Posts by Eikadistes

Things to edit/emphasize:

The skeptical, idealist paths should be much longer, twisted, and asymmetrical than the pleasurable orange path.

The orange areas after the paths converge lead right through the Gardens, and not around them.

The orange path between the gardens may disappear into underground streams, contrasted with some 'alluring thing' that draws people into the desert: A lightning bolt for religious illumination, mirage-like forms for those who doubt sensation, and a mysterious cave for those who doubt feelings.

Another suggestion:

The 'short' paths will run along the 'rivers' between the Gardens. The [a.1] River Sensation, the [b.1] River Anticipation, and the [c.1] River Feeling. If we don't take the [a] River Sensation, we trudge through the [a.2] Valley of Mirages. If we don't follow the [b.1] River Anticipation, we get lost in the [b.2] Stormy Dialectic. If we don't follow the [c.1] River Feeling, we climb the [c.2] Mountains of Virtue. The [x.2] trecherous paths will be visually looped, and twice as long as the [x.1] river paths. The [c.2] mountain path will wind around the mountain, and the [b.2] stormy path will wind around a tornado produced by the 'Warm [Front of] Proposition' and the 'Cold [Front of] Contradiction'.

The starting point, I think will be in the bottom right corner, and loop around the board in a clockwise motion.

I want to avoid a linear story with a clear ending, to avoid the perception that we're trying to 'get' to a Kingdom (of God) or a final providence. I think we can emphasize that, no matter where we are in the game, we always are around a Garden of Pleasure if we only make the right choices to get there.

(I'll re-post the following within the Facebook group to keep everything organized.)

Here's a brainstorm of what I've been working on:

The allegorical image could be setup like a board game, a mix between the never-endingness of 'Monopoly' mixed with the choice-making, divergent paths of 'The Game of Life'.

The pathway around the board is the flow of life through a natural world. Part of the world is pleasurably lush, part of the world is painfully arid. If true pleasure is pursued with consistency, the path will keep you close to the 'Gardens of Pleasure', a moderate, regular path without extreme dips, bends, and descents.

The center of the image is a habitable, green area. Within this area are several points of congregation called 'Gardens of Pleasure'. They'll be inhabited by Epicurus, Jefferson, Hitches, etc. (Not included in the brainstormed image): a small, desert stream that will flow along the orange line, between the 'Gardens of Pleasure', indicating a path to follow. I'll still call the peaceful water 'Ataraxia', and the fruit on the bushes as 'Aponia'.

Around the edges of the path are philosophical extremities, all of which are associated with systems that show indifference to pleasure and pain (usually resulting in more pain). These include 'pure logic', 'virtue ethics', 'divine illumination' the 'dialectic', and religious dogma. These areas will be inhabited by Platonists, Stoics, and religious figures. Of course, I'll include mirages in the shape of 'the Forms', and religious symbology.

The 'Winds of Skepticism' create paths of divergence. If one is skeptical of 'sensation', one may rely on ungrounded logic instead of physical experience. If one is skeptical of 'Feelings', one may look to virtue to help them judge their experiences instead of their emotional compass. If one is skeptical of 'Preconceptions or 'Anticipations', they may turn to an absolutist, religious dogma to organize their understanding.

(If we were to make an actual board game, we'd roll dice, and land on squares that provide us with some kind of token. Perhaps we'd hit a 'Read Sextus Empicirus and Doubt Your Existence. Lose One Turn', or 'Spent the night eating with friends. Take four tokens'. I'm not sure that any of these are required for the visual).

We'll use game pieces, regardless, to represent us, as animals, making decisions around the board. Our main piece is a dog (or pig), who will consistently make the pleasurable choice. His opponents will include (kosher animals) sheep and goats, who often get lost in religion and virtue. We'll see them losing tokens and turn in the desert areas of superstition.

As usual, on top, I'll summarize Epicurean (meta)physics and cosmology with "atomi" (leptons, bosons, quarks) versus "void", denoting that everything which exists below is also make of this constituent pieces.

Wasn't in Thoreau in 'Civil Disobedience'?