Author – Labib Mahfuj Chisty
Finding people with a lantern in hand! That too during the day! The philosopher Diogenes is the best example of worldly aversion.
Diogenes once asked Alexander the Great, what is your future plan?
Alexander said, To bring all of Greece under his control.
Then?
To bring all of Asia Minor under his control.
Then?
To bring the whole world under his control.
The unyielding Diogenes persisted, “Then?”
Then what else! I will sit at home and rest!
Diogenes then smiled briefly,
and said, “Hey, you can do that now!”
Diogenes! The unconventional, crazy philosopher!
He lived in a big tub by the side of the road! He had only a lantern, a kick, and a drinking cup. One day, he saw a boy drinking water from a pond with a full beak. He threw the drinking cup away.
He said, God does not need to be touched by anyone. Those who are close to God are also above necessity.
Aristippus, a contemporary of his, became the owner of a lot of wealth through flattery in the royal court. One day, Aristippus saw Diogenes eating only vegetables and rice and said, if you had learned to flatter the king, you would not have had to eat only vegetables and rice. “If you had learned to eat vegetables, you would not have had to flatter the king.” – Diogenes’s reply!
The great philosopher Plato defined man, man is a featherless bipedal animal! Diogenes plucked a chicken’s feathers and sent it to Plato. He wrote – “Your definition of man!”
Diogenes had a reputation for not caring about anyone. The world-conquering hero Alexander asked him, “What do you want from me?”
“I am basking in the sun. You are standing in the way of the sun. I want you to stand aside!”
As a result of such a personality, Alexander said, “If I were not Alexander, I would like to be Diogenes!”
Diogenes was exiled from his hometown of Sinope. But he never regretted it. He said, “Exile made me a philosopher.”
He was auctioned off as a slave. It is said that he said, “Sell me to someone who needs a master.”
Once, he was seen standing in front of a statue and begging for alms from it. People asked, “What’s the matter?” Diogenes said, “I am practicing being rejected.”
Diogenes was often called a dog. He certainly liked that nickname! He would say, “Other dogs bite their enemies, but I bite my friends, to protect them.”
Diogenes’ father worked in a mint in the city of Sinope. Diogenes would destroy the engravings on those coins. This took on a symbolic form in the Cynic movement. The Cynics attacked social conventions by destroying coins.
One day, he appeared in the marketplace with a lantern in his hand. Everyone was quite amused to see the old man lighting a lantern in the middle of the day. They asked him, “Where are you walking with a lantern in your hand at this time of day?”
Diogenes said, “I am actually looking for people. Can anyone tell me where in Greece people can be found?”
Why did he hate his fellow Greeks so much that he did not consider them human beings? Because he thought that they had not embraced poverty. Therefore, they cannot enjoy the self-reliance and pure freedom associated with poverty; they will remain incomplete forever!
He tried to attack social customs in many ways. Once, when everyone was leaving after a theater, Diogenes was seen entering. Someone said, “Why have you come now? The theater is over!” Diogenes said, “I have come to attack your customs.” Saying this, he went inside the empty theater and sat down!
Diogenes was once discussing various topics of philosophy in front of some people. But he realized that people were gradually getting bored and were becoming focused on their own work. He suddenly stopped his discussion and started dancing. Immediately everyone surrounded him again. He stopped dancing and said, “You bunch of fools! You are not interested in good words, but in clowning!”
A student of philosophy once came to Diogenes and said, “Philosophy seems very difficult to me.” Diogenes said, “If you don’t want to live well, why are you alive?”
Diogenes was asked, what is the right age for marriage? Diogenes said, “The time has not yet come for a young man, and the time has passed for an old man!”
Before his death, he said, “When I die, throw my body away from the city, so that the animals can eat it.”
Diogenes’s sayings –
- A wise man needs another wise man to discover him.
- He who has the most is content with little.
- Dogs and philosophers do the most important work, but receive the least reward.
- The foundation of a state is the education of its youth.
- Why shouldn’t his teacher be whipped if a student misbehaves?
- The greatest advantage of being a god is that he doesn’t need anyone’s help. Those who are very close to God need very little.
- There is no place to spit in a rich man’s house except his face!
We don’t know much about Diogenes’s life. However, he was born in Sinope, a city on the Black Sea. In Raphael’s School of Athens, we see him sitting casually on the steps.
Diogenes or other Cynic thinkers have basically taught the solution to two problems in human life. They are –
- Ataraxia and 2. Apatheia.
In Greek, Ataraxia means freedom from all kinds of worries and thoughts, a strong stillness.
On the other hand, Apatheia means the state of mind, which cannot be disturbed even by the strongest emotions.
That state is not stillness, but the tranquility prevailing in the stillness of the thinking power. The Cynics used to say that we should live according to the laws of nature with only the necessary things. They even used to live by eating a small amount of branches instead of picking fruits from trees. They had no other wealth except a little cloth to wear and a stick or a leather bag. They lived in a naturally formed dwelling, they did not even own any comfortable dwelling. They used to say that such a lifestyle can bring ultimate peace.
Let life be enlightened, let it be free from delusion, let the transcendental consciousness be manifested in life!
May Diogenes be a beacon of light on our path of life…
Date of writing – 17/07/2019
Author – Labib Mahfuj Chisty