According to
stoicism, one’s life was to be spent gaining mastery over one’s passions and
responses, cultivating the attitude of indifference, and aligning oneself with
the cosmic force that was ultimately determinative of the events of one’s life,
which could be observed in the harmonious operations of nature. In
conflict with the Hebrew position that humans were created in the image of the
Creator God, and a celebration of the God-like attributions of humanity,
stoicism sought to suppress human emotions. This would lead to the
attainment of virtue, which was observed as a detachment from all worldly
concerns. At death then, in accordance with the negative view of the physical
world and its concerns, it was believed that the body would separate from the
soul, existing momentarily in independence before being absorbed into the
universal divine force that was known as “logos.”
Accordingly, the
supreme god was not personal in any sense at all, and was to be identified in
the orderliness of creation, much like a painter is identified by his
paintings. Stoic belief, though based upon the presupposition that the
natural world is inferior, can be identified as a monotheistic pantheism, which
looks at everything within the natural order as being part of the one
god. Though this deification of nature appears to contradict the idea
that the physical world is inferior, once one understands that the natural
world is overlaid with the spiritual, therefore superseding the
natural/physical component, it serves to demonstrate the consistency of the
belief structure. This, of course, stands in opposition to the Hebrew and
subsequently Jesus-as-Messiah-based Hebrew (Christian) view of the Creator God
and the world.
On the other end of
the philosophical spectrum against which Hebraic thought competed and which
also was a dominant force in the world into which Christianity and its
Hebrew-rooted, Resurrection-of-Christ-based claims concerning the Creator God’s
rule and renewal of His once-good creation was introduced, stood the school of
Epicureanism. As part of its ethos of de-confirming the world and the
value of the created order in favor of the spiritual, it ironically suggested
an attachment to the world in which one found oneself, making the most of what
was ultimately an existence of futility.
The essence of its
teaching called for a devotion to the pursuit of personal happiness which led
to the avoidance of pain. This was not a call to a complete hedonism, as
an absolute hedonism could eventually lead to suffering, which was obviously to
be avoided. Rather, life was to be spent pursuing pleasure primarily
through food, drink, and sexual union (let us eat, drink, and be merry, for
tomorrow we die), with peace of mind being achieved through this particular
model that was labeled as virtuous.
Clearly, this
philosophy rejects the idea that there is a grand narrative into which humans
have been inserted and in which they play a part, which is a component of the
disavowal of the inherent goodness of the created order. The created
order is only good insofar as it is a means to experience pleasure during this
exceedingly short sojourn of physical existence. Upon death, the person,
both body and soul, would dissolve and existence would cease. Again,
clearly, this leaves no room for resurrection. The dissolution of the
person, in body and in soul, continues to lend itself to the idea that there is
no ultimate value to the physical. Consequent to this outlook on life and
death, a famous epicurean statement is “Death is nothing to us.”
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