God

God. Providence. Nature. The Universe. The Logos.

What does it all mean?

These words tend to refer to the same concept yet are applied in slightly different ways. God is the concept itself. That which we have so much trouble articulating. Providence might be seen as a heavenly or divine foreseeing, guidance, and care. Nature, the Universe, referring to world surrounding us being somehow greater than us, something complete and total. A complex web of individual parts working together in ways we don’t quite understand. The Logos, the reason, the word, the logic, that makes all the gears that make this world function move as the day.

When the ancient Stoics say that we ought to live in accordance with Nature, that can be allegorized to say living in accordance with God’s will. The Logos, from the ancient Greek meaning word or reason, is just another way of referring to this concept. There is a reason, a logic, that makes the world tick the way it does, that governs why things happen in the world. In the Abrahamic faiths it is common to hear that God’s reasoning is above our own and I think that is true. It is certainly more wise and all encompassing than any one man or woman can hope to be. However, that does not make God unknowable nor does it make God unable to be understood.

While the way God is allegorized or described in myth, legend, and religion is subject to personal interpretation dependent on time, place, and the individual. What is not subjective, what is universal is that the understanding of God’s essence and function remain the same: right order and right living. As Stoics we are to remain in accordance with Nature or God’s will. That is acting reasonably according to the Logos. Behaving in a manner that is best for our human nature’s development and sustainment in life.

How do we do this? We must live virtuously.