West
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- Aug 4
- 6 min read
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Western
Winds
In Roman mythology,
the west wind is personified
by Favonius,
associated with the
gentle breezes of spring
and early summer,
bringing mild
& pleasant weather,
unlike the harsher winds
of the north, south, or east.
Singularity
Ovid was a Roman poet
who lived during the reign of Augustus.
He is most famous
for the Metamorphoses,
a continuous mythological narrative
in fifteen books
Scholars have found it difficult
to place the work in a genre.
Ovid works his way
through his subject matter,
often in an apparently arbitrary fashion,
leaping from story to story
with little connection.
The Metamorphoses ends
with an epilogue,
one of only two surviving
Latin epics to do so.
The ending acts as a declaration
that everything must give way to change.
Even Rome must change.
He wrote that only
his work will remain eternal.
"Where Roman power prevails,
I shall be read"
"And so,
in fame and on through every age,
if bards foretell the truth at all"
"I'll live"
the Poet
The cause is hidden,
the effect is visible to all.
My hopes are not always realized,
but I always hope.
Happy are those
who dare courageously
to defend what they love.
Courage conquers all things.
Our integrity
is never worth so much
as when we have to
give with our all to keep it.
The burden
which is well borne
becomes light.
There is no worth
in that which is
not a difficult achievement.
Either do not attempt at all,
or go through with it.
Use the occasion,
for it passes swiftly.
Make the workmanship
surpass the materials.
Happy is the man
who has broken the chains
of the certainties
that cuased worry
once and for all
He who can
believe himself well,
will be well.
Everything comes gradually
and at its appointed hour.
Let your hook always be cast,
in the stream
where you least expect it
Luck affects everything.
First appearance
deceives many.
Where belief is painful
we are slow to believe.
The vulgar crowd
values friends according
to their usefulness.
How sloth
wastes the sluggish mind,
as water is corrupted
unless it moves
Bear patiently with a rival.
Give way to your opponent,
thus will you gain
the crown of victory.
You can learn from anyone
even your enemy.
Fair peace becomes men,
ferocious anger belongs to beasts.
Suppressed emotion suffocates,
it rages within,
and is forced to multiply
its strength.
An evil life
is a kind of death.
All things can corrupt
when minds are prone to evil.
The penalty may be removed,
the crime is eternal.
Often they benefit
who suffer wrong.
Bear and endure.
This sorrow
will one day prove
to be for your good.
The man
who has experienced shipwreck
shudders even at a calm sea.
Duality
Marcus Aurelius
was three when his father died,
and was raised by his mother,
paternal grandfather.
and in the care of 'nurses.'
He studied Greek and Latin under tutors.
In his youth
he took up the dress and habits
of the philosopher.
He studied
while wearing a rough Greek cloak,
and would sleep on the ground
until his mother persuaded him
to sleep on a bed.
During a ten year military campaign,
Marcus wrote his Meditations in Greek
as a source for his own
guidance and self-improvement.
Marcus acquired the reputation
of a philosopher king
and the title would remain
after his death.
the Philosopher King
Everything we hear
is an opinion,
not a fact.
Everything we see
is a perspective,
not the Truth.
You have power
over your mind.
not outside events.
Realize this,
and you will find strength.
There is nothing
happens to any person
but what was in his power
to go through with.
Our life
is what our thoughts
make it.
The happiness of your life
depends upon the quality
of your thoughts:
therefore,
guard accordingly.
Accept the things
to which fate binds you,
and love the people with whom
fate brings you together,
and do so with all your heart.
Very little is needed
to make a happy life.
Where a man can live,
he can also live well.
To live happily
is an inward power
of the soul.
Look well into thyself;
there is a source of strength.
Look within.
Within
is the fountain of good.
Nowhere can man find a quieter
or more untroubled retreat
than in his own soul.
Dwell on the beauty of life.
Watch the stars,
and see yourself running
with them.
The Universe
loves nothing so much
as to change.
Never let the future disturb you.
You will meet it.
Time is of a river
of passing events,
and strong is its current.
Confine yourself
to the present.
Whatever
the universal nature
assigns to any man
at any time
is for the good
of that man at that time.
He who lives in harmony
with himself
lives in harmony
with the Universe.
Everything that exists
is in a manner
the seed of that which
will be.
Do every act of your life
as if it were your last.
When you arise in the morning,
think of what a precious privilege
Each day
provides its own gifts.
It is not death
that a man should fear,
but he should fear
never beginning to live.
Waste no more time arguing
about what a good man should be.
Be one.
Begin,
to begin
is half the work.
Everything that happens
happens as it should,
and if you observe carefully,
you will find this to be so.
Each thing is of like form
from everlasting
and comes round again
in its cycle.
A man should be upright,
not be kept upright.
To understand
the true quality of people,
you must look into their minds,
and examine their pursuits
and aversions.
Let it be your constant method
to look into the design
of people's actions.
The object of life
is not to be
on the side of the majority,
but to escape finding oneself
in the ranks of the insane.
What doesn't transmit light
creates its own darkness.
Reject your sense of injury
and the injury itself disappears.
To refrain from imitation
is the best revenge,
to be unlike him
who performed the injury.
Life
is neither good or evil,
but only a place
for good and evil.
If it is not right
do not do it.
If it is not true
do not say it.
That which is not good for others
cannot be good for you.
Trinity
Thomas Aquinas
was an Italian Dominican friar and priest.
He was the father
of a school of thought encompassing
both theology and philosophy.
He believed in natural law,
which was accessible to human reason
and grounded in the very nature
of being human.
Although he died
before his fiftieth birthday,
and was only writing actively
for about two decades,
Thomas managed to write
over eight million words.
Works written in direct connection
to his teaching,
philosophical commentaries,
polemic writings, letters,
expert opinions, and homilies.
the Doctor
Wonder
is the desire for knowledge.
Poets and philosophers are alike
in being big with wonder.
Because philosophy arises from awe,
a philosopher is bound in his way
to be a lover of myths
and poetic fables.
We can't have full knowledge
all at once.
We must start by believing.
Then afterwards
we may be led on
to master the evidence
for ourselves.
A man has free choice
to the extent that he is rational.
Governs your own actions.
To live well
is to work well.
Not everything
that is more difficult
is more meritorious.
Better to illuminate
than merely to shine,
to deliver to others
contemplated truths
than merely to contemplate.
Spare thyself at times,
for it becomes a wise man
sometimes to relax the high pressure
of his attention to work.
Therefore it becomes
a wise and virtuous man
to have recourse
to such things at times.
The principal act of courage
is to endure and withstand
dangers doggedly
rather than to attack them.
To bear with patience
wrongs done to oneself
is the mark of perfection.
Whatever is received
is received according
to the nature of the recipient.
Because of the
diverse conditions of humans,
it happens that
some acts are virtuous to some,
and immoral for others
The truth of one's faith
becomes a matter of ridicule
among the unfaithful.
To one who has faith,
no explanation is necessary
To one without faith,
no explanation is possible.
The theologian considers sin
mainly as an offence against God,
the moral philosopher
as contrary to reasonableness.
Moral is better occupied
when treating of friendship
than of justice.
Perfection of moral virtue
does not wholly
take away the passions,
but regulates them.
Happiness is secured through virtue;
it is a good attained
by man's own will.
Most men seem to live according
to sense rather than reason.
Man cannot live without joy;
therefore when he is deprived
of true spiritual joys
it is necessary that he become
addicted to carnal pleasures.
Good can exist without evil,
whereas evil
cannot exist without good.
Timeline
Started: 2/10/2025
Completed: 7/15/2025
Days: 155 days
Roman Philosophy
