Being Awake in The Shared World

Plutarch, On Superstition [Moralia 166c]

“Heraclitus says the universe is singular and shared for those who are awake, but each of us returns to our own world when we are sleeping. The superstitious person lacks the shared world. When they are awake they fail to use their thoughts and when they are asleep they are not freed from trouble, since their power of reasoning is dreamed away and fear is always awake. There’s no way to escape or place to move.”

ὁ Ἡράκλειτός φησι τοῖς ἐγρηγορόσιν ἕνα καὶ κοινὸν κόσμον εἶναι, τῶν δὲ κοιμωμένων ἕκαστον εἰς ἴδιον ἀναστρέφεσθαι. τῷ δὲ δεισιδαίμονι κοινὸς οὐδείς ἐστι κόσμος· οὔτε γὰρ ἐγρηγορὼς τῷ φρονοῦντι χρῆται οὔτε κοιμώμενος ἀπαλλάττεται τοῦ ταράττοντος, ἀλλ᾿ ὀνειρώττει μὲν ὁ λογισμός, ἐγρήγορε δ᾿ ὁ φόβος ἀεί, φυγὴ δ᾿ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲ μετάστασις.

This passage’s emphasis on our shared reality being dependent on using reason may seem super stoic, but it reminds me of Epicurean doctrine too: the notion that what is real is not readily available to individuals, but only comes from sharing experiences and knowledge with others. Those who rail against “wokeness” are like Heraclitean sleepers, refusing to acknowledge that their definitions and interpretations are creations of their own, set apart from the shared universe of human experience by their own arrogance and fear. Dreaming, of course, lets us explore those other worlds of our creation, to compare them for better or worse to the one we make together.

Diogenes Laertius, Epicurus 31

“[Epicureans] dismiss dialectic as being unnecessary—they believe that it is enough for natural scientists to employ the normal words for things. In his Canon, Epicurus asserts that our sensory perceptions and prior experiences and conceptions are the criteria of the truth; and Epicureans also believe that the imagined movements of thoughts are the same. He articulates his own beliefs in his Brief to Herodotus and in his Kurian Beliefs. He says, “Every perception is free of thought and receptive to no memory. Because does not move under its own power or another’s, it cannot add anything or take it away. And there is nothing capable of refuting the senses. For one related perception cannot countermand another because of their equal power nor can inequivalent senses undermine those of a different capacity, since they are not judging the same domains.

Reason depends entirely on perceptions. Different kinds of senses cannot undermine each other, since we use them all. The interdependence of the senses ensures the truth of what we perceive. Our ability to see and hear is just like our ability to feel pain. This is why we must strive to make meaning about unclear things from what actually appears before us.”

Τὴν διαλεκτικὴν ὡς παρέλκουσαν ἀποδοκιμάζουσιν· ἀρκεῖν γὰρ τοὺς φυσικοὺς χωρεῖν κατὰ τοὺς τῶν πραγμάτων φθόγγους. ἐν τοίνυν τῷ Κανόνι λέγων ἐστὶν ὁ Ἐπίκουρος κριτήρια τῆς ἀληθείας εἶναι τὰς αἰσθήσεις καὶ προλήψεις καὶ τὰ πάθη, οἱ δ᾿ Ἐπικούρειοι καὶ τὰς φανταστικὰς ἐπιβολὰς τῆς διανοίας. λέγει δὲ καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἡρόδοτον ἐπιτομῇ καὶ ἐν ταῖς Κυρίαις δόξαις. “πᾶσα γάρ,” φησίν, “αἴσθησις ἄλογός ἐστι καὶ μνήμης οὐδεμιᾶς δεκτική· οὔτε γὰρ ὑφ᾿ αὑτῆς οὔτε ὑφ᾿ ἑτέρου κινηθεῖσα δύναταί τι προσθεῖναι ἢ ἀφελεῖν· οὐδὲ ἔστι τὸ δυνάμενον αὐτὰς διελέγξαι. οὔτε γὰρ ἡ ὁμογένεια αἴσθησις τὴν ὁμογενῆ διὰ τὴν ἰσοσθένειαν, οὔθ᾿ ἡ ἀνομογένεια τὴν ἀνομογένειαν, οὐ γὰρ τῶν αὐτῶν εἰσι κριτικαί· οὔτε μὴν λόγος, πᾶς γὰρ λόγος ἀπὸ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἤρτηται. οὔθ᾿ ἡ ἑτέρα τὴν ἑτέραν, πάσαις γὰρ προσέχομεν. καὶ τὸ τὰ ἐπαισθήματα δ᾿ ὑφεστάναι πιστοῦται τὴν τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἀλήθειαν. ὑφέστηκε δὲ τό τε ὁρᾶν ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀκούειν, ὥσπερ τὸ ἀλγεῖν· ὅθεν καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀδήλων ἀπὸ τῶν φαινομένων χρὴ σημειοῦσθαι.