Open to Interpretation
City Words
#Covers
Game on...on the radio...Rockies 3-Dodgers 3...top of fourth...Sasaki pitching...covers, as in pulling the covers over your head, and going back to sleep...this, I do, after doom scrolling!...Marcus Aurelius and the Stoics thought the less of this...but, but in sleep is dreams, Caliban's read...and books have covers...and the feed dropped Marcus' Meditations...a clik bait...and, I bit...his meditations aren't meditating, but rather riffs on things kept in a personal journal...Marcus has the rep of being the one just ruler the Roman's produced...so, I bit, a looksee what he thought of dreams, N1 Hypnopompic...Stoics too...hmmph, Aristotelians, or some such...dreams a redidue again...my lazy boy foot rest won't stay up...stays a little time, then flop...taking to the soft chair with game on...under cover... whatever...
✨️stoics micromanaged things people don't even think about
While Stoics are famous for letting go of massive external events, they ruthlessly micromanage the tiny, internal details of their minds that most people completely ignore. Instead of managing people or outcomes, they hyper-focus on three hidden zones of daily life: [1, 2, 3, 4]
• Initial Impressions: Stoics intercept their immediate thoughts before they turn into emotions. When an unwanted event happens, they pause to evaluate the "impression" rather than blindly reacting. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• Self-Talk and Complaints: They monitor their internal monologue with extreme strictness. As Marcus Aurelius noted in his journal, Meditations, one must not be overheard complaining—not even to oneself. [1, 2, 3]
• The Gap of Assent: They micro-analyze the exact moment they agree to a desire or a temptation, choosing to catch themselves before an urge like overeating or anger takes the steering wheel. [1, 2, 3, 4]
By micromanaging their own character, judgments, and reactions, they found total freedom from having to manage the rest of the world. [1,
• Initial Impressions: Stoics intercept their immediate thoughts before they turn into emotions. When an unwanted event happens, they pause to evaluate the "impression" rather than blindly reacting. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• Self-Talk and Complaints: They monitor their internal monologue with extreme strictness. As Marcus Aurelius noted in his journal, Meditations, one must not be overheard complaining—not even to oneself. [1, 2, 3]
• The Gap of Assent: They micro-analyze the exact moment they agree to a desire or a temptation, choosing to catch themselves before an urge like overeating or anger takes the steering wheel. [1, 2, 3, 4]
By micromanaging their own character, judgments, and reactions, they found total freedom from having to manage the rest of the world. [1,
✨️Stoics dos and donts
🎶Marcus had it, don't pull the covers over your head, and go back to sleep..."The Gap of Assent"...I think of it as the "toggle", the tiny choices, most often automatic...touch touch...the sort, of what meaning, to see...like those optical illusions that toggle...a lot of the toggling, switching, giving assent, is automatic, or semi automatic, heartbeats, breathing...reading...sometimes reading miss understood, so, re-read...focus...getting things in focus...taking control...controlling the N1 Liminal, Poetry Liminal, is tough...the devil is in the detail-the toggle...choosing...swing or take...strike or ball...baseball creates liminal thresholds...moments of focus and choice...bottom of sixth...Muncie with two out double...movie Gladiator has liminal scenes...
✨️Russel Crows character begins as soldier in Marcus Aurelius army
The liminal scenes in Gladiator prominently bridge the gap between life, death, and spiritual transition, structurally anchoring Maximus's journey.
Key Liminal Concepts in the Film
• The Elysian Fields Imagery: Recurring visions of Maximus's hand brushing through a sun-drenched wheat field serve as a threshold between his earthly suffering and eternal peace.The Battlefield of Germania: The opening battle takes place in a dark, muddy, and foggy forest, representing a chaotic borderland between civilization (Rome) and the unknown wilderness.The Gladiator Arena: The coliseums act as transitional spaces where men are neither fully citizens nor completely dead, operating in a state of suspended societal law where slaves can become more powerful than emperors. [1]The Death Transition: The literal final moments of Russell Crowe's character, where the camera pans between his physical body dying in the coliseum dirt and his spiritual form walking through the wheat gates to reunite with his family. [1]
Key Liminal Concepts in the Film
• The Elysian Fields Imagery: Recurring visions of Maximus's hand brushing through a sun-drenched wheat field serve as a threshold between his earthly suffering and eternal peace.The Battlefield of Germania: The opening battle takes place in a dark, muddy, and foggy forest, representing a chaotic borderland between civilization (Rome) and the unknown wilderness.The Gladiator Arena: The coliseums act as transitional spaces where men are neither fully citizens nor completely dead, operating in a state of suspended societal law where slaves can become more powerful than emperors. [1]The Death Transition: The literal final moments of Russell Crowe's character, where the camera pans between his physical body dying in the coliseum dirt and his spiritual form walking through the wheat gates to reunite with his family. [1]
🎶I'm reaching, that the movie is expressing stoicism...bottom of seventh...
✨️movie Gladiator expresses Stoic tenants
The film Gladiator heavily expresses Stoic tenets through its characters, dialogue, and thematic structure. It acts as a narrative canvas illustrating how individuals respond to suffering, duty, and things beyond their control. [1, 2]
Core Stoic themes in Gladiator
The dichotomy of control
Stoicism teaches that we cannot control external events, only our response to them. Maximus loses his family, status, and freedom in an instant. Rather than succumbing to despair, he focuses entirely on what remains in his power: his character, actions, and dignity within the arena. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The four cardinal virtues
The script explicitly confronts the foundational Stoic virtues: [1]
• Wisdom: Discernment and logical choices.Justice: Moral rightness and public duty.Fortitude: Moral endurance and courage.Temperance: Moderation and self-restraint. [1, 2, 3]In a pivotal scene, Marcus Aurelius tells his son Commodus that he lacks these very virtues. Commodus instead values ambition and status—external validations that Stoics view as volatile and destructive. [1, 2]
Perception and perspective
The opening battle scene serves as a metaphor for the Stoic discipline of perception. Maximus pauses to observe a bird and the natural sway of the wheat, finding quiet beauty directly before entering a brutal, violent battlefield. As Epictetus taught, our experiences are shaped entirely by the internal lens through which we view our circumstances. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Memento mori and death
The inevitability of death shadows the entire movie. Maximus famously paraphrases Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations when he says, "Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back." Similarly, Proximo echoes this acceptance of mortality with his recurring phrase, "We mortals are but shadows and dust." [1, 2, 3, 4]
Core Stoic themes in Gladiator
The dichotomy of control
Stoicism teaches that we cannot control external events, only our response to them. Maximus loses his family, status, and freedom in an instant. Rather than succumbing to despair, he focuses entirely on what remains in his power: his character, actions, and dignity within the arena. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The four cardinal virtues
The script explicitly confronts the foundational Stoic virtues: [1]
• Wisdom: Discernment and logical choices.Justice: Moral rightness and public duty.Fortitude: Moral endurance and courage.Temperance: Moderation and self-restraint. [1, 2, 3]In a pivotal scene, Marcus Aurelius tells his son Commodus that he lacks these very virtues. Commodus instead values ambition and status—external validations that Stoics view as volatile and destructive. [1, 2]
Perception and perspective
The opening battle scene serves as a metaphor for the Stoic discipline of perception. Maximus pauses to observe a bird and the natural sway of the wheat, finding quiet beauty directly before entering a brutal, violent battlefield. As Epictetus taught, our experiences are shaped entirely by the internal lens through which we view our circumstances. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Memento mori and death
The inevitability of death shadows the entire movie. Maximus famously paraphrases Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations when he says, "Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back." Similarly, Proximo echoes this acceptance of mortality with his recurring phrase, "We mortals are but shadows and dust." [1, 2, 3, 4]
🎶Roman Stoics are the more famous, but I think it goes back to the Greeks, or generarly, "there's no crying in baseball"...top of eighth...
✨️Roman Stoics are the more famous, but I think it goes back to the Greeks, or generarly, "there's no crying in baseball"
You are spot on. While the famous Roman Stoics (like Marcus Aurelius and Seneca) popularized it, the philosophy was entirely founded by Greeks. The iconic "there's no crying in baseball" is basically a 20th-century pep talk, but it shares that classic "control what you can control" Stoic DNA. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
The Greek Origins
Stoicism was founded in Athens around 300 BCE by Zeno of Citium. [1, 2]
• The Name: It gets its name from the Stoa Poikile (the Painted Porch), a public colonnade in the Athenian Agora where Zeno and his followers gathered to debate. [1, 2, 3]The Founders: Along with Zeno, the early Greek philosophers like Cleanthes and Chrysippus built and systemized the philosophy. [1, 2, 3]The Core Idea: The Greeks were obsessed with the dichotomy of control—separating life into things you can control (your reactions, judgments, and character) and things you cannot (external events, outcomes, and other people's behavior). [1, 2, 3]
The "Dichotomy of Control"
Tom Hanks' character, Jimmy Dugan, is essentially trying to enforce this rule in A League of Their Own. The player (who is sobbing because she thinks she made a mistake) is focusing on an external setback. The Stoic coach redirects her back to her actions, training, and self-mastery.
🎶AI drifts with my drifts!..."dichotomy of control"...toggling...
🧐Maximus pauses to observe a bird and the natural sway of the wheat, finding quiet beauty directly before entering a brutal, violent battlefield.
🎶is that Zen?...Tau?...
✨️Yes, that cinematic moment beautifully reflects both Zen and Taoist philosophies, capturing the essence of living entirely in the present moment and finding harmony with the natural rhythm of the universe.
[1, 2]🎶AI has been to too many Hollywood parties...bottom of eighth...Tommy with one out single...Freddie up...base hit...runners at corners...Mookie up...the Menace...usually an All Star...injuries this year...last year?...2016-2019, 2021-2024...base hit...Rockies 3-Dodgers 4...Muncie up...X...Teoscar up...fly out to "Freeman"???...wait...do Rockies have a Freeman too?...nope...Angels 13-Rangers 1😇...top of ninth...one out...two out...K...
✨️Artificial Intelligence certainly appears to be rubbing shoulders with the A-list—and dealing with all the drama and over-the-top parties that come with it! Hollywood's ongoing love-hate relationship with algorithms spans everything from rampant deepfake panics and industry lawsuits to stars leaning into the tech.
:)
DavidDavid
No comments:
Post a Comment