Thanks to all for the warm welcome...it's a remarkable thing to find a 'Garden in the sky' so to speak, and makes me wonder, as I'm sure you've all done before me, what Epicurus' online presence might have been like...
So, rereading my own posts I find I've sketched a little about me, enough to see I'm no expert, a former journalist, someone with a life long interest in philosophy, which I took in formal study only as a minor, and a man of a certain age with time on his hands to pursue his passions. Epicurus has become mine, as he has for many of you long before. But he's hovered, just beyond an ongoing interest in Montaigne, and a question I could/can never answer...why didn't the sixteenth century man spend more time with the fourth century BCE man? To me, they have much in common, if not in the strict terms of philosophical writings, in their humanity, clearsightedness, and above all, quiet radicalism.
But I'm talking when I should be listening. I came here to listen, and I'll be listening as I set off on a journey of discovery, looking for what exactly I can't say...but hugely excited. I'm 30000 words into a first draft, and much will be added, or taken away, in the course of my travels and the coming year of writing.
The last year has been spent in research and planning. I've had time to structure my story and to think hard about what kind of book I want to write. I know I will not please all the people all the time. I know there are many experts, academics, hugely well informed enthusiasts, and a canon of written material to take into account. That could be intimidating. Hence my commitment to listen well.
But I take heart - and the inscription to the book - from one of the great travel writers talking to us across time from the region I - we - will be exploring. I'll paste that below.
Meanwhile, an invitation.
Please join me. I'm lining up the usual suspects - a website blog, instagram, substack, and when I have time TikTok et al - in the hope of keeping comms fluid and interesting for all.
The plan is to have you walk with me. I'll carry the bags, don't worry, and in return, I'll tell you a story as we go.
Meanwhile, thank you for listening to me...and now over to Freya...
"I think there are too few people in our age who choose to use their own wits in an honest endeavour, and with the facts a tangle before them, sort them out into a pattern of their own…For the pattern of its past is present in any historical moment, and a line between them is as arbitrary as a line between a particular wave and its sea."
Freya Stark, The Lycian Shore