An Edification by Epictetus: On Faith, Reason, Immanence, and Transcendentalism

Faith and Reason united, by Ludwig Seitz, circa 1887. Public Domain via Wikimedia

The Discourses by Epictetus

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Today's entry in Ryan Holiday's The Daily Stoic reads: "There is hardly an idea in Stoic philosophy that wouldn't be immediately agreeable to a child". This is how I feel about Epictetus' The Discourses. It all seems like so much common sense once argued in the written word. The Discourses is a transcription of Epictetus' various lectures, recorded by his student, Arrian. Once, my lectures on political economy were transcribed for an entire semester for a hearing-impaired student, and I recall reading my spoken words with a sense of awe: how was it that I could speak such things but could not readily put these same ideas on paper? It is a powerful way to record ideas. The parallels between Epictetus' Stoicism and Christianity, especially the New Testament, are remarkable. Many of the key gospel sayings are apparent in Epictetus; work. This is not a new discovery - many have demonstrated the links between Stoicism and the Abrahamic religions, with Thomas Aquinas apparently quoting Epictetus in City of God - but some links remain confusing. For instance, Epictetus constantly refers to "god" (as opposed to "God"), but he is not always referring to Zeus (except were the name Zeus is used explicitly). The absence of the other Greek and Roman gods gives me the impression (managing one's "impressions" is a large part of Stoic philosophy) that Epictetus was a monotheist. I have discovered links between the Stoics and Ralph Waldo Emerson, but there is a difference that is worthy of further investigation, which requires a study of Kant. Epictetus' "god" is "immanent", meaning: "being within the limits of possible experience and knowledge". This contrasts with Emerson's "transcendent" God, where "transcendence" is defined in the Kantian sense as "being beyond the limits of of all possible experience and knowledge". I find the distinction between the Transcendentalists and the Stoics to be somewhat difficult to comprehend. For Emerson, God was in each of us individually, but what was in us was also part of a greater God that we all shared. If the Stoics' immanent god is wholly within our experience, as in, one's "acting in accordance with nature", or, to put it another way, one's "acting in accordance with god" - or otherwise suffering the consequences which include unhappiness, to the point where suicide, not through personal trauma, but for one's inability to act in accordance with nature, is a legitimate Stoic "opt out" action - but at the same time, being human necessarily means sharing fellowship in accordance with nature, then is this not Transcendentalist? Clearly, a thorough reading of Kant is required to comprehend this distinction. Yet Epictetus provides, for me, the most thorough understanding of Stoic philosophy. It is probably necessary to have a firm grasp on the ideas of Heraclitus, the works of Homer, and at least a working knowledge of Epicurus and the Cynics, but otherwise, The Discourses comes close to a practical religious handbook. I mean this in the sense that The Handbook (Enchiridion) is like an overview of Stoic thought, whereas The Discourses fills in the spiritual dimensions of the philosophy. I have often cringed when reading Atheistic and science-reifying comments about religion, but Epictetus does no such thing. It is apparent that faith and reason are not incompatible, and Nietzsche was right in that "God is dead and we killed Him". I have often met academic colleagues who will state that racism has no place in Academe, in that it has no basis in reason; yet applying the same argument to religion is a bridge too far. Epictetus makes it clear that faith and reason go hand in hand, in that first principles of Stoic philosophy require an understanding that acting in accordance with god (or God, does it matter?) requires faith in the existence of a god, which without would mean that philosophy is built on shifting sands, in that if God does not exist then there is no meaning to life. To be sure, to cling dogmatically to any one interpretation of the first-principle god would be to challenge the philosophy built upon it, but if one were seeking to apply faith and reason in one sitting, then The Discourses is the most comprehensible philosophy to do just that. And this, to me, makes The Discourses one of the most useful, insightful, and edifying books I have ever read.

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On Women, Booze, and Bureaucracy: Bukowski's Post Office

Charles Bukowski. Photo by Carl via Flickr CC BY 2.0

Post Office by Charles Bukowski

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I knew nothing of Bukowski until his work was recommended to me, especially his poetry, but I opted for his first novel instead. I recall watching Mickey Rourke and Fay Dunaway in Barfly, but I was just out of high school and it bored me. I found Woody Allen movies to be boring, then, too. Today, Woody Allen's movies are my favourite, so it might be worth giving Mickey another chance soon. Post Office reads like a cross between Jack Kerouac and a beatnik version of John Steinbeck. The cover blurb suggests his punctuation is all over the shop, but aside from a few instances of bizarrely-placed periods, it wasn't as distracting as I thought. It was also meant to be a story about American low-lifes, but that, too, seemed to be a misnomer. The protagonist, Henry Chinaski, is an anti-hero par excellence. His womanising, boozing, and gambling may have been somewhat shocking in 1971, but by today's standards, his conventional vices are more Dean Martin than Ozzy Osbourne. Even Kerouac's Sal Paradise was more hard-core than Chinaski. I'd even go so far to say that Chinaski was a moralising anti-hero, with moments of compassion and Protestant-like work ethic interrupting his otherwise conventional shenanigans. At the same time, much like Burt Reynolds in the opening scene of The Longest Yard (1974), Chinaski isn't, let's say, very chivalrous. But then he is a dog-lover, so his crassness balances itself out somewhat. I couldn't put the book down and finished it in one sitting. There are some elements of unconventional literature, such as an entire chapter of official letters from the post office, but these are used cleverly and the reader will sympathise with Chinaski's boredom with bureaucracy. One gets the sense that Chinaski is not only physically missing while one reads this part, and the innovation serves its purpose well. I am not sure if I am ready to start reading poetry in detail, but this work, along with my current reading of Thomas Carlyle's On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History with one chapter devoted to Dante and Shakespeare focusing on "The Hero as Poet", has piqued my interest. If one can suspend current realities and overlook the attitudes of the past that are distasteful in the present, then the work is enjoyable. But what excites me is that this is Bukowski's first novel, written at age fifty. His protagonist is about my age now at the end of the book. Typically, the anti-hero has upset all the other characters by about age 30, and the masterpiece was authored by some 23 year-old genius. Rather, Bukowski leaves me with at least a sliver of hope that I haven't squandered my last 47 years entirely.

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Love in the Time of Hollywood

Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald 1921. Photo: Smithsonian Institution via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0

Magnetism by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This collection of short stories is #12 of Penguin's "Great Loves" series. It includes three I have not read before: The Sensible Thing, The Bridal Party, and Magnetism, along with the classic early flapper story, Bernice Bobs Her Hair. Published in 1928, these were the very early days of Hollywood, yet Magnetism captures the celebrity spirit in a way that is all too familiar today. One can imagine, however, the low-tech environment where famous actors still roamed the suburbs, startling elevator boys with their good looks and charm. Although Hemingway chastised Fitzgerald for writing short stories for money, instead of focusing on masterpieces like Tender is the Night, Fitzgerald's short stories are far from commercial ephemera that have lost their meaning in the present. It strikes me that the only difference is, back then, only the wealthy could experience such dramas as being considered dull and trying to project oneself as desirable, witty, and fun, whereas now almost any average consumer strives for the same thing. This is a very quick read, but Fitzgerald's work doesn't disappoint. It is only a shame that his short stories are scattered far and wide - as he would have delivered them to individual magazines in an effort to earn money - that a devoted Fitzgerald fan must constantly search for ever-more Fitzgerald stories to read. Nonetheless, part of the fun is discovering, from time to time, what seems to be an bottomless well of Fitzgerald ephemera still waiting to be discovered.

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On Social Media Living Up to its Promises with Raechel Johns

Associate Professor Raechel Johns

Associate Professor Raechel Johns is a marketing specialist and Head of the School of Management at the University of Canberra. Raechel and I have been colleagues for many years. We even starred in a marketing video about ten years ago. So I asked Raechel about social media and marketing and how I was disappointed that social media had not lived up to its early promises.

Is social media any good? Or has it been over-run by commercial interests?

Raechel talks about the Gartner Hype Cycle and the "trough of disillusionment", but also says that social media provides opportunities for building social capital, learning new ideas, and creating social value.

The podcast (and our video from many years ago) are below.

Forgetting to Remember Old Lessons Hard-Won, or: Read Emerson Now

Ralph Waldo Emerson's Study, circa 1888.
Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Nature and Other Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Finding the time to focus on this book has eluded me until recently. I find Emerson difficult to read at times as most of his essays read like transcripts of speeches (indeed, some of them are). He exudes "positive thinking" in the Norman Peale sense of the phrase, but with a transcendental bent that keeps on giving its spiritual encouragement. In each of Emerson's essays there is a gem of absolute truth, just waiting for us to confirm in our own experience (as he would probably say). But these gems tend to be packed away in wads and wads of cotton wool. It is not until the final essay (or, more correctly, speech), "The American Scholar", where the reader reaches the summit and can look back on a trail of wisdom marked by that same cotton wool. Emerson's ideas of self-reliance and the worthiness of the American ideal (in opposition to Continental ideas in particular) I suspect provide lessons for Australians that are just waiting to be learnt. America's cultural cringe has long disappeared from living memory and it may well be time for Australia to reach the same heady level. There is too much in such a short book to cover in detail, and each essay's gem must be mined laboriously (and as Emerson might say, there is nothing wrong with scholars doing a bit of physical labour). But two authors mentioned by Emerson stick in my mind. First, Thomas Carlyle (his work, too, I am stuck on due to a lack of focus and will get back to it now), mentioned in the cover blurb as someone Emerson met during his travels to Europe, and Swedenborg, and his ground-breaking "Heaven and Hell". Emerson comes close to enunciating how one might find one's "nature" (in the Stoic sense of the word) as a starting point for action. For this alone it is worth knowing. But also, his statement about the role of colleges (p. 154) has given me a way to re-align my teaching strategy. The travails of the present really were no different to the past; we seem rather to have forgotten to remember old lessons hard-won.

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SkyMuster or ADSL: Whither Gunning's connected future?

When will we know?  Times ticking away...
Picture Credit: Pixabay-geralt CC0

Good news! Today I received an email from the the Member for Hume's office, which read the following: "There is no ADSL switch off for FW [fixed wireless] or Satellite services". Updated 19th October 2017.

There has been much talk about the future of ADSL in Gunning, but little is known about the future state once SkyMuster is introduced. Will the ADSL services be cut off? We don't know. When might this happen? We don't know.

I am a firm believer that our rights as citizens are meaningless unless we "actualise" them, so I decided to write to my local representatives and ask them.

My letter to the Mayor and Councillors of the Upper Lachlan Shire Council asking for clarification of this matter is below:

Dear Mayor and Councillors,

I am writing to ask Council to provide some clarification about the future of internet services in Gunning. While I am aware that this is a federal issue, poor internet services do have an impact on economic development in villages like Gunning. There is also a precedent for councils to negotiate better internet connection services with NBN Co.

In the above article, Bellingen Shire Council in NSW was able to obtain a modification to NBN Co's technology used to deliver internet services in their shire.

There is much confusion about the services that NBN Co will be providing to the village of Gunning. At present, many residents enjoy a high standard of internet services, with Telstra, for example, offering ADSL connection speeds of approximately 17mbps and data download limits of up to 1,000GB for around $120 per month. This far exceeds what most users require, and as a heavy internet user for my work purposes, the service as it is now is more than adequate.

However, it is my understanding that when SkyMuster's satellite services become available in Gunning, the ADSL services will be switched off, and residents will be forced on to SkyMuster's inferior satellite service. This will mean a less-reliable service, with speeds of around 7mbps and monthly download limits of around 120GB at about $160 per month. But these figures are misleading in that 60GB of the download allowance is only available between 1am and 7am. This would mean that many residents in the Shire will not have adequate internet services, especially for those who rely on a reliable internet connection for their employment.

There is an issue here in that Gunning residents (and other residents in the Shire), will have contributed to the cost of the NBN through federal taxes, but may end up with an inferior and costlier internet service than that which is already operational.

I am asking Council to provide some clarification on the future of ADSL services in Gunning, and, if it is the case that SkyMuster services are to replace ADSL in Gunning and other villages in the Shire, that Council lobby NBN Co to ensure that the rollout of the NBN, and SkyMuster in particular, does not disadvantage Shire residents in relation to currently available services. This situation presents Council with a problem for employment and the local economy, issues which are clearly within local council's responsibilities for economic development.

Nevertheless, if ADSL services are not to be switched off, I ask that Council confirm this with NBN Co, and advise residents accordingly, to alleviate the current uncertainty over the future of internet services in the Shire.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Michael de Percy.

Hopefully I will have something to report back soon!

I ought? I owe it to Whom?

The Great Day of His Wrath by John Martin, circa 1851. Public Domain via Wikimedia.

The Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The word ought has its origins in the word owe. Whether or not this relationship survives translation I don't know, but why let semantics get in the way of a good idea. Reading Beyond Good and Evil before attempting this follow-up work would be the more logical option. But I doubt one can simply dip one's toe in to Nietzsche anyway - it is a case of diving in head first and trying to make sense of the turmoil. Nietzsche's racism reflects the tone of the times, and there is plenty of conflicting views to support the argument that his sister re-construed his work to fit comfortably with the Nazis. But in the end I felt Nietzsche's racism was as relevant to Nazism as Jack London's. It is interesting that he seems to support women's rights (remembering that J.S. Mill's On the Subjection of Women was published 18 years before), planes the edges off his Orientalism with Buddhism and Brahmanism, and doesn't appear so overjoyed at the "death of God" as Atheist's gleefully point out. Indeed, Nietzsche makes a point of saying that science is a more advanced form of the "ascetic ideal". The back cover of the work sums up Nietzsche's thesis as "culture and morality, rather than being eternal verities, are human-made". This is an oversimplification that reduces the depth of his work. Far be it for me to be an apologist for Nietzsche - the "intellectual" gatekeepers would never let such work be published today - but the brilliance is in its originality. To comprehend the thesis adequately, prior reading of Buddhism, Luther, Brahmanism, Kant, Spinoza, Goethe, Feuerbach, and Schopenhauer would be helpful but is not essential. However, a knowledge of the classics (at least Plato) is important. Nietzsche final words are that "man will wish Nothingness rather than not wish at all". I immediately thought of the maxim "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail". Probably the most useful idea from this work is that one needs to go back to first principles in establishing a philosophy - does or can truth exist? - (and even if we don't care to consciously develop a philosophy, the shepherds of the "herd mentality" will provide one for us without our knowledge or consent), and Nietzsche does so by regularly referring back to "Heracleitus" and Hesiod. I have already picked up the scent of the pre-Socratics and their importance in understanding the human-created chasm between philosophy and religion (and more recently, but less convincingly, between science and religion), and Nietzsche confirms this clue. Rather than the über-power of pre-Enlightenment Christian church and its priesthood driving the herd, Nietzsche foresaw ("forsooth"?) the pluralism of modern asceticism (which annoys me on Facebook, Twitter, and the news media any time I look). Admittedly, he was optimistic about this future, but then he didn't know what "the Internet" would say about him (how I loathe that saying!). So why don't I see the ascetic for what it is and just get off Facebook once again? Well. it's the guilt, you see. But you can't blame me - I didn't create it (Facebook or the guilt).

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What we do in life echoes in eternity, or: There is much to learn from the pre-Socratic philosophers

Héraclite by Johannes Moreelse, c. 1630 (Public Domain vie Wikimedia).

The Fragments of Heraclitus by Heraclitus

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The introduction to this work is inevitably longer than the fragments themselves. What survives is a mish-mash of various interpretations and I daresay unreliable sources. What strikes me about the pre-Socratics, and Heraclitus specifically, is the melding of religion and reason in a way that the West would not mention when the modern cultural monolith seeks its origins in a part of the world where it is fine to claim mythic philosophical ancestry, yet it is despised when one's pedigree is pure. On the first page of the fragments, Heraclitus mentions the trouble with those who will not learn:

"III. - ...Those who hear and do not understand are like the deaf. Of them the proverb says: "Present, they are absent,"

IV. — Eyes and ears are bad witnesses to men having rude souls.

V. — The majority of people have no understanding of the things with which they daily meet, nor, when instructed, do they have any right knowledge of them, although to themselves they seem to have.

VI. — They understand neither how to hear nor how to speak.

This is not entirely a Western idea, for indeed, Confucius said, “When you see that [students] do something wrong, give them sincere and friendly advice, which may guide them to the right way; if they refuse to accept your advice, then give it up”.

Reading Heraclitus leads me to Pythagoras as my next venture into pre-Socratic philosophy, and also to Hesiod's Theogony. It would seem that there is much to learn from this period of history, and how it echoes down through the ages. 

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Practising Stoic Philosophy

Practising Stoic Philosophy at the Gunning Library. 7th October 2017. Photo by Leslie Bush.

After reading on Trove about the various lectures that have been conducted in Gunning from at least the 1880s, I wondered if there was still an appetite for such lofty pursuits in the Gunning of the 2010s? And after a surprising response via the Gunning Community Facebook group, it seems there is!

During my recent long service leave, I began reading a number of books on Stoicism, and I have embarked on a cover-to-cover reading of the Great Books. As a political scientist, I have always believed that a liberal education is essential to a healthy liberal democracy. Of late, the Great Books have fallen out of favour in our education system, and so too has our faith in our political system.

I have always been inspired by Robert Hutchins' (of the University of Chicago and the person responsible for the Great Books education system which is seeing a revival in the United States) idea of The Great Conversation.  

In the Gunning Library today, librarian Peta Luck made an important observation: Libraries are essential to democracy. And she is right.

So when fifteen people attended the two workshops (on 7th and 10th October) to discuss Practising Stoic Philosophy, it was pleasing to discover that there is so much more to love about Gunning. Many people are interested in the history of their family, their family's military history, or their house, but philosophy? At least three percent of Gunning's population provided the empirical evidence: an emphatic "yes"!

In the lecture, I drew upon some of the ideas I have developed in teaching leadership. My favourite textbook for leadership is by James Clawson, of the University of Virginia, who defines leadership as "the ability to manage energy first in yourself and then in others". Stoic philosophy begins its focus with the individual, too (as does a liberal education), so there are many parallels. 

I also mentioned Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, a 1980s classic. Covey said our attention is often divided between our circle of influence (e.g. our families and local communities) and our circle of concern (Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un). If we expend most of our energy in our circle of concern, it will be difficult to bring about any positive changes in our circle of influence (another Stoic-like concept).

Next, we looked at a brief history of Stoicism. I spoke about the idea of education as a transformational experience, where we learn and grow as we are exposed to new ideas, new ways of thinking, and the assumptions and beliefs we have inherited are challenged by our own reasoning. If, of course, we choose to do so. An age-old problem for many people is that, even when the evidence is indisputable, individuals will cling to their prior assumptions and beliefs.

Heraclitus (circa 500BCE), taken from Fragments, noticed that this was a common problem for many (Confucius said, “When you see that [students] do something wrong, give them sincere and friendly advice, which may guide them to the right way; if they refuse to accept your advice, then give it up”). Further, Socrates (circa 399BCE), suggested that "the unexamined life is not worth living" (which appeared in Plato's Apology, but attributed to Socrates, which is disputed, of course). The point is, it is up to the individual. But how does one know?

The Stoics suggested that happiness could be found in the virtuous life. I introduced two approaches to understanding "virtue". Aristotle (circa 350BCE), in his Nicomachean Ethics, outlined the idea of finding the "Golden Mean" in twelve virtues. But a more practical way to assess one's "virtues" is to consider Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, where he outlines his thirteen virtues and his 13 Week Program for living a virtuous life. This entails keeping a schedule and a diary and self-assessing on a daily basis. More about "journaling" later. I gave this a bash over two 13-week periods and it is quite effective, at least in identifying one's weaknesses in this regard.

Then to a brief history of Stoicism. Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Citium. Only second-hand sources, written years after the event, particularly the work by Diogenes Laertius, The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, remain. But the focus of the session was largely on the three Roman Stoics: Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius.

When I teach leadership, it is underpinned by a simple philosophy. Leaders are either born or one can learn to be a leader. The jury is out on whichever is "right". But as I teach leadership, my philosophy, logically, must be that one can learn to be a leader. If I didn't subscribe to this "philosophy", then I couldn't teach leadership. Simple.

The "simple" philosophy that underpins Stoicism is this (from Epictetus):

Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

But how does that help us? Well, try these. What do you first see?

Duck or rabbit?

Old woman or young woman?

Imagine if you were unable to change your first "opinion" or "impression" or "perception" of what the pictures above represent? There are two possible ways to comprehend what you see. For Marcus Aurelius, "external things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now". Imagine if you were stuck with your first opinion of everything? As they say, "first impressions last".

So Stoics see things in terms of good, bad, or indifferent. Only our actions (which are the only things we can really control) can be good or bad. Everything else is beyond our control. Our response can be good or bad, but one should be "indifferent" to the external event. Not uncaring, not unsympathetic, simply indifferent.

Stoics see the externals as opportunities to practice our virtues. Like with learning; if we are never challenged, we never grow. For Marcus Aurelius: "Choose not to be harmed — and you won't feel harmed. Don't feel harmed — and you haven't been". External things are beyond our control, but we can control how we react.

The best way to do this is to slow down the process of managing our impressions, or interpreting how we perceive external events. Journaling is the best way to do this...

• Marcus Aurelius journaled every morning to prepare for the day ahead. The book Meditations is what survives as his journal. It was never meant to be a book for public viewing as far as we know. 
• Seneca journaled every evening to reflect on the lessons of the day.
• For Ryan Holiday, the young powerhouse who has recently published The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is the Enemy, and The Daily Stoic, journaling is Stoicism. 

The daily process is most important – self-mastery happens over time, not in an instant. Think of how today you probably jumped in the car, backed out of the driveway and drove off to work. All without a single thought about how to drive or what to do - it all happened naturally.

Then think back to the first time you sat behind the wheel of a car. It wasn't simple, it was a long process of learning, step by step, until eventually it became second nature. Journaling facilitates the same process, but it is an intellectual process, rather than physical.

We then looked at a number of Stoic techniques. Rather than go over these in detail, have a look at Ryan Holiday's website The Daily Stoic, where you will find all sorts of techniques and resources.

So the next time someone cuts you off in traffic, control your impressions. It is not good or bad, it is external and beyond your control. So choose to be indifferent. If you get angry and stew about it all day, the Stoics say you choose to do so. Choose different.

-----------------------------------------------------------

I wish to thank Peta and Maree at the Gunning Library for making the seminars possible, Vanessa Mackay for rounding up the troops, the Gunning community for being so interested and supportive, and the talented Leslie Bush who is nothing less than superhuman in her ability to make things happen. The lessons I have learnt will be drawn upon next year when I teach a new subject at the University of Canberra entitled Political Leadership, where I will cover the Stoics as part of political leadership in Ancient Greece and Rome. 

The following books on Stoicism will be available for loan from the Gunning Library in the next couple of weeks:

• Letters from a Stoic - Seneca
• Discourses - Epictetus
• Meditations - Marcus Aurelius

You can also find many classic texts online for free at archive.org. If you want a really quick read that covers the basics of Stoic philosophy, try Epictetus' Enchiridion (The Handbook). Some of the books I had on display at the seminar are shown below. These titles are all available for purchase via The Book Depository. And to top it all off, next week is Stoic Week!

Some useful books. Photos by Vanessa Mackay.

Vintage ephemera, or: Even the 1880s had B-grade horror

The Nightmare by John Henry Fuseli, 1781

The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Wilkie Collins has apparently written better books than this, and given he was a friend of Charles Dickens, he certainly moved in literary circles. The story builds up well, but the finale is a retelling of the murderous plot (that by this stage one could have guessed) that is retold in the form of a proposal for a play by the evil protagonist (or at least the first person we meet in the story). The "haunting" is rather light-weight, and the ending asks the reader is "there any explanation of the mystery of your own life and death?" What does this mean? Is this a B-grade novel from the 1880s? It would seem so. Like Downton Abbey meets a PG-rated horror movie. Like any period horror movie where the build-up is ruined by the sight of the evil spirit or alien. It was scary until the spectre is revealed and then the climax is a slow-paced decline into lameness. It has some entertainment value, and some historical value, but the experience is ephemeral and rather wasted on the modern reader.

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On Our Taste in Music and Sociological Explanations with Michael Walsh

Dr Michael Walsh, Sociologist at the University of Canberra

Dr Michael Walsh is a sociologist at the University of Canberra. I asked Michael how sociology explains our musical preferences, what our preferences say about us, and about the future of music in a market-driven, high-tech world.

Michael mentions two sociological greats who have waded in on the discussion of music in society, Max Weber and Theodor Adorno. 

When it comes to sociological explanations of music in society, I was curious about the following:

• What is sociology? What does it mean to be a sociologist? How does music fit in with sociology? Is there such a thing as “Sociomusicology” and what is it?
• What did Max Weber have to do with the "Sociology of Music"?
• Pierre Bourdieu argued, “nothing more clearly affirms ones ‘class,’ nothing more infallibly classifies, than tastes in music”. Bourdieu was like an individual publishing machine. Can we trust his judgement or is it true? I like Rose Tattoo and AC/DC, but I love John Adams, Mahler, and Brahms, not to mention Woody Allen soundtracks and Bob Dylan. Does that all mean I am a cashed-up booner?
• Why did you get into the sociology of music, and what music do you like and why? Do you see yourself enjoying the music you like on the basis of the European critical theory, or is it based on rational choice theory? And if someone listens to Katy Perry, are they an economist’s persona waiting to buy the next contrived musician? Or is that just my new-found class status speaking?

The curly questions about European critical theory and rational choice theory and how these relate to music were ring-ins. In my Google searching (not research) about the sociology of music, I found these two terms and just threw them into the interview. Michael took this in his stride.

On Narcissism or: How I learned to stop narking and love other narcissists

Echo and Narcissus by John William Waterhouse, 1903.
Public Domain via Wikimedia.

Rethinking Narcissism: The Secret to Recognizing and Coping with Narcissists by Craig Malkin

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I discovered Craig Malkin’s work in Psychology Today. On subscribing to the magazine, I couldn’t help but think political science might have done the same thing. Psychology Today is a model for other disciplines of how to get their research out into the broader community in an easily digestible way. That’s not to say that I enjoy reading research results that are all presented as lists, i.e., “if you have these five characteristics you are an arsehole” – this becomes rather dull at times – but it does enable me to apply tools and learn about concepts in psychology that I would otherwise not have the training to comprehend appropriately.

Rethinking Narcissism is useful for self-analysis and for coping with others. The Narcissism Test was useful. I recall the first time I encountered the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test in 1992, during a semester of “Character-Building”, a third-class module at the Royal Military College, Duntroon. I scored an extreme ENTJ (extraversion-intuition-thinking-judgment) – “The Commander”. I undertook the test again in 2001 and found I was slightly less extreme, less again in 2007, and since 2014 I occasionally score as an INTJ (introversion), but the NTJ types are still quite strong. Over time I have learnt to relax, to hold my tongue (when I am not ramming it down my throat), and to be patient, less aggressive, and less competitive. So, when I scored 7 on the narcissism spectrum (this is not too good – a five is ideal), I was not surprised but it made sense that from my teens until my forties I was easily in the extremely unhealthy narcissist range.

Malkin’s idea of narcissism as a spectrum was quite useful. When I left the military, I recall saying to my former CO, then a colonel, that I was sick of everything being so ego-driven (so said the young man who had been top of his cohort since Duntroon until leaving the Regular Army, a complete “thruster” if ever there was one and all at the expense of everyone around him). But the good colonel said to me that there was a bit of ego in everything, and it could be good. But off I went to join The Salvation Army, thinking it was circumstantial rather than me that was the issue (as you do). There have been several others who have recognised my philosophical struggles over the years and their insights were enlightening. Likewise, Malkin speaks to me in a way that makes it OK to be a narcissist sometimes, but to find a healthy balance in doing so.

On reading Malkin’s work, I can see I have much work to do. But now I also have a few tools to deal with the narcissists who surround me. Reading this work was similar to reading BIFF. One feels awkward reading about a scale of something rather than the binary “you suck – you’re awesome!” nonsense that drives most things in contemporary society. But Malkin echoes the words of the good colonel and for that alone it was worth the read. As for Goodreads’ rating system, I find it difficult to give such books a high score. Were they useful? Yes. Will I use the concepts? Yes. Does this strike me like Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice or Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast? Not really. So while my rating of this and other books is low, it is only in the company of the great literature I am reading. A separate ratings category for classics versus self-help books might be useful; regrettably, until such time I must rate books in the company they keep. But don’t let that stop you from reading this favourite from Oprah’s Book Club!

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