

• Stoicism prevents yielding from becoming passivity. One accepts reality without surrendering moral agency.

• The Watercourse Way prevents discipline from hardening into strain. One acts rightly without mistaking tension for strength.

• Stoicism asks: “What is within my authorship?”

• The Watercourse Way asks: “What is the natural course already present here?”

• Their convergence answers: “Direct what is yours; do not force what is not.”

The self, then, is a prism because the same event may emerge as resentment, fear, vanity, courage, patience, or service—depending on how it is received. The external event is light; the interior disposition refracts it. Stoic reason gives the refraction ethical form, while the Watercourse Way gives it suppleness and harmony.

​

A working formulation

​

The mature self neither fights the current nor dissolves into it. It stands inwardly governed and outwardly responsive: firm in principle, fluid in method, accepting of fate, and awake to the way.

This is neither the Stoic citadel imagined as isolation nor Daoist flow imagined as disappearance. It is a self with an axis and a current: rooted enough not to be swept away, yielding enough not to break.

Illustration

Suppose a plan fails because another person changes course unexpectedly.

A rigid self treats the reversal as an insult to its design.
A defeated self treats it as proof that action is futile.
The Stoic-Watercourse self pauses, separates the uncontrollable decision of the other person from its own remaining agency, releases grievance, studies the altered terrain, and moves through the available opening.

Its calm is not indifference. Its flexibility is not compromise of conscience. It is the practiced recognition that character is formed not by making reality obey, but by meeting reality without inner disorder.

​

Transformative Practices

 

• Focus on What You Can Control

Let go of those things and events that impact your pursuit of happiness that you cannot control – the actions or opinions of others, world and national events, the weather, infirmity, age – anything that tries to impose negative influence from outside of the Self. Refuse to be frustrated or stressed by something outside your purview. Focus on the practice of personal virtues and deploy them in the present moment. This is especially true regarding the effect of temporal concerns imposed by your “Other Self” that exists only as a figment. Learn from the past but don’t dwell there; plan for the future but don’t obsess about it. Live in the now. Our true sphere of influence is the present moment.

​

“Everything that happened before this very moment is only important as a lesson.”

​

“Worrying about the future is akin to praying for what you don’t want”

 

• Remember Death / Remember to Live

Life is fleeting - remind yourself of your mortality and that of others. Confront the reality of death and the impermanence of life. Avoid taking life and the quality of your time remaining for granted. By the conscience appreciation of the current day and moment, the pursuit of happiness is enabled and enriched. Fulfill your life and embrace the preciousness of every experience and relationship.

“Memento Mori | Memento Vivere”

 

• Learn to Love Fate

Recognize the futility of expecting events and life experiences to happen just as you desire. Wish them to happen as they happen. Practice the Virtues and encourage the positive outcomes they inspire without undue expectations. Personal discord and confusion arise from resisting or denying reality. Appreciate the simple joys – the first sip of your favorite beverage, a loved one’s touch, a quiet sunset. Also find beauty in less joyous experiences – a crying baby, a difficult puzzle, an imperfect meal – such difficulty is woven in the fabric of life. Strongly resist, however, any attempt by others to usurp your valuable time – more than wealth or prestige, time is your most valuable asset. Be confident that you are giving your time only to those who are worthy of the gift. Respect the time of others as you demand they respect yours.

​

“Do not trust to luck but accept its fate”

• Contemplate Misfortune

Imagine potential discomforts and adversity, not to worry or obsess about them, but to plan and prepare for them. Visualize negative scenarios that may reasonably occur and treat them, not as disasters, but as mere challenges that you can overcome. Rarely is the worst-case situation in a list of possibilities the one that actually happens. Moreover, your preparedness will carry you through the experience and dampen any consequences. There are few catastrophes that cannot be defeated and healed by Courage and Perseverance.

​

“We are made to persist. That's how we find out who we are.”

 

• Develop a Broader Perspective

Zoom out and take the higher view, imagining life and human concerns from the eye of the Cosmos. Personal problems diminish to near invisibility when seen from the stars. As a part of the Natural world, you exist as an interconnected member that is neither isolated nor superior. Similarly, the grand achievements and religious constructs of Man do not compete or compare with that of Nature and the Universe. The ignorance of the relative stature and importance of humans in the universal order has produced the greatest suffering and debility of people for millennia.

​

“True science does not refute the existence of God, it refutes the validity of religion.”

 

• Exercise Your Courage

Courage is not the absence of fear, rather the ability to act in spite of it. We all possess a measure of innate courage but, like all the higher virtues, it requires that we exercise that muscle lest it atrophy. Practice your courage in daily life in ways large and small. Few of us will be called to risk life and fortune in defense and support of ourselves and others but we should honor those that do. A more common call to exercise courage is the stand for your core beliefs in the face of popular opinion to the contrary. Fear of ridicule or embarrassment often chills our better intentions and engenders self-shame. Risk embarrassment. Avoid shame.  Know that Courage is contagious. It will inspire and motivate those around you. Conversely, cowardice will infect the self and metastasize to the whole.

  

“The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom is courage.”

​