Thus, if one lives in accord with universal reason, at each instant his consciousness expands into the infinity of the cosmos, and the entire universe is present to him. For the Stoics, this is possible because there is a total mixture and mutual implication of everything with everything else: Chrysippus, for example, spoke of a drop of wine being mixed with the whole of the sea, and spreading to the entire world.53 "He who sees the present moment secs all thnr hns happened from all eternity, and all that will happen t h rouicho u l i n fi n i l l' l ime. 11 �� This explains the attention given to each current
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event, and to what is happening to us at each instant. Each event implies the entire world: "Whatever happens to you has been prepared for you from all eternity, and the mutual linkage of cause and effect has, from all eternity, woven together your existence and the occurrence of this event." 55
One could speak here of a mystical dimension of Stoicism. At each moment and every instant, we must say "yes" to the universe; that is, to the will of universal reason. We must want that which universal reason wants: that is, the present instant, exactly as it is. Some Christian mystics have also described their state as a continuous consent to the will of God. Marcus, for his part, cries out: "I say to the universe: 'I love along with you.' " 56 We have here a profound feeling of participation and identification; of belonging to a whole which transcends our individual limits, and gives us a feeling of intimacy with the universe. For Seneca, the sage plunges himself into the whole of the universe (toti se inserens mundo).57
Because the sage lives within his consciousness of the world, the world is constantly present to him. In Stoicism, even more than in Epicureanism, the present moment takes on an infinite value: it contains within it the entire cosmos, and all the value and wealth of being.
It is quite remarkable that the two schools of Stoicism and Epicureanism, in other respects so opposed, should both place the concentration of consciousness upon the present moment at the very center of their way of life.
The difference between the two attitudes consists only in the fact that the Epicurean enjoys the present moment, whereas the Stoic wills it intensely; for the one, it is a pleasure; for the other, a duty.
Our scene from Faust echoes this double motif in two key phrases: "Only the present is our happiness," and "Existence is a duty." SR
In his conversations with Falk,.�1 Goethe had spoken of certain beings who, by virtue of their innate tendencies, arc half Stoic and half Epicurean. He found nothing surprising, he said, in the fact that they accepted the fundamental principles of the two systems at the same time, and even that they tried to unite them as far as was possible. One might say that Goethe himself, in his way of living the present moment, was also "half Stoic and half Epicurean." He enjoyed the present moment like an Epicurean, and willed it intensely like a Stoic.
In Goethe, we re-encounter most of the themes we have enumerated above; in particular, the delimitation of the present followed by expansion into the totality of the cosmos, which we observed in Epicureanism and in Stoicism.
In this regard, Goethe could have mentioned an opposition that was dear to him: that between "systole" and "diastole."
First of all, let us consider concentration on and delimitation of the present.
In moments of happiness, these processes take place spontaneously: "Then the spirit looks neither forward nor behind . " This verse from Faust is ed10ed by a poem dedicated to Count Puar:w
"Only the Present is our Happiness "
23 1
Happiness looks neither forward nor backwards;
And thus the instant becomes eternal.
The present instant is perceived as a grace which is accorded us, or an opportunity we are offered.
The mind may also, however, turn voluntarily away from the past and the future, in order to more fully enjoy the present state of reality. Such is the attitude of Goethe's Egmont:61
Do I live only in order to think about life? Must I prevent myself from enjoying the present moment, that I may be sure of the one that follows, and then waste that one, too, in cares and useless worries? . . . Does the sun illuminate me today, that I may ponder what happened yesterday?
That I may guess at and arrange that which cannot be guessed nor arranged: the fate of the oncoming day?
This is the same secret of happiness which Goethe formulated in the "Rule of Life":62
Would you model for yourself a pleasant life?
Worry not about the past
Let not anger get the upper hand
Rejoice in the present without ceasing
Hate no man . . . .
And the future? Abandon it to God.
This is the height of wisdom; the wisdom of the child in the Marienbad Elegy:63
Hour by hour, life is kindly offered us
We have learned but little from yesterday
Of tomorrow, all knowledge is forbidden,
And if I ever feared the coming evening, ·
The setting sun still saw what brought me joy.
Do like me, then: with joyful wisdom
Look the instant in the eye! Do not delay!
Hurry! Run to greet it, lively and benevolent, Be it for action, for joy or for love!
Wherever you may be, be like a child, wholly and always; Then you will be the All; and invincible.
The "rule of life" - that "high wisdom" - consists in looking neither forwnrd 1101· hehind, but in becoming aware of the uniqueness and
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incomparable value of the present. In Goethe, then, we find the same exercise of delimitation of the present that we had encountered in ancient philosophy.
This exercise is, however, inseparable from another exercise, which consists in becoming aware of the inner richness of the present, and of the totality contained within the instant. By delimiting the present, consciousness, far from shrinking, swells to fill the dimensions of the world; for that vision which "looks the instant in the eye" is the disinterested vision of the artist, the poet, and the sage, which is interested in reality for its own sake.
Enjoying the present, without thinking about the past or the future, does not mean living in total instantaneousness. Thoughts about the past and the future are to be avoided only insofar as rehashing past defeats, and cowering in fear of future difficulties, can cause distractions, worries, hopes, or despair, which turn our attention away from the present, where it ought to be concentrated. When we do concentrate our attention on the future, however, we discover that the present itself contains both the past and the future, insofar as it is the genuine passage within which the action and movement of reality are carried out. It is this past and this future which are seized by the artist's vision, in the instant which he chooses to describe or to reproduce. The artists of antiquity, says Goethe, knew how to choose the "pregnant" instant, heavy with meaning, "which marks a decisive turning-point between time and eternity." "' To use one of Goethe's favorite terms, such instants "symbolize" an entire past, and an entire future.