Glimpses of Communitas
Dear beautiful people,
I hope you are enjoying the last weekend of August.
Tomorrow’s events:
Stoic Breath w/ Steve Beattie. EverydaySunday @ 10:00 AM ET.RSVP here.
Memetic Mediation Campfire w/ Jason Snyder and Peter Limberg. Every Sunday @ 3:30 PM ET. RSVP here.
Dying: East and West w/ Daniel P. Brown. August 30 @ 5:00 PM ET. RSVP here. 90 mins.
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August 29, 2020
It is beautiful receiving random emails of appreciation. People reply to my journals via email often, and receiving these in my inbox gives this project a greater intimacy.
Here is one I received after submitting yesterday's entry: I think these writings are a big reason for the success of The Stoa. Email is accessible and easy to consume and you write very very well. Thank you for your devotion.
I never thought of myself as a good writer. I do not even identify as a “writer” really. I like to write though and I try to write in a way where you can feel my heart. When I sit down to write I do not know what will be written, but I feel something, and I am chasing that feeling, by slapping down a word that feels most resonant in the here and now.
The pretext of writing these journals is the whole “ta eis heauton” shtick: things to one's self. I am not quite doing what Marcus Aurelius did with his journals, because I am writing while knowing people will be reading shortly after. I do earnestly attempt to write to myself though.
No. That does not feel exactly right. There is something different here. I am writing in a way where the boundaries of my self and your self become blurred. One of the themes at The Stoa is exploring the contours of relationality, and figuring out how we can swim in the in-between. I want this place to be the home of these “intersubjectivity practices” that have been quietly bubbling up over the years. These are the practices that give us a glimpse of communitas.
I think it is incumbent on me, as the steward of this place, to write in a way where my heart is not hidden from you. I want to write in a way where you feel your heart when reading words that try to touch mine. If that occurs, even for a brief moment, we will not feel so far apart.
Most people who are drawn to The Stoa are seekers. They are seeking a new philosophy, or a new spiritual practice, and most feel politically orphaned, not having a home with any political party or movement. There is a sense we all have been bumbling our way through this search, creating these weird and maladaptive strategies to get by.
Maybe we have always been searching for something that allows our hearts to not feel so far apart. Even though our calloused hearts have been accustomed to the distance, us seekers sense the world can be different.
When I last lost my mind I perceived something with penetrative clarity: if you commit to being truthful you will become more virtuous. If you become more virtuous you will be creating a more beautiful world, and beauty is most potent in connection, where our hearts are so close we feel a primordial kinship.
It is not about losing ourselves in each other, it is about finding ourselves with each other. The Stoa was always an invitation to communitas. I do not have any fucking answers, you probably do not either, but maybe together we can stumble our way to each other's hearts.
I will continue to do my part, one word at a time.
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The Stoa has hosted over 300+ free events since the pandemic started, and it will continue to do so, but it could use your support to continue to do so with quality and integrity. Support The Stoa @ https://www.patreon.com/the_stoa