{"id":3636,"date":"2015-04-16T06:04:01","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T12:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/?p=3636"},"modified":"2015-04-16T06:04:01","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16T12:04:01","slug":"whats-in-the-way-is-the-way-stoicism-and-the-spaces-between","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uucollective\/2015\/04\/whats-in-the-way-is-the-way-stoicism-and-the-spaces-between\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s in the Way is the Way: Stoicism and the Spaces Between"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I sit at the roadside;
\nThe driver changes the wheel.
\nI don\u2019t like where I\u2019m coming from.
\nI don\u2019t like where I\u2019m going.
\nWhy do I watch this wheel change
\nImpatiently?<\/p>\n

This poem, by German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht, catches that feeling of being in-between. In process. In liminal space.<\/p>\n

We all know about sitting idly by, watching.<\/p>\n

The poem reflects a moment of insight. An epiphany. Dissatisfied with where he\u2019s been; dissatisfied with where he\u2019s going; the speaker in the poem suddenly realizes the absurdity of his impatience to get to a place he doesn\u2019t want to go. <\/p>\n

The poem mentions changing a wheel, not a tire, which is a bit odd. The German word for \u201cwheel\u201d is rad, as in \u201cradius.\u201d Brecht uses this word, not the word for \u201ctire,\u201d reifen. I suspect that\u2019s because he has gl\u00fccksrad in mind, \u201cwheel of fortune,\u201d that fatalistic Medieval notion that when you\u2019re up you\u2019re up and when you\u2019re down you\u2019re down, and the wheel just keeps on turning. <\/p>\n

Why do we sit impatiently, eager to get where we don\u2019t want to go? Habit, for one. <\/p>\n

After all, habit means you don\u2019t have to think about it. Thinking outside of the box, or off the road you\u2019re on, is difficult work. It\u2019s easier not to think about it. It\u2019s easier just to go to the place you\u2019re already headed, even if you know you don\u2019t like it all that much. Or at all. It\u2019s the street of least resistance. <\/p>\n

The chances that we will change a habit once we have started it is one in ten. One in ten. As the poet John Dryden said, \u201cFirst we make our habits, and then our habits make us. <\/p>\n

Why do I watch this wheel change
\nImpatiently?<\/p>\n

THE OBSTACLE IS THE . . . WHAT? <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius often found himself on the roadside watching a wheel getting changed. He knew the impatience to be where he didn\u2019t want to go. <\/p>\n

Stoicism teaches that this liminal space offers the opportunity for decision. Marcus Aurelius said, \u201cWhat stands in the way becomes the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat stands in the way becomes the way.\u201d <\/p>\n

Stoics begin with the assumption that there are roadblocks. That\u2019s how things are. Stoics advise to take a good look at the impediment. If it can\u2019t be removed, learn to live with it. If it can, then move it. <\/p>\n

The Stoic philosopher Epictetus advises, \u201cFor heaven\u2019s sake, practice being yourself in the small things, then work up to the large.\u201d <\/p>\n

Epictetus also offered some advice for that impatient person by the roadside in the Brecht poem: \u201cFirst tell yourself what you want to be, then do what you need to do.\u201d <\/p>\n

Stoicism has no time for a statement such as,\u201cI\u2019m not the kind of person who . . .\u201d You can\u2019t change the fact that wheels need changed. You can<\/em> change the kind of person you are. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing: we\u2019re all always sitting by that roadside that Brecht describes. We do or don\u2019t like where we have been. We do or don\u2019t like where we are going. <\/p>\n

What matters is the choice we make in that moment as we watch the changing of the wheel. We can choose to go on to somewhere we don\u2019t wish to go. <\/p>\n

Or, we can choose something new. Different. Non-habitual. Un-characteristic. <\/p>\n

We can choose habit. Or we can choose possibility. As the Stoic emperor put it, \u201cIt is not death we should fear, but never beginning to live.\u201d \"IMG_3496\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I sit at the roadside; The driver changes the wheel. I don\u2019t like where I\u2019m coming from. I don\u2019t like where I\u2019m going. Why do I watch this wheel change Impatiently? This poem, by German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht, catches that feeling of being in-between. In process. In liminal space. We all know about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1440,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,796,10,115,441,240],"tags":[852],"class_list":["post-3636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith-development","category-power-2","category-religion","category-unitarian","category-universalist-2","category-values-2","tag-stoicism-humanism"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat\u2019s in the Way is the Way: Stoicism and the Spaces Between<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I sit at the roadside; The driver changes the wheel. 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