Aloha, PhiloSurfer!
One. Two.
One. Two.Three. Four.
Imagine there’s no choppy
It’s easy if you try
No coral reefs below us
Above us, only glide
Imagine all the surfers
Sharing sets with grace, yoo-hoo
Imagine there’s no locals
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to drop-in or yell at
And no snaking, too
Imagine all the surfers
Riding waves in peace
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be saltwater fun
Cosmopolitan: Drink or Think?
Some dude asked Socrates where he was from. As usual, his answer was groundbreaking and left everyone extremely intrigued:
“I am not an Athenian or a Greek.”
What??
“I’m a cosmopolitan.”
Of course, he didn’t answer in English.
He did it in classic Greek.
He said something like “I’m κοσμοπολίτης” (cosmopolitēs).
Where:
- “κόσμος” (kosmos), meaning “world” or “universe”, and
- “πολίτης” (politēs), meaning “citizen.”
Cosmopolitan. A citizen of the world.
An Athenian with a global perspective. 5th-Century BC. Not bad, huh?
Socrates transcended the idea of being tied exclusively to a specific nation or culture and emphasized a sense of belonging to humanity as a whole.
Circles of Trust. Right, Greg?
A few days later (some 2.5 centuries), Hierocles further developed the idea of being a citizen of the cosmos by encouraging his students to address strangers as ‘brothers’ & ‘sisters.’
Not too different from what surfers do, isn’t it?
He also drew a series of concentric circles, starting with the self in the center. Then your bros, your surfing buddies, the locals, and finally, all surfers.
What Hierocles was telling us is to widen our circle of trust. If you only trust your buddies, try to trust the other locals. If you trust them, try to trust all surfers.
Not easy. I know.
We hear all the time: “Don’t trust anyone.”
But let me tell you a couple of things.
- First, that’s not possible.
- Second, if we don’t trust our neighbors, living in democratic societies will be impossible.
You know, rust never sleeps.
This call is to do the exact opposite:
Always expand your circle of trust!!
In other words:
Accept Gaylord Focker back, Robert De Niro!
As usual, philosophers overthink and have a hard time explaining themselves (like me now). Then poets nail it with a few precise and captivating words.
Like Terence:
“𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝘂𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲.”
His circle of trust encompassed all humanity.
Because, deep down, we’re fundamentally alike.
Take a breath to reflect on that.
And now look.
Anthropological Universals:
– Joking.
– Tool-making.
– Creating myths.
– Figurative speech.
– Abstract reasoning.
– Keeping track of time.
– Having a concept of soul.
– Conscious altering techniques.
All cultures have them. They’re called the “anthropological universals”; customs, patterns, traits, or institutions that are common to all human cultures worldwide. There are hundreds of them. Literally.
In short, these are things that make us all the same.
Take for a moment 3 examples from the surfing:
– Joking: We all make fun of different situations. May it be that adrenaline-fuelled screaming alpha-male gorilla, the overtalkative lineup acquaintance, or that kook that slid in the parking lot taking off the wetsuit balancing on top of a rock.
– Figurative speech: “I’m so stoked, man. Sick barrels today. Before the gnarly wipeout, I was in the green room for a long time. Then I was caught in for ages, bro.”
– Conscious altering techniques: On top of the dopamine-oxytocin-serotonin-endorphin cocktail that surfing mixes and serves to the brain, many surfers use other ways to alter their consciousness. May it be mindful meditation, breath work, or substances, we all thrive for a little time off our inner critics.
Give Peace a Chance
If you still don’t believe me, be a rebel.
Contrarian to what the powerful ones want–which is exactly that you don’t trust anybody. That we all live in bubbles. Inside our deafening echo chambers.
Polarization, division, war.
They are all spared by a lack of trust in each other. We deny even the possibility of engaging in calm deliberations & enriching debates.
What the f*ck?
That’s basically what Blaise Pascal was thinking when he wrote these wise words:
“Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarrelled with him?”
But today, some still believe that they should kill their fellow brothers and sisters.
How is that even possible???
So:
You Pick…
If you were to choose, what would you prefer:
Being a citizen of your house? Your living room? Your basement?
Or being a citizen of the whole world? A real cosmopolitan?
I have no doubts about it.
But in case you still don’t trust me, I leave you with one of my favorite quotes of all time (pretty unknown, I must say).
It was engraved on stone by a follower of Epicurus a very long time ago. A sort of a very old & very long graffiti:
“The various divisions of the land give each people a distinct homeland. But the inhabited world offers all men capable of friendship with only one common house: the Earth.”
Sing along, brothers & sisters.
Altogether Now
Imagine no obsessions
I wonder if you can
No need for brands or sponsors
A brotherhood of sand
Imagine all the surfers
Sharing all the breaks
Ahhh
You may say I’m a ripper
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the lineup will be as one
(If you made it all the way to here, thanks!)
Aloha, my trustworthy friend!
