The Wisdom of Hypatia: Ancient Spiritual Practices for a More Meaningful Life (22 page)

the discipline of desire 107

Always think of the cosmos as one living being,

having one substance and one soul,

and how all things trace back to a single sentience,

and how it does all things with a single intention,

and how all things are the causes of all that exists,

and how intertwined is the fabric

and how closely woven the web.139

There is one cosmos made up of everything,

and one god immanent in everything,

and one substance and one law,

and one Logos common to all intelligent beings,

and one truth.140

It may be difficult to accept that the circumstances of your life—the blown head gasket, the layoff, the broken leg, the robbery, the rape—were prepared by the gods just for you, but that’s often the best way to think about them. They happened, nothing can be done about that. But you are free to choose how to interpret them. Often a good way to make the best of a bad situation is to ask yourself what Providence is trying to teach you, or in what direction the Destiny is leading you. Get a new car? Get a new job? Advocate for universal health care? Learn self-defense? Start a support group? Regardless of whether the cause was chance or the hand of Providence, it is more helpful to make it part of your destiny. This attitude will also bring you greater peace in all circumstances. This may seem like fooling yourself or self-delusion, but remember: magic is the art of changing consciousness at will. Practice this magic! (The practices of the Grove will help you to discern your destiny better.)

108 the discipline of desire

The Web of Fate:
This exercise is intended to help you accept and even welcome your destiny. Look back over your life and pick out some major event, one

that you have been accustomed to consider either positive or negative. First

apply the Discipline of Assent, withdrawing subjective evaluation from what

was not in your control. Then consider all of the preceding circumstances and

events—many of them apparently accidental or coincidental—that converged

to create this event. Meditate on the uniqueness of your destiny. This event is

just one scene in the world drama, in which you have a role that you want to

perform well! Next turn your attention to what has happened since this event,

the many unanticipated consequences that have followed on it. Eliminate val-

ue judgments from them insofar as they were not results of your intention.

The goal is to achieve a better appreciation of the focal event as an essential

knot in the fabric of your individual destiny.

Accepting your Destiny:
As a mental exercise, pick some calamity from your past and suppose some benevolent deity has caused this to happen. Based on the

assumption that some greater good should come out of it, think about how

you can turn it to the betterment of yourself or the world. Record your con-

clusions and your intentions for the future in your journal.

Universal Love

We learn in the Porch that our attitude should be a joyous and enthusiastic participation in this universal life. Marcus says, “The cosmos loves to produce that which must occur.”141

That is, Cosmos / Logos / God / Goddess / Nature produces and sustains all its parts, for this is what Nature—
physis
—means in Greek: that which produces and nourishes. Therefore the cosmos loves its parts, including us, which is called
Providential Love
. Furthermore, since the desire, inclination, and disposition of the cosmos is to do exactly what it must do, this should also be the desire, inclination, and disposition of each of its parts, including us.

That is, each part of the cosmos loves to fulfill its function in the whole, and in this sense the discipline of desire 109

loves the whole, which is called
Returning Love
. So also it is natural that the parts love each other, for they are all parts of one organic, mutually sustaining whole (
Mutual Love
).

Marcus recommends a view of Nature that will resonate with many adherents of

earth-oriented religions, Nature spirituality, and deep ecology:

Meditate often upon the intimate union and mutual interdependence

of all things in the cosmos.

For things are somehow mutually intertwined,

and thus all things are friends to one another.

For one thing follows in order after another

by reason of their tight resonance,

the sympathy that breathes through them,

and the unity of substance.142

The myriad lines of mutual interdependence and causality are bonds of natural behav-

ior (what each thing “loves” to do) and therefore friendship. They are also bonds of tension, pulling each thing in many directions, conveying a “vibration” or “spirit” that unites the whole by “sympathy” (joint response). (Recall our discussion in the last chapter of the Cause / Logos / Spirit that unites and coordinates the Stoic cosmos.)

We have here again the image of Empedocles’ Sphere united by Love. Each higher soul

is an image of the universal Empedoclean Sphere—a sphere with its center everywhere

(in each person), but its boundary nowhere (for it encompasses everything). Therefore, if we practice the Discipline of Desire, then each of us becomes a vehicle through which the Cosmos loves itself. The Cosmos loves each of its parts, including us, who love it in turn, and therefore should love its other parts (Providential, Returning, and Mutual Love, respectively).

The Stoic God

The Stoic God, who is equivalent to Providence, Universal Reason, Logos, Nature, Goddess, Destiny, Fate, etc. may seem rather impersonal. For many people this is just fine, but others will consider this an impoverished substitute for a personal god. It seems unlikely anyone would pray fervently to Providence or Destiny (even though Stoics give them mental qualities). Nevertheless, philosophers of the Porch are comfortable switching between more or less personal conceptions of Universal Reason. For example, the ancient maxim, 110 the discipline of desire