I have always found your media content to be psychologically refreshing and deeply sound. It is one of the places I go to shore up my own mental fortifications and resolve. It is a safe haven from the incoherent storm raging everywhere these days. I am a profound introvert and normally would never comment publicly, just read and observe. Yet, this post requires a response and my deepest thanks.
Your comment about Solzhenitsyn reminds me of a comment Marcus Aurelius made in Meditations, along the same lines: "No one can implicate me in ugliness." The Stoic position is to claim total inner autonomy (whether true or not) and to refuse to allow the vices of the world to pollute you. This comes with costs, of course - maintaining integrity isn't automatic - but what cost is larger than losing your own soul? Especially if you have already been made aware of the vile depredations of the villains who purport to rule us and have taken pragmatic steps to insulate yourself from their ability to harm you. Then it is just social status you fear to lose: reputation, esteem, notoriety.. and these, as the Stoics demonstrate, are not worthwhile in their own right, but merely as enjoyable additions to a life lived honorably. So I salute you, Dr. Howk, for your fearlessness in continuing to explore the reality of our current world and doubly so for coming to the natural conclusion that there is something extremely wrong happening.
I have always found your media content to be psychologically refreshing and deeply sound. It is one of the places I go to shore up my own mental fortifications and resolve. It is a safe haven from the incoherent storm raging everywhere these days. I am a profound introvert and normally would never comment publicly, just read and observe. Yet, this post requires a response and my deepest thanks.
SO BEAUTIFUL! Thank you, Jen!!!!!
Life is short…just be You.
So many of us are grateful that you are.
Your comment about Solzhenitsyn reminds me of a comment Marcus Aurelius made in Meditations, along the same lines: "No one can implicate me in ugliness." The Stoic position is to claim total inner autonomy (whether true or not) and to refuse to allow the vices of the world to pollute you. This comes with costs, of course - maintaining integrity isn't automatic - but what cost is larger than losing your own soul? Especially if you have already been made aware of the vile depredations of the villains who purport to rule us and have taken pragmatic steps to insulate yourself from their ability to harm you. Then it is just social status you fear to lose: reputation, esteem, notoriety.. and these, as the Stoics demonstrate, are not worthwhile in their own right, but merely as enjoyable additions to a life lived honorably. So I salute you, Dr. Howk, for your fearlessness in continuing to explore the reality of our current world and doubly so for coming to the natural conclusion that there is something extremely wrong happening.