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Epictetus on Living in Communion with God

How do we live in constant communion with God? Fellowship with God should not be something we do on Sunday and then leave behind the rest of the week. I have found some helpful thoughts from the philosopher Epictetus on what it means to live in communion with God throughout the week. Here are some of my favorite lines:

1. Accept God’s valuation of us: “If only one could be convinced of this truth, that we’re all first and foremost children of God and that God is the father of both human beings and gods, I think one would never harbour any mean or ignoble thought about oneself” (Discourses, 1.3).

2. Let communion with God relieve our fears. “What, shall kinship with Caesar, or some other man of great power at Rome, be enough to ensure that one will be able to live in safety, and be secure against contempt, and free from all fear, whereas having God as our maker, our father, and our protector, won’t be enough to deliver us from fear and suffering?” (1.9).

3. See every good thing as a gift of God: “Don’t be ungrateful, man, nor yet forgetful of better gifts than these, but offer up thanks to God for sight and hearing, and by Zeus, for life itself and all that supports it, for dried fruits, for wine for olive oil . . .” (ibid., 2.23).

4. Pay attention to what God has made. God has made us to see His works and rejoice. “But God has brought the human race into the world to be a spectator of himself and of his works, and not merely to observe them, but also to interpret them” (ibid., 1.6).

5. Accepting our position in life with an attitude of obedience toward God: “How absurd of you to think that if one of your generals had stationed me in a post, I should hold it, and defend it, preferring to die a thousand deaths rather than abandon it, but if God has stationed us in some position and laid down rules of conduct, we should abandon it!” (Ibid., 1.9).

6. See suffering as God training us and building us up. “It is difficulties that reveal what men amount to, and so, whenever you’re struck by a difficulty, remember that God, like a trainer in the gymnasium, has matched you against a tough young opponent” (ibid., 1.24).

7. Want only what God wants: “Don’t wish at any price that he should continue to live with you, don’t wish that you’ll be able to remain in Corinth, and, in a word, don’t wish for anything other than what God wishes” (ibid., 2.17).

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Photo by Davide Cantelli on Unsplash

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Joy as Human Destiny: 10 Quotes on Joy

I believe that human beings were created for joy and are ultimately destined for joy. However, there are many things that keep us from joy. It might make us wonder whether joy is even possible. Here are 10 different quotes on joy that provide a variety of perspectives on it. In spite of the variety, all of them converge on the priority of joy for the human life, in spite all of its perplexities and challenges.

  1. “Joy is the serious business of Heaven.” — C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer 93.
  2. “Above all, my dear Lucilius, make this your business. Learn how to feel joy” (The Stoic philosopher Seneca, Letter XXIII). Continue reading “Joy as Human Destiny: 10 Quotes on Joy”
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Overfunctioning

Doing for others what they can and should do for themselves. Overfunctioning. This is one of the many helpful concepts of Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST). In BFST, overfunctioning is not a moral category. It is a response to anxiety. The flip side of overfunctioning is underfunctioning. Underfunctioning is not doing what we can and should do for ourselves. This is also a response to anxiety in BFST, and it accompanies overfunctioning in a sort of reciprocity.

These are not necessarily bad ways of relating. Overfunctioning and underfunctioning get us involved with other people and reduce our anxiety. What they do not do is help other people grow. These reactions bring relief to anxious situations to a greater or lesser degree.

Like other responses to anxiety such as distancing and conflict, overfunctioning and underfunctioning can become problems when they produce symptoms. One of those symptoms may be the relationship itself. Overfunctioning can also keep us from focusing on the things that are within our power and are our responsibility. It can keep others from having to face their own responsibility.

Here are five quotes from practitioners of BFST that help to explain what overfunctioning is:

  1. “The pattern of overfunctioning and underfunctioning becomes a problem if chronic anxiety intensifies the emotional reactivity (overly sympathetic, overly caring, overly controlling) and drives the relationship interaction. These sorts of anxiety-driven interactions are based not on the realities of people’s capabilities but on anxiety and distorted perceptions” (Bowen Theory’s Secrets, xvii). Continue reading “Overfunctioning”
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Be Like the Whale

I’m slowly making my way through Herman Melville’s class, Moby Dick. It is not a page turner, but it is a powerful book. It is at once a story of whaling, a naturalist discussion of whales, a book of philosophy, and much, much more.

“Call me Ishmael.” Thus begins Moby Dick. Throughout the book, Ishmael describes feature after feature of whaling and whales, but he never leaves it there. He always turns these observations into larger considerations of life and philosophy. I find them both interesting and humorous. Ishmael takes the most mundane things and stretches them out to fit some great point of philosophy and human wisdom.

One of these has become a sort of mantra for my life lately. “Be like the whale” goes through my head often. Ishmael describes the whale’s ability to be in both the warmest and the coolest of waters:

It does seem to me, that herein we see the rare virtue of a strong individual vitality, and the rare virtue of thick walls, and the rare virtue of interior spaciousness. Oh, man! Admire and model thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole. Like the great dome of St. Peter’s, and like the great whale, retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own (68.303).

In this paragraph, Ishmael describes how proper boundaries and significant internal reflection can enable us to engage in human life without being tossed to and fro by the situations and emotions of people around us. Continue reading “Be Like the Whale”

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The Glory of the Children of Light

[Listen to an audio version here]

The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece. Greece, a place of such wonder, beauty, and glorious history. From this place burst forth such a level of creative thinking about all subjects that the world continues to stand in awe of it. It inspires politicians, architects, artists, philosophers, and theologians to this day. It is the foundation of much of our own civilization. Lord Byron, the great English poet, who died in the cause of Greek independence, said, “Fair Greece! sad relic of departed worth! Immortal, though no more! Though fallen, great!” (Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 2.73).

Even in Paul’s day, people would have looked at Greece in the same way. When the Romans conquered it, they took the Greek philosophers and teachers as tutors for their children and imbibed all they could of Greek culture and philosophy. For Christian theologians, the writings of the Greeks have been a conversation partner in a somewhat tumultuous relationship, sometimes wanting to throw them out and then going back to them again, seeing their value.

The Greeks themselves are today a Christian people, in the broad sense of that term. That is part of the story of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. In Acts 16, Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia, calling him over to Europe. He crossed the Hellespont and went into Europe. He entered the Roman colony of Philippi and met a woman named Lydia. She and her companions became the first church in Europe.

Paul and the Thessalonian Church
From there, Paul made his way to the capitol city of the region, Thessalonika. Today, the Greeks call it Thessaloniki. If you go to Greece, you can visit this ancient city. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue and told the people that Jesus was the promised Messiah or Christ. Several responded positively. “Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women” (Acts 17:4).

Others were not as enthusiastic. In fact, they were downright hostile. They gathered a mob that searched for Paul and his associate Silas. They didn’t find him, so they took a man named Jason and brought him before the authorities. Here’s what they said, “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus” (Acts 17:6b–7). The authorities made Jason pay bond, and then they let him go. Continue reading “The Glory of the Children of Light”

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