0:05 [SPEAKER_00]: George Diburn, who we profiled in our last episode, was a really nice guy, and he was easy to like, but I think you're going to love Diogenes, okay maybe you won't love him, love him, or even like him very much, but you're going to like him, at least a little, because he's like a funnier, smarter version, of your most anti-social impulses, run wild. 0:31 [SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't particularly nice, and he lacked diverse, naive idealism, but he was a genius, a legend, a maverick, and also kind of an idiot all at once. 0:46 [SPEAKER_00]: You might think of Diogenes as the misfit of all misfits, the godfather of all those rejects. 0:53 [SPEAKER_00]: who defy the norms of traditional society and put the rest of us on trial for our conventional suburban lifestyles. 1:02 [SPEAKER_00]: In contrasted with the earnest, a relatively humorless manifestos of Diburn, Diogenes is a breath of fresh air. 1:11 [SPEAKER_00]: He was born in Senop, in modern day Turkey. 1:15 [SPEAKER_00]: when it was under Greek control and 412 BC. 1:20 [SPEAKER_00]: At a time when the best for Alasifers were public celebrities, think of a combination of Kardashian fame and the respect given to a physicist like Stephen Hawking. 1:31 [SPEAKER_00]: So it makes sense that when Alex and Indra of Macedonia also known as Alex and Indra the Great, visited Diogenes' final hometown, Corinth, toward the end of his life, 1:46 [SPEAKER_00]: The encounter that followed would be one of the more memorable and both men's lives. 1:52 [SPEAKER_00]: And a bit baffling for Alexander is seemed to intimidate pretty much everyone, but this rogue Corinthian sage. 2:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Before we get to that, you should know that the two men had a history. 2:06 [SPEAKER_00]: Diogenes had been captured by Alexander's dad, King Philip II, during a bloody campaign in Greece. 2:14 [SPEAKER_00]: Philip had heard rumors that Diogenes was spying for his enemies and confronted the philosopher with charges of espionage that would have warranted his execution. 2:25 [SPEAKER_00]: Diogenes were smanted by simply saying, I most certainly am a spy-fillip, I spy on your absence of wisdom and common sense, which is the only thing forcing you to go and gamble your kingdom in your life in a single moment. 2:41 [SPEAKER_00]: After that, Philip left him alone. 2:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he was convinced no actual spy would talk like this, or maybe he realized Diogenes was too eloof and independent 2:54 [SPEAKER_00]: or maybe kings just have a small soft spot for that kind of bravado. 3:00 [SPEAKER_00]: In any event, Diogenes was off the hook. 3:03 [SPEAKER_00]: At his next encounter, with the Argyrd, would be with Philip's son, the legendary conqueror of worlds, balancing into the great. 3:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Alexander seemed to share his father's soft spot for accentrics and made it a point to locate Diogenes on his long trip to his hometown. 3:26 [SPEAKER_00]: When the warrior king found the philosopher, he was sleeping outside in the middle of the day. 3:32 [SPEAKER_00]: At the time, Alexander was arguably the most powerful man in the world, his kingdom stretched from Africa to India, and throughout his life he won every single battle he ever commanded. 3:44 [SPEAKER_00]: His fame and glory have been rivaled by maybe a handful of people in history. 3:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Even today, millennia later, we call him the Great. 3:54 [SPEAKER_00]: When he woke the sleeping Corinthian, out of respect for the older man, he asked if there was anything he might do for him, with the greatest kingdom in the world at his disposal. 4:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Diogenes responded, Yes, you can move about three feet to the left, you're blocking the sunlight. 4:13 [SPEAKER_00]: in just in case the king hadn't realized how unimpressed he was, with all his wealth and power. 4:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Diogenes distracted himself, within the nearby pile of human bones, instead of paying attention to his famous guest. 4:28 [SPEAKER_00]: When Alexander asked what he was doing, Diogenes responded, 4:38 [SPEAKER_00]: The whole episode was a bit jarring, but Alexander was not a petty person. 4:44 [SPEAKER_00]: He was a genius, too, of a more conventional kind, and greatness recognizes greatness. 4:51 [SPEAKER_00]: He quieted the outrage of his servants and said to them, if I were not Alexander, I would want to be Diogenes, to which Diogenes replied, even if I were Alexander, 5:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Diogenes wasn't saying he was the better person. 5:12 [SPEAKER_00]: He wanted Alexander to know that his life of poverty made him happier than Alexander's power and prestige ever could. 5:20 [SPEAKER_00]: He wanted Alexander to know that all the glory and all the money in the world would never satisfy his deepest longing, would never make him whole. 5:30 [SPEAKER_00]: So when Alexander offered him the world, Diogenes essentially declined. 5:36 [SPEAKER_00]: And Alexander knew a deep down that Diogenes was right, which is why he said what he did. 5:43 [SPEAKER_00]: This one exchange goes a long way to framing the philosophy of this singular person. 5:48 [SPEAKER_00]: He lived in poverty with no possessions, and barely any clothes. 5:54 [SPEAKER_00]: He spent most of his life in the streets and lived the life of a slave and a baker, believing that true happiness and contentment has nothing to do with status or material 6:06 [SPEAKER_00]: A later philosopher, who is a fan of Diogenes, a Bictetus. 6:10 [SPEAKER_00]: Summed up his hero's idea of what it means to be a good philosopher. 6:16 [SPEAKER_00]: It is his duty, then, to be able with a loud voice, to say like socrates, men, to wear are you hurried? 6:25 [SPEAKER_00]: What are you doing, rinsures? 6:27 [SPEAKER_00]: You seek for prosperity and happiness. 6:31 [SPEAKER_00]: Where they are not, and if another shows you where they are, you do not believe him. 6:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Why do you seek it in the body? 6:40 [SPEAKER_00]: It is not there, and possessions? 6:42 [SPEAKER_00]: It is not there. 6:44 [SPEAKER_00]: but if you do not believe me, look at creases. 6:48 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at those who are now rich with what lamentations their life is filled. 6:54 [SPEAKER_00]: In power, it is not there. 6:57 [SPEAKER_00]: What do the powerful say? 6:59 [SPEAKER_00]: Hear them when they grow, when they grieve, when on account of their glory and splendor, they think that they are more wretched and in greater danger. 7:10 [SPEAKER_00]: is it in royal power? 7:12 [SPEAKER_00]: It is not. 7:14 [SPEAKER_00]: If it were, Nero would have been happy and Zardinapolis, but neither was Agaminlan happy. 7:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Though he was a better man than Zardinapolis and Nero. 7:28 [SPEAKER_00]: What then is the matter with you? 7:30 [SPEAKER_00]: That part of you, whatever it is, has been neglected by you and is corrupted. 7:36 [SPEAKER_00]: The part with which we desire, with which we avoid, 7:40 [SPEAKER_00]: with which we move toward and move from things. 7:44 [SPEAKER_00]: What kind of people are your enemies? 7:46 [SPEAKER_00]: wise or foolish, if they are wise, why do you fight them? 7:51 [SPEAKER_00]: If they are fools, why do you care about them? 7:55 [SPEAKER_00]: So much of Diogenese philosophy is refreshing common sense. 8:00 [SPEAKER_00]: The things we spend so much of our lives chasing meant nothing to him. 8:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Reputation didn't matter to him at all, and in spite of all of that, he appears to have reached a rare level of authentic contentment. 8:14 [SPEAKER_00]: But while Alexander claimed to want to be Diogenes, few others would desire that privilege. 8:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Diogenese life was full of hardships, and lacked almost all of the material comforts the rest of us require. 8:31 [SPEAKER_00]: For many years and Athens, he slept outdoors in a large clay, wine jar. 8:37 [SPEAKER_00]: And his personal relationships were often strained. 8:40 [SPEAKER_00]: His hatred of pretence, and fancy philosophizing had a way of putting him at odds with other philosophers. 8:50 [SPEAKER_00]: When Plato, arguably the greatest of all philosophers, we refer to men as featherless bipeds. 8:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Diogenes carried a plucked chicken into the center of his famous academy, and announced, behold, I have brought you a man. 9:08 [SPEAKER_00]: The academy quickly changed its definition of a human being to include the claws with broad, flat nails to avoid further mockery. 9:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Plato referred to Diogenes simply, as Socrates gone mad. 9:25 [SPEAKER_00]: And at times, he certainly looked like he had lost his mind. 9:29 [SPEAKER_00]: He would wander the streets of Athens, but they'll let lay up in the middle of the day, claiming to look for one true human being. 9:37 [SPEAKER_00]: He hated the corruption and dishonesty of civilized society, and was always listing off the ways in which people violated and denied their own humanity. 9:48 [SPEAKER_00]: Diogeny spent his life making demonstrations of this kind, asking those around him to live more honest and more virtuous lives. 9:58 [SPEAKER_00]: He constantly ridiculed hypocrisies of civilized society, and lived out his ideals for all to see. 10:06 [SPEAKER_00]: But there was admittedly a downside to all of this 10:10 [SPEAKER_00]: When a guy is willing to make fun of Plato and stare down Alexander the Great, he's going to do pretty much whatever he wants, wherever he wants, and whenever he wants to do it. 10:23 [SPEAKER_00]: So, Diahogini's went to the bathroom in the middle of the street and performed every other bodily function. 10:33 [SPEAKER_00]: You might think of, in full view of the horrified public, 10:38 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the kind of person who doesn't put on pants in the morning. 10:42 [SPEAKER_00]: He walks to the corner store and his underwear. 10:45 [SPEAKER_00]: The same way you might walk to your fridge in the middle of the night, strolling out into traffic, scratching his belly, and yawning, unself-consciously, as you might do in the comfort of your own home. 10:59 [SPEAKER_00]: Except he's not in his own home, he's on Main Street, and he might not be wearing underwear either. 11:05 [SPEAKER_00]: because why bother? 11:07 [SPEAKER_00]: Diogenes was also known to urinate on people, that ridiculed him, and to defecate. 11:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Literally wherever he happened to be standing, when the need arose. 11:20 [SPEAKER_00]: If he was in the theater, or the marketplace, he simply squatted where he stood, sometimes while continuing a profoundly philosophical conversation. 11:31 [SPEAKER_00]: If this image brings to your mind the comparison of a dog, you've just guessed Diogenese nickname. 11:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Diogenese, the dog. 11:41 [SPEAKER_00]: And Diogenese actually liked this ludicrous moniker. 11:45 [SPEAKER_00]: He happily claimed his daughter's behavior, saying, I found on those who give me anything. 11:51 [SPEAKER_00]: I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals. 11:57 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, by Aogeny's school of philosophy, which he helped found, was known as cynicism, which is rooted in the Greek for dog-like. 12:08 [SPEAKER_00]: According to another ancient philosopher, there are four reasons why the cynics are so named. 12:15 [SPEAKER_00]: First, because of the indifference of their way of life, for they, like dogs, eat and make 12:28 [SPEAKER_00]: The second reason is that the dog is a shameless animal, and they make a cult of shamelessness, not as being beneath modesty, but as superior to it. 12:40 [SPEAKER_00]: The third reason is that the dog is a good guard, and they guard the tenants of their philosophy. 12:46 [SPEAKER_00]: The fourth reason is that the dog is a discriminating animal, which can distinguish between its friends and enemies. 12:56 [SPEAKER_00]: So do they recognize as friends those who are suited to philosophy and receive them kindly while those unfitted they drive away, like dogs, by barking at them. 13:09 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know of any record of diogenese literally barking at people, but I wouldn't put a 13:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Even 2,500 years later, he gives off kind of a Zany, Jim Carrey vibe, that makes you think he'd enjoy that a little too much. 13:27 [SPEAKER_00]: Paintings of Diogenes actually came to represent him as a dog, a joke he would have appreciated. 13:33 [SPEAKER_00]: One painting in particular, called Alexander and Diogenes, by Edwin Lansier, an 1848 13:42 [SPEAKER_00]: in which both men are represented by dogs would later become the inspiration behind the animated Walt Disney tear druger, The Lady and the Triumph. 13:53 [SPEAKER_00]: In spite of his bizarre behavior, Diogenes continues to inspire free thinkers to this day. 14:00 [SPEAKER_00]: with his total renunciation of polite society and suburban norms. 14:06 [SPEAKER_00]: And you have to admit, his shameless simplicity and refusal to take himself seriously is attractive. 14:14 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen to it, Big Titus, portrayal of the voice of Diogenes, as it comes down to us through the ages. 14:22 [SPEAKER_00]: And how is it possible that a man who has nothing, who is naked, houseless, without a heart, squalled, without a slave, without a city, can pass a life that flows so easily. 14:34 [SPEAKER_00]: See, God has sent you a man to show you that it is possible. 14:39 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at me, who aim without a city, without a house, without possessions, without a slave. 14:46 [SPEAKER_00]: I sleep on the ground, I have no wife, no children, no praetarium, but only the earth and heavens, and one poor cloak. 14:56 [SPEAKER_00]: And what do I want? 14:58 [SPEAKER_00]: I am without sorrow, I am without fear. 15:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Am I not free? 15:03 [SPEAKER_00]: Did I ever blame God or a man? 15:05 [SPEAKER_00]: And I ever accuse any man? 15:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Did any of you ever see me with sadness in my eyes? 15:12 [SPEAKER_00]: And how do I meet with those who you are afraid of and admire? 15:17 [SPEAKER_00]: Do not I treat them like slaves? 15:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Who? 15:20 [SPEAKER_00]: When he sees me? 15:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Does not think that he sees his
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