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Hegemonikon
Jul. 27th, 2009 08:57 pmOne advantage of the new house is that we live about an hour's walk away from the local library so I take the children there one or two days a week, fulfilling the Jeffersonian imperative to walk two hours a day.
During the first and most memorable of these excursions I lectured Andrew on the subject of Stoic psychology (other subjects have included classical architechture, illustrated by the houses passed on the way). I explained to him that his mother and I had noticed that he sometimes had trouble controlling his passions. He replied that it seemed to him as if he were possessed, as if irresistible impulses overwhelmed him from time to time, causing him to act in ways for which he is occasionally punished. He spoke of the possessing agency as being a 'wicked Andrew.' I told him that he was not far off. His body, which is the source of passions, is struggling for control against his true self, but he must strengthen his self and overcome his body so that it can no longer take over, as it were. I explained to him that the self's instrument for accomplishing this is his ruling principle or hegemonikon. He asked where this was located and I told him, it was hard to say, but most likely within the heart. He asked me how to strengthen it, and I told it was by always considering whether any impulse he wants to act upon is good or bad, and only acting on the good ones. He asked for a simpler way. So I told him, "Its very hot today and we've been walking for almost an hour and I have not drunk much water. You may believe, therefore, that I am very thirsty, and I am besides smoking a cigar which makes one want to drink also in another way than ordinary thirst. But look here," and I took a drink of water out of a bottle and then spat it out. "I am thirsty, but I am not letting my body's desire dictate whether to drink or not. I am telling it that it cannot, because I am the one that makes the decisions.' He didn't quite get it: though he had been drinking quite freely, he took another drink and spat it out, claiming he had done the same thing, but then immediately took and swallowed a drink.
The point, though, is what occurred today when I had Madeline alone at the park. She had also heard the lecture, but I never imagined it meant anything to her. But after playing, she came over to the picnic table and drank quite a bit of water, then she said, 'I want a monikon!' and spit out the next drink, then she preceded to drink and spit out the whole rest of the bottle. She had evidently learned that hegemonikon is Greek for spitting water.
During the first and most memorable of these excursions I lectured Andrew on the subject of Stoic psychology (other subjects have included classical architechture, illustrated by the houses passed on the way). I explained to him that his mother and I had noticed that he sometimes had trouble controlling his passions. He replied that it seemed to him as if he were possessed, as if irresistible impulses overwhelmed him from time to time, causing him to act in ways for which he is occasionally punished. He spoke of the possessing agency as being a 'wicked Andrew.' I told him that he was not far off. His body, which is the source of passions, is struggling for control against his true self, but he must strengthen his self and overcome his body so that it can no longer take over, as it were. I explained to him that the self's instrument for accomplishing this is his ruling principle or hegemonikon. He asked where this was located and I told him, it was hard to say, but most likely within the heart. He asked me how to strengthen it, and I told it was by always considering whether any impulse he wants to act upon is good or bad, and only acting on the good ones. He asked for a simpler way. So I told him, "Its very hot today and we've been walking for almost an hour and I have not drunk much water. You may believe, therefore, that I am very thirsty, and I am besides smoking a cigar which makes one want to drink also in another way than ordinary thirst. But look here," and I took a drink of water out of a bottle and then spat it out. "I am thirsty, but I am not letting my body's desire dictate whether to drink or not. I am telling it that it cannot, because I am the one that makes the decisions.' He didn't quite get it: though he had been drinking quite freely, he took another drink and spat it out, claiming he had done the same thing, but then immediately took and swallowed a drink.
The point, though, is what occurred today when I had Madeline alone at the park. She had also heard the lecture, but I never imagined it meant anything to her. But after playing, she came over to the picnic table and drank quite a bit of water, then she said, 'I want a monikon!' and spit out the next drink, then she preceded to drink and spit out the whole rest of the bottle. She had evidently learned that hegemonikon is Greek for spitting water.
