The Storm Blows Through The Stoa
Tomorrow’s events:
Stoic Breath w/ Steve Beattie. Every Sunday @ 10:00 AM ET.RSVP here.
Evolving Ground: 03 Confidence w/ Charlie Awbery & Jared Janes. January 10th @ 12:30 PM ET. RSVP here.
Newly posted events:
Stoa Provocations: Is Consilience the Key To Understand Everything? w/ Tom Beakbane. January 12th @ 12:00 PM ET. RSVP here. 90 mins.
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January 9th, 2021
And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.
That is from Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. I miss me some Murakami. I was introduced to him while in high school, and the first book I read of his was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and I recall being blown away when reading it.
I am wondering today: will the storm come and blow away The Stoa? Is the digital colonnade strong enough to hold during the harsh winds, the heavy rains, and the wild debris that could come its way? This humble steward does not own his lord’s house, but a steward is assigned to take care of it, and ensure everything is robust enough so it can withhold harsh weather.
On the YouTube channel, the only thing on the page description is this: The Stoa is not a fucking YouTube channel. To add another motto: The Stoa is not a fucking Facebook group, and another: The Stoa is not a fucking Discord server. There will be no spray painting propositional graffiti on the columns, and nobody will be sleeping overnight on the floors. This will be a pristine place, as pristine as it can be, and it will not be hijacked by asynchronous communication platforms, and the way they bend our character.
You enter The Stoa, hear the truth of others spoken, perhaps have a chance to speak yourself, and then you leave. It is a simple enough thing, and simple enough things can create unsimple problems. It is actually not “the truth” that this steward primarily cares about, but the spirit that comes with sincerely attempting to speak the truth.
This is the spirit that flows through the digital colonnade, and this is the spirit that needs great care and attention. This spirit can feel like a foreign thing, a scary thing, and a dangerous thing; once you follow this spirit, you do not know what truth you will find.
You may find a truth that could undermine your worldview, and make you feel like you will go insane. You can find a truth that isolates you, from your tribe, and from those you love. You could also find a truth that, if revealed, would undermine the existing power of malevolent men, as some power can only be maintained in the dark, and it is in the dark where dark things fester.
The storm may come soon, and its surge may blow The Stoa down, or it may simply blow through it. This place is just a container though, that is a space holder, for the spirit to flow through. More containers will be built. The spirit cannot be stopped.
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