Alien skull found in Peru.... OK actually that's just a turtle skull, and some shells and I just smoked a joint on the beach and want to talk about stoicism and eastern mysticism 😂

Getting high just now and chatting with a friend our conversation wandered naturally to Seneca the younger, intrinsic happiness as a tenet of freedom (real and absolute), and a concept called Pronoia, and a dash of Alan Watts analogy on memory thrown in for spice.

I don't know what you guys talk about when you're smoking weed at the beach but for me this is totally normal.

Anyway, I was reminded of an illustration given by Alan Watts in which he described human consciousness as a ship on a glassy body of water, and memories as the wake of the ship in the water.

The farther back we go, the more our memories tend to fade into watery obscurity. Additionally, it is important to remember that the wake doesn't drive the ship but is created by it. It is possible then that our memories and experiences don't define us we define them. And the only thing that is real is this current moment.

The idea of Pronoia comes into play when we consider the possibility of outside influence on our lives. Call it God, universal consciousness, the great architect, whatever.

But where Paranoia is a common term and defined loosely as a belief that the entire universe is working against you, Pronoia is diametrically opposed in that it's core tennant is a belief that the universe is working for you.

Seneca perhaps believed in this also. But for him it was essential to find happiness within himself. Only then could a man be truly free. Freedom from expectation, discovery of pleasure in unexpected places, and knowledge of having always done the best one can, are all stepping stones on this path to ultimate individual freedom.

I hope you enjoyed this. I fill my blog with rambling profound Bullshit, local history, social projects, beautiful sunsets, and crazy but true (mostly anyway) stories from my 36 years of globetrotting (seriously my parents made me at Disney world).

Resteems, follows, and upvotes are appreciated but more than that I'd like to connect with you. Drop a comment and let's have a chat! Thanks again for reading!