#ALEXANDER AND DIOGENES FREE#
He was determined to be free not just of society’s demands upon him but even of his body’s demands on his soul.
Diogenes more than exemplifies this principle. Cynic comes from the Ancient Greek meaning dog and this has been attributed to the fact that its members lived like dogs. Our modern word cynic derives from this ancient school of which Diogenes is the most famous philosopher. In winter, you could find him hugging icy statues and walking barefoot in the snow, while in summer you could find him rolling in hot sands.Īccording to many sources, this is where the term Cynicism comes from. He put his body through rigorous training to put up with the elements. This simplicity of living demanded a strong dose of self-control from Diogenes. Even this proved too luxurious one day, when he saw a boy drinking water from his hands he threw away the cup saying the boy had outdone him in simplicity.
His possessions amounted to a cloak, a walking stick, a cup and a wallet to store food in. He shunned all possessions, status and wealth and strived to live a life of ascetic simplicity. When he first came to Athens, he took up residence in an upturned wine cask in the agora - the marketplace of Athens. Diogenes ruthlessly applied this simple rubric to every aspect of his life. Simplicity manifests itself in two intertwined ways in the philosophy of Diogenes-the philosophical and the physical.įor this godfather of Cynical philosophy, living the good life is easy - it’s just a matter of stripping away all the bullshit, of cutting away everything that is unnecessary.
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