The Oracle Chapter 4 (Anthropos)
Lorient Montaner
Life
(Zoe)
1. The Oracle defines life as a quality marked by the capacity for growth, response to stimuli, metabolism, energy transformation, and reproduction. Yet in philosophy, life signifies much more.
2. Life is a natural experiment we undergo daily, and its wonders are to be understood, just as its misfortunes are, as a part of the evolving process of our development. Diogenes said, “Life has three types of grapes: the first of pleasure, the second of intoxication, the third of disgust.”
3. For centuries, human beings have endeavoured to analyse and uncover their purpose in life. Some have discovered it uniquely, while others have failed dismally. Epictetus once remarked, “Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.” This is the answer to life.
4. Is our consciousness the key to solving the mystery of life? Could effort and contemplation ever diminish the harshness of suffering? Is our world merely a token reflection of reality's condition?
5. Does time merely unveil the relevance of existence? Is depression the shrouding of our volition? Is fear the image of our uncertainty? Why should life be equated with death? “Circumstances don’t make the man, they only reveal him to himself,” said Epictetus. Life is full of mysteries and riddles.
6. Socrates believed the only life worth living is one committed to cultivating good character. There is a simplicity to life we often discover, yet hesitate to acknowledge. This simplicity is called the moment.
7. If life is governed by rules of probabilistic or deterministic causes, then all occurrences would be seen as either predictable or unpredictable.
8. “The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things,” said Epictetus. Life is what we construct of it, not the burdens we cannot control.
9. “The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival,” declared Aristotle. If we regard life merely as survival, we place greater importance on death than on life itself.
10. The most universal phenomenon is life; the most definitive is time. Time determines the ultimate shape of life, along with its shared essence and fluid value.
11. Death is not the purpose of life. As autonomous beings, we determine our own purpose. Without volition, there is no function. Thus, death can only be interpreted as either a non sequitur or a natural state. Epicurus said, “Death is nothing to us. When we exist, death is not; and when death exists, we are not…”
12. Every clear-minded person must be accountable for their actions in life. Everyone possesses the potential for both good and evil; it is we who determine their significance. Diogenes said, “Wisdom serves to restrain the youth, consolation for the old, wealth for the poor, and embellishment for the rich.”
13. “The really important thing is not to live, but to live well. And to live well meant, along with more enjoyable things in life, to live according to your principles,” said Socrates. Understanding life is fundamental to survival, not just biological survival, but enduring its mysteries.
14. We must learn to value life and understand it is relevant only if we make it so. It lasts as long as we last. Yet modern people have become mechanical in their thoughts and instincts, forsaking the most essential demonstration of humanity, which is consciousness.
15. There is nothing inherently fair about life or its essence. We do not choose to be born, nor to be treated unfairly. Life’s essence is governed not by indivisible force, but by time, restraint, and contingency.
16. “The state comes into existence for the sake of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life,” said Aristotle. The greatest failure in life is never finding success in one’s own eyes. People seek deities to answer their prayers, yet all they need is to delve into the depths of their own mind for happiness.
17. Within us lies an abyss that cannot be eradicated or improvised. It has no form, no internal meaning, only presence. It is a cruelty that no one should endure without pleasure. Though it wears many names, it often hides behind emptiness.
18. Piety or Eusebeia in Greek is a measure of human goodwill, not based on ego, but on a conscience that grants it meaning. It is eudaimonia, alongside euporia, that we humans seek in life.
19. Many people take life for granted, believing they are entitled to more fortune than they have, forgetting that life is shaped by what one does with it, not by idle expectation.
20. Must life be fully understood? Or is it merely what we interpret it to be? As conscious beings, we form concepts from our observations—whether nomic or telic. Who we are is defined by who we believe we are and what we perceive ourselves to be.
21. Life’s beauty lies in enjoying, within a brief span, the simple essence of being human. The moral of life’s story can be resumed in that simplicity.
22. We are all observers of life, but we can choose to become participants. If my purpose is to serve philosophy, then may future centuries bear witness to that resolve.
23. In life, a man must not be captive to his irrational desires. He must accept his weaknesses and strengthen his consciousness to overcome them. Until he does, he remains a hostage to his own irrationality.
24. No one has the right to take innocent life. We are not the proprietors of death, but the guardians of life. We may choose to embody profound difference or fall into cruel indifference.
25. Epictetus stated that there is only one way to attain happiness in life: to cease worrying about that which lies beyond our control. Life is composed of endless chapters, and many yet to be written.
26. As humans, we can alter the condition of our existence. To understand life, one must not be hindered by what we call “fate.”
27. If fate is fixed, would it not follow that human extinction is inevitable, and our planet will someday be governed by artificial life? If so, our doom was predestined.
28. “If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer…But change is law, and no amount of pretending will alter that reality,” said Socrates.
29. Obstacles are not merely external; they are the barriers we place within through reluctance. Such irrational thinking leads us nowhere.
30. Humility is not reverence. To be forgotten is easier than to be remembered. What we believe we are owed must be earned through diligence.
31. Life is a journey never to be taken for granted; its continuation is not assured. Living is not dying. A man may overcome the fear of death by embracing life and its conclusion alike.
32. Life may be manifold or a mirror to sobering truth. We seek to comprehend its complexities, yet often, life is simple by nature.
33. If I use reason to guide my life, I must first acknowledge that I am flawed. A moment comes when vulnerability becomes conviction.
34. Life cannot resemble our dreams; it only carries the hope behind them. Life is a journey. We either accept it or abandon it, even without full understanding.
35. What we desire may not be what we need. What we crave may not benefit us. Some lesser things may be of greater good than those we esteem.
36. We can dwell in the boredom of existence or transcend into realms of creativity. We can rise to life’s challenges or remain lost in its dark corners.
37. Life is measured by experiences. To learn, we must free ourselves from burdens that hinder growth. “Sometimes you have to let go to see if there was anything worth holding on to,” said Socrates.
38. To be aware of our suffering is human. To ignore it is inhumane. We must suffer to know life, and be sad to know joy. Life is the full range of experience high and low, good and bad.
39. The Oracle grants the wisdom that transforms thinkers into philosophers, and those who inspire others. It is not a divine prophecy, but the face of a revolutionary philosophy.
40. “The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depend upon himself...has adopted the best plan for living happily,” said Plato.
41. Plato taught that a just individual is one in whom each part of the self performs its role without interfering with others. We choose whether to live in reality or in illusion.
42. Whatever I become, however I am remembered, the question remains: how shall I be understood by the world? Anaximander asked, “Who is there that could redeem you from the curse of coming-to-be?”
43. I seek the universal truth. I am an observer of this world and perceive what others overlook. We all possess the power to observe, but few comprehend true wisdom.
44. Patience is a virtue we all acknowledge, yet when lost, becomes our greatest flaw. We must learn patience to think clearly.
45. All sentient beings possess inherent, recognisable attributes. My persona is reflected in how I express myself.
46. Human life is a cycle of experiences tied to mortality. For some, these define their lives; for others, they are trivial.
47. Philosophy promotes self-awareness and self-control. We must contemplate those things relevant to daily life.
48. Expanding our minds with new, inventive thoughts nourishes us. Discovering what makes us happy steers us through obstacles.
49. Each joy in life equals each achievement. Life is not unjust; it is people and circumstances that are unjust. Understanding this begins true comprehension.
50. Until we realise that we can change the course of our life, we shall continue to linger in the repetitive cycle of stagnation and uncertainty provoked by our unawareness of the reasons that led us into this cycle to begin with, and by our failure to act.
51. When we are able to determine the purpose of our life, we facilitate the means of ascertaining that purpose. Life is not about reaching a certain point in time or a particular status. It is about appreciating the present moment and its fruition.
52. We tend to find comfort in the common things we understand and connect with in life. Life is not about epicaricacy or residing in an inexplicable vacivity. There is nothing immoral in philocaly, when we appreciate the virtue within it. It is when we become aesthetes that we forsake virtue and replace it with egotism.
53. There is a capability that we all possess, and that is the essence of life. To some, it is fulfilling; to others, onerous. Life is not meant to be perfect nor imperfect. Life is not discriminatory; it is people who are discriminatory.
54. When describing eunoia, its relevance is understood through the eupathy we express and how we express that eunoia. Philosophy is not solely about revealing the truth; it is about comprehending the truth in its absolute form when revealed.
55. Life presents a plethora of daily challenges and obstacles that we must discern and resolve. It is how we cope with them that reveals our ability to apply logic and find reasonable solutions.
56. To overcome the enigma surrounding the vetusty of life's mysteries, we must realise that there is much more to life than merely living and existing. This is when we begin to understand what life truly means.
57. A good cause in life is always inspiring and elevates the mind towards its potential. A bad cause, however, will disable the mind and its rational thinking. We should strive to be more coherent in our reasoning rather than compulsive.
58. Life can be perceived either as the measure of an illusion of truth or as a reflection of our reality. It is difficult to accept that we can instantiate a belief based on anthropism, or dismiss something in despair as nihilism.
59. Life is neither the blind faith of rapture nor the span of fate. Our experiences are merely a quantum of life meant to be perceived and consciously created. It is better to live a quality life than a quantity of life that is meaningless.
60. There is a clear distinction between pessimism and optimism. One reflects what we perceive as favourable, and the other as fatalistic. Both are common and both represent a state of mind.
61. It is always wiser not to overindulge in either pessimism or optimism, but to find a middle ground. What we enjoy need not depend on materiality. We should learn to find contentment in what we cherish, not in what we accumulate.
62. It is better to be poor in wealth than poor in self and humility. The Oracle teaches that humility is a characteristic we must never lose or compromise for the sake of material gain.
63. Suffering is merely one part of life; it should not define us. As people of reason and consciousness, we are capable of understanding our suffering and altering it.
64. In life, there are both predictable and unpredictable things. Until we fully comprehend this distinction, we will fail to grasp their significance and how they affect our lives.
65. Through transitivity, our experiences evolve into chapters. We either capture their essence or dismiss their value. Those who see life as intricate may continue down a complex path, while those who see its simplicity comprehend the essence of time.
66. Life may seem to hold hyponoias that remain insoluble, but we can attempt to previse what life represents in the mortal sense. Mortality is the semblance and essence of our chronological years upon Earth.
67. It is apodictic that we live for a certain time in our physical vessels that are our bodies, which have no true course other than the purpose of our mortality. Yet, our lives are not limited to that notion.
68. Life in its physical sense is indeed ephemeral, and mortality is conditional. Nevertheless, our lives encompass far more than our mortality alone.
69. Truly, no one can predict the immediate effects of something in life until there is understanding. To obtain such understanding, we must begin by recognising our fallibility.
70. Mortality, though a vulnerable state of being, denotes human limitation. By itself, it is devoid of thought and experience. It is a state of being, not a state of mind. We are born to live and to die. Nothing is impossible if feasibility exists.
71. Our lives are constantly reminded of mortality through the concatenation of past, present, and future. Each person experiences life’s quality through distinct episodes, whether positive or negative.
72. The Oracle represents the aspect of philosophy to which we can ascribe reasonable principles. Satisfaction, self-awareness, virtue, and self-acceptance all contribute to the harmony of body, mind, and self. These are explored through practice in philosophy.
73. It can be stated with certainty that life’s expansion is not defined by the years lived, but by the maturity gained. Time is endless, and thus, our mortal selves are but a façade of how we perceive who we are.
74. Plato once said, "It is a common saying, and in everybody's mouth, that life is but a sojourn." We should learn to live and appreciate life day by day, for we are not promised another.
75. Death is an illusion we fear and fail to recognise in its subtle form. Yet, death does not define life—we define life. Whatever pretext we use to describe it should be rationally understood. Why do we struggle to accept it?
76. We should understand that death is a natural part of the process that gave us birth. Imagine for a moment being in a dreamlike state, incapable of processing surrealism. Then, death becomes as ambiguous as the purpose it fulfils. Existence confirms life.
77. How often does the apprehension of death enhance our ability to distinguish between life and death? If we embrace such awareness, we will better discover the intrinsic nature of the self and its adaptation to life.
78. There is no absolute clarity in this world, only the ongoing resumption of our being and self. It is like realising one is in a never-ending dream, yet conscious within it.
79. What distinguishes this philosophy is the understanding it brings. A belief cannot be measured solely by its principles; it requires believers.
80. For every logical variable, there exists an opposite force operating paradoxically in life and the universe. Life and death may appear extrinsic in nature but are not extraneous in purpose or sequence.
81. Whatever intellectual notions we presume of life, we remain simple observers in a continuous process. We participate willingly or unwillingly.
82. Awareness affirms life’s true existence. Our resolution as human beings shapes the application of thought and logic. Plato said, "Those who intend on becoming great should love neither themselves nor their own things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by themselves or others."
83. To exist is not the same as to be, unless that perception is equally functional. Existence becomes relevant only when we are aware of life's manifestation.
84. The Oracle is not meant to deny death, but to acknowledge its premise. A concept is always best observed in the process of its effectiveness.
85. To attempt to understand life’s convoluted nature is to embrace our perceptive ability to distinguish reality. The extended notion of life is the vision of something not inconsequential.
86. Let us not forget that we are an integral part of this state of consciousness called life. Often, we believe in what we do not understand and differ in our divergent axioms and theories.
87. We are born with the seed of true knowledge and the capacity to develop it into flourishing wisdom. The Oracle is that wondrous origin transformed through process into wisdom.
88. From a single thought we have the power to create an idea, and from that idea form the principles of a belief which are a philosophy. It is not mere prerogative, but the culmination of universal sagacity.
89. Life is the renewal of self and the recognition of our consciousness and mind. In moments of active thought and opinion, we reveal what defines our character.
90. The tragedies of life are measured by the victims of vile oppression. Life is not oppression; humans oppress. Whether for amusement or gain, oppression does not define life’s essence.
91. There are as many good people as bad. We are all products of society, culture, belief, family, and above all humanity. We are meant to serve and be served justly, but few attain such merit and reconcile it with their reality.
92. Within society, some choose a good life, others a bad one. Social environments and background are principal factors in devious conduct.
93. Life may appear contingent on countless variables, yet this does not mean a person must remain oppressed or devious. That person may change their path if they so choose.
94. We must teach that no one is an expert on life, as each person lives according to their own perception. The pursuit of zoetic satisfaction is defined by how we understand and achieve it.
95. How can anyone claim their life is predestined if they have not yet lived to see its fulfilment or grasped its potential?
96. We may boldly claim life is predestined and believe it so, or reject that notion and recognise life as what we ultimately create from it.
97. To succeed in life, we must build a foundation of logic, ethics, and wisdom. We must strengthen the mind with knowledge, not weaken it with ignorance. Learning to distinguish necessity from excess is when philosophy becomes useful.
98. To achieve happiness, we must understand what brings us joy and realise that true felicity is not based on material things, but self-acceptance. It is wiser to nurture positive thoughts than be consumed by negativity, which are emotions that can be destructive.
99. Life is what we live and what we make of it. It is not meant to be only what we dream or desire, but what we construct and embody. Whether good or bad, it depends on how we live. We cannot anthropise the world and focus solely on ourselves. We must focus on that which is unible.
100. When conscious, it is better to simplify life with reason than to enrich it with vagueness. Then we can attach purpose to life. There is nothing illogical about being novaturient. Life is full of vicissitudes. To comprehend its true value, we must reach enlightenment.
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