The falcon vs. the fighter jet

Flying smoothly through life

We were hiking. “Look!” my friend said, pointing to the sky. I saw nothing but a trail left by a jet. “A fighter jet just flew by,” explained my friend. Jets leave a trail, which may be pleasing to look at, but within a few minutes, it’s all gone—the jet, the trail, and anything that can remind us of the jet.

A while later, I spotted a falcon flying. I alerted my friend about the flying falcon. He looked up, but by then, the falcon had disappeared. My friend could see nothing—no trail indicating that a falcon ever flew past us.

A jet leaves a trail to remind us of its existence, but the trail doesn’t last long. A falcon leaves no trail, no evidence of a falcon in the sky.

Most of us do not want to fly like gracious falcons and live according to nature. We want to be like jet planes and leave a trail of our lives. Many are desperate to be remembered after their death. They donate huge sums of money to hospitals and business schools so these institutions can be named after them and leave a trail of their forgotten or soon-to-be-forgotten existence.

Is there anything wrong with leaving a trail?

No. Even Stoics like Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus left trails that are visible even today. However, Marcus Aurelius did not write his Meditations so we could remember him, and Epictetus did not teach so someone could take notes and publish them. It was not their efforts to leave a trail but their exemplary lives that left a trail. They had no part in creating the trail.

When we work toward leaving a trail, we spend our lives toward that goal rather than living fully now and letting the trail, if any, result from our actions. I have even read books that advise readers to imagine the inscriptions on their tombstones and live accordingly. I wonder if it is ever worth thinking about our posthumous fame and reputation even for a minute. We are a speck—no, not even that—in eternity. What is eternity?

High up in the North, in the land called Svithjod, stands a rock. It is a hundred miles high and a hundred miles wide. Once every thousand years, a little bird comes to this rock to sharpen its beak. When the rock has thus been worn away, then a single day in eternity will have gone by. - Hendrik Willem van Loon, The Story of Mankind

In this vast eternity we are a part of, what sense does it make to perpetuate our vanishingly brief life a bit longer, leaving a trail behind that will also vanish quickly? Shouldn’t we rather live well now than attempt to leave a trail?

Stoics were concerned with living well and not about what happens after death. Epicurus put it this way:

When we exist, death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist. - Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus

Our single aim in this life should be to fly unimpeded like a falcon. Spending our time trying to perpetuate our name after we die, trying to leave a trail, is not a meaningful way to live. If you still leave a trail, it will be because of how you lived, not because you spent your life desperately trying to create it.

So how do we fly like a falcon, unimpeded? How do we live a “life that flows smoothly,” as Zeno put it?

1. Living a life that flows smoothly

The founder of Stoicism, Zeno, gave an excellent description of what we are aiming for: A life that flows smoothly. That’s the way a falcon flies. Our lives do not flow smoothly. Our worries and anxieties make us stumble. Our cravings make us run at an uncomfortable speed. Our self-doubts make us stop and go. Our doubts and suspicions hold us back.

What is behind our lives that fail to flow well? It is about

• Our worries about what has already happened.

• Our anxieties about what might happen in the future.

• Our possessions, our health, wealth, and reputations.

What is common to everything that stops our life from flowing smoothly? They are all externals over which we have no control. As long as we value things we cannot control, we will be pulled back, pushed forward, or held in place. This is no way to fly like a falcon.

To have a smooth-flowing life, we should be prepared to let go of anything external if it is taken away from us. Externals can include money, power, possessions, reputation, and people we love. We should treat things as a generous gift given to us for our enjoyment for an indefinite period. Some of this may be with us all our lives or be called back earlier. If we develop the idea that we own nothing and everything is a gift, we will enjoy things when we have them and not feel deprived when they are called back.

You say, ‘I have lost my child.’ No, you have given him back. ‘I have lost my land.’ No, you have given it back. ‘I have been robbed of it.’ Who told you it was yours to begin with? For this reason, when you have been given anything, take care of it as something that is not your own, as travellers treat an inn. - Epictetus, Discourses, 3.24

When we believe we own something, we feel miserable when it is taken away from us. But if we treat it as a generous gift given to us for the time being, we will be grateful for having it for a while if it is taken away.

So, the first rule for flying like a falcon is not to place too much value on impermanent externals.

2. Living a life that is according to nature

Big trees resist the wind. Yet, a strong wind can uproot them. A willow, on the other hand, doesn’t resist the wind. It bends with it, and the willow returns to its original form when the wind passes. So it is with us. We can live according to nature like the willow or resist it like a big tree. When we resist nature, we run the risk of being uprooted. When we go with it, we survive the attack.

The wind will blow whether you resist or not. So it is with our life’s events, such as unexpected difficulties, illnesses, misfortunes, and natural disasters. We can complain about them, fight them, and feel sorry for ourselves. Or we can accept that they will happen and do what is within our power to cope with them. When we accept whatever happens as given and do whatever is within our power, we live according to nature.

Living according to nature has two components:

1. Mentally accepting whatever happens as a condition of our life that we need to deal with (accepting what happens); and

2. Limiting our actions to things that are under control (responding rationally).

3. Living a skillful life

When you limit your actions to what is within your control, your actions will be effective because they are within your total control. However, they may not always be the right actions. To live skillfully, you need four special skills: wisdom, moderation, courage, and justice. They are the guard rails to stop your speeding car going off the highway.

a. Wisdom

Wisdom tells you what to do and what not to do in any situation. You are not being wise when you indulge in actions that affect areas of life not under your control. You are not being wise when you resist nature rather than flow with it. You are not being wise when you act on your (first) impressions without examining them. But when you act on what you can control, when you examine your impressions before acting on them, you are being wise.

b. Moderation

Moderation tells you what to choose and what to avoid. You are not being moderate when you indulge in excess. One drink may not harm you, but ten may. One dessert may not harm you, but four may. It is so with many things in life. What is not harmful in moderation may be harmful in excess.

c. Courage

Courage tells you what to fear and what not to fear. We fear what might happen to us but don’t fear how we might react. But what might happen to us is not under our control, and fearing it will not make it disappear. So we should not fear what might happen in the future. Conversely, we don’t fear our potential actions. But how we choose to react is under our control. Making the wrong choice will affect our life. So we should fear making the wrong choices and train ourselves to make the right choices rather than fearing what might happen.

d. Justice

Justice is the skill of knowing how things are to be assigned or distributed. It is giving what is due to others, being fair in your dealings with them, and not taking anything that belongs to them.

Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offence. - Cicero, De Officiis, 1.7.23

Justice in Stoicism also recognizes that we are part of the larger whole and do not harm anyone or take what belongs to others.

Takeaways

1. Our time in the world is too brief to contemplate perpetuating our memory by leaving a trail. Rather, we should concentrate on living well now.

2. We can live well in this world when

   1. Our life flows well by letting go of our attachment to externals.

   2. We live according to nature by living a rational life and not be defeated by what we are faced with.

3. We need the four essential skills of

   1. Wisdom

   2. moderation

   3. Courage

   4. Justice

Try this simple exercise

How do you answer these questions:

1. Is your life flowing smoothly?

2. So, do you accept whatever happens as a challenge, or do you feel defeated by it?

3. How far have you advanced in developing the four skills you need to live a good life: wisdom, moderation, courage, and justice?

If you feel that your answers are not satisfactory enough, may be you should spend more time thinking about these.

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