Daniel Wilmoth

Aulus Gellius writes about crossing the Ionian Sea with a Stoic philosopher who was prominent in ancient Athens. A vast, violent storm engulfs the ship, threatening death.

During almost the whole of the night…a fierce side-wind blew, which had filled our ship with water. Then…day at last dawned. But there was no less danger and no slackening of the violence of the wind; on the contrary, more frequent whirlwinds, a black sky, masses of fog, and…fearful cloud-forms…seemed to hang over and threaten us, ready to overwhelm the ship.¹

The Stoics teach that we should care only about what we can control, so we should not fear such danger. For example, Epictetus writes,

If you seek to avoid, then…only…those things that are within your own power, you’ll never fall into anything that you want to avoid; but if you attempt to avoid illness, or death, or poverty, you’ll suffer misfortune. Remove your aversion, then, from everything that is not within our power, and transfer it to…those things that are within our power….²

Eager to see this philosophy applied, Aulus Gellius observes the Stoic, only to find him as “frightened and ghastly pale” as anyone else. Aulus Gellius is not the only one to notice. After the storm, another passenger mocks the Stoic, asking why he was so frightened. The Stoic replies,

If in such a terrible storm I did show a little fear, you are not worthy to be told the reason for it. But…the famous Aristippus, the pupil of Socrates, shall answer for me, who on being asked on a similar occasion by a man much like you why he feared, though a philosopher, while his questioner on the contrary had no fear, replied that they had not the same motives, for his questioner need not be very anxious about the life of a worthless coxcomb, but he himself feared for the life of an Aristippus.

Aulus Gellius must not have been easily frightened, because, despite that caustic answer, he also asks the Stoic about his reaction to the storm. The Stoic, apparently sensing the sincere interest of Aulus Gellius, responds differently. He draws from his bag a book by Epictetus that has since been lost. In it, Epictetus explains that our instinctive emotional reactions to the world may be outside of our control. However, we can control how we react to our reactions.

…when some terrifying sound…occurs, even the mind of a wise man must necessarily be disturbed, must shrink and feel alarm, not from a preconceived idea of any danger, but from certain swift and unexpected attacks which forestall the power of the mind and of reason. Presently, however, the wise man…rejects…them….

Emotions embody beliefs. Circumstances may arouse emotions that embody beliefs in conflict with the beliefs we consciously hold. The fear of the Stoic embodied a view of death that he had repudiated. However, with time, we can reconcile our emotions and our conscious beliefs.

We see this process modeled in Psalms, a collection of hymns from ancient Israel. Many psalms were written by David, a king of Israel whose life was characterized by violent conflict—conflict with other nations, with the king who preceded him, and with those who would usurp him. The third psalm begins with David lamenting the danger he faces.

Lord, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me! (Psalm 3:1 NIV)

The natural emotional response to danger is fear. However, David believes that he serves an almighty God, a God who can deliver him from any danger. In the psalm, we see David shift his attention away from those who would kill him to the God who can deliver him.

But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
I call out to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.

I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
I will not fear though tens of thousands
assail me on every side. (Psalm 3:3 – 6 NIV)

Few of us will face the kind of danger that David, or even Aulus Gellius, faced. However, we will all face difficult circumstances and the reactions they arouse. We need not settle for those emotions, because our emotions are not determined solely by our circumstances. The psalms remain a source of comfort for many as David reminds us that our difficulties are mere brush strokes in a vast painting.

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God. (Psalm 42:5 NIV)

1. Aulus Gellius, The Attic Nights, trans. John C. Rolfe (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1927), accessed at https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Gel.%2019.1&lang=original.
2. Epictetus, Discourses, Fragments, Handbook, trans. Robin Hard (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 287 – 288.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul….

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

Psalm 23:1 – 4 ESV

Jeff Bezos took a big gamble when he founded Amazon to sell books online. He left a lucrative job at a hedge fund and moved across the country with his wife to be near the largest book warehouse in the world. They ran Amazon out of their two-bedroom home, using desks Bezos made from doors. His parents invested much of their life savings. Bezos told them Amazon would probably fail.

Instead, the success of Amazon transformed his life. Amazon is worth about two trillion dollars today, one of only about a dozen businesses with a valuation that requires thirteen digits. For a time, Bezos was the richest man in the world. He now has homes scattered across the country, and he can live in luxury around the globe aboard his $500 million yacht.

Commerce has also transformed our lives. In his 1776 Wealth of Nations, pioneering economist Adam Smith describes the transformation of the world we now call the Industrial Revolution. Expanding markets enabled increased specialization, and increased specialization fostered technological innovation. Much of the world today lives in a comfort and safety that would have been nearly unimaginable before the Industrial Revolution.

However, our experience of life is shaped as much by our attitudes as our circumstances. Joy can be found even in trying circumstances, and misery even in comfortable. Much of religion and moral philosophy addresses attitude. The effect of commerce on our lives may therefore depend not only on how commerce shapes our circumstances, but also on how it shapes our attitudes. Continue reading “Commerce and character”

Markets are how we take care of people we don’t know.

Nicholas Stern, as quoted in The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

In the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, spiky-haired young Calvin creates chaos as he navigates a world transformed by his imagination. Teachers and parents become aliens and dinosaurs. His stuffed tiger Hobbes prowls by his side, commenting skeptically and refusing to eat his bully because “[f]at kids are high in cholesterol.”

Calvin and Hobbes was created by Bill Watterson, who studied political science while considering a career as an editorial cartoonist. The stuffed tiger Hobbes is named after the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who, as Watterson put it, held a “dim view of humanity.” Hobbes is best known for Leviathan, published in 1651, where he argues in favor of absolute monarchy as a response to inherent human aggression.

…in the first place, I put for a general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death…. Competition of riches, honour, command, or other power, inclineth to contention, enmity, and war; because the way of one competitor to the attaining of his desire is to kill, subdue, supplant, or repel the other. ¹

Hobbes believes our selfish desires create perpetual conflict. We can escape that conflict by agreeing to grant a monopoly on violence to a sovereign power. The sovereign power then enforces a peace under which we can all flourish.

…during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war, and such a war as is of every man against every man…. In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently…no arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all, continual fear of danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. ²

For Hobbes, the role of the sovereign is defined by the use of force. We find a very different view of government in the teaching of Confucius. Confucius was a moral and political philosopher in ancient China, and Chinese civil servants were trained in his philosophy for thousands of years. Confucius teaches that the proper focus of rulers is not on controlling the public but on controlling themselves.

Ji Kangzi asked Confucius about governing.

Confucius responded, “To ‘govern’ means to be ‘correct’. If you set an example by being correct yourself, who will dare to be incorrect?” ³

Continue reading “Confucius and Hobbes”

Ji Kangzi was concerned about the prevalence of robbers in Lu and asked Confucius about how to deal with this problem.

Confucius said, “If you could just get rid of your own excessive desires, the people would not steal even if you rewarded them for it.”

Analects 12.18

Dave Ramsey has made a lot of money by talking about money. He peddles financial advice based on the Bible. He started with a radio show, then expanded into newspapers, live events, and popular books. He even sold an “Act Your Wage!” board game with the tagline “First player out of debt wins!”

Eliminating debt is Ramsey’s passion. He counsels listeners to avoid all debt, to pay cash for their houses and perform “plastic surgery” by cutting up their credit cards. The box for the “Act Your Wage!” game features Ramsey holding a credit card between scissor blades. He likes quoting a verse from Proverbs,

The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is slave to the lender. (Proverbs 22:7 NIV)

Ramsey helps listeners escape the burden of debt. However, debt is not always a burden, and those who have escaped debt may still have unhealthy relationships with money. To make good financial decisions, we should look beyond simple rules like avoiding debt and examine our attitudes. Proverbs teaches that our attitudes shape our lives.

As water reflects the face,
so one’s life reflects the heart. (Proverbs 27:19 NIV)

Continue reading “The mirror of the heart”

Prepare your work outside;
get everything ready for yourself in the field,
and after that build your house.

Proverbs 24:27 ESV

In his 1987 movie Wall Street, Oliver Stone tells the story of Gordon Gekko, a stock speculator who will do anything to win. He lies to partners, spies on competitors, and trades on inside information. Gekko defends his greed in a speech inspired by a real speculator of the era, Ivan Boesky.

…Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works…. Greed, in all of its forms…has marked the upward surge of mankind….

The claim that greed “has marked the upward surge of mankind” finds some support in the work of the pioneering economist Adam Smith. Recent centuries have seen a blossoming of technology. Smith describes how these advances depend on the specialization that markets create.

The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is any where directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labour…. As it is the power of exchanging that gives occasion to the division of labour, so the extent of this division must always be limited by the extent of that power, or, in other words, by the extent of the market.¹

The role of markets in advancing technology provides some support for claims about the benefits of greed because we generally trade for profit. Smith writes,

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.²

However, thriving markets require more than a desire for profit; thriving markets require trust. When we trade with the public, we face risks like theft and fraud. While we may not rely on the benevolence of the baker for our bread, charity is not the only alternative to trade. Another alternative is predation, and greed undermines trust by encouraging predation. Continue reading “The benevolence of the baker”

Dishonest money dwindles away,
but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.

Proverbs 13:11 NIV