2025-10-31
       
 (TXT) Encheiridion 31
       
          wherever someone's advantage lies, there he also shows piety
       
       This is actually a very insightful idea, that whenever we put
       ourselves on the other side of the scale from something, we
       inevitably choose ourselves.  Which is why it is so important to
       properly identify what the good is for us.  If we understand good
       to be in the right ordering of our actions, we will never
       struggle to do what is right or blame others for what is bad,
       since that lies within our control.  But if we believe that
       external things are good, then we will necessarily side with
       these things even at the expense of justice and integrity.
       
       Of course, the elephant in the room is the other part of this
       reading, namely:
       
          The most important aspect of piety toward the gods is certainly
          both to have correct beliefs about them, as beings that arrange
          the universe well and justly, and to set yourself to obey them
          and acquiesce in everything that happens and to follow it
          willingly
       
       Which comes back to the foundation of our ethics.  Is it some
       universal good or are we left to only strive for
       self-actualization, which certainly can be a noble endeavor, but
       can also be something darker in some people.  I don't know the
       the answer to this in the absence of the Stoic (or any) god. But
       it does feel like something is missing if I only look inward in
       my search for truth and goodness.
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