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Is It All Greek To You Too?

Discussion in 'Cheeniya's Senile Ramblings' started by Cheeniya, Jan 28, 2019.

  1. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Is it all Greek to you too?

    It looked quite ominous to me. The same person coming in my dream for three days in a row! I did not take it very seriously on the first two occasions but when he came again on the third night, I decided to talk to him.

    ‘Excuse me! I see you here for third day today. Do I know you?’

    ‘Of course you know me. You have written about me on many occasions’

    I squeezed my brain. Who could it be? He looked too dirty to be a good friend of mine. He seemed to be in utter poverty. Could he be a street hawker who I missed in my morning walks? He had a beard that looked like a grazing field waiting for the cows. Same density, same hue! His cloths were not only too dirty but very scanty too. He had a tan which normally people who never wasted a minute of sunlight would get. Could he be a guy who sold me boiled groundnuts and forgot to collect cash for it? He seemed too proud to be a groundnut vendor. I couldn’t get any clue. And three days in succession in my dream! It looked too ominous to ignore. Suddenly a brilliant idea struck me. Why can’t I ask him point blank for his identity? I started.

    ‘Your face appears very familiar but I can’t place you. And you are after me for three days in a row. Do I owe you anything?’

    ‘Yes. You have hit it on the nail head. Give me some light’

    ‘Eh? Light? You mean you want a torch?’

    ‘No. I have my own trusted lantern. But I use it only during the day’

    ‘Lantern during the day? What for?’

    ‘To look for a honest man! When you start looking for a honest man, you require a lantern even during the day time’

    ‘You mean you need two of them at night?’

    ‘Don’t make fun of me! All I want to know is whether you are a honest man’

    I got him now. He was none other than Diogenes, the Cynic. Interesting man but a great pain! He was a great cynic who always kept a lamp in his hand searching for a honest man in broad day light.

    ‘But excuse me, since when you started looking for a honest man even during night? I thought you always stuck to your sun-rise to sun-set routine. Why have you come here at middle of the night? If you can’t find a honest man even during the day, where are you going to find one at middle of the night?’

    ‘Don’t make fun of me. You know how I ticked off even Alexander the Great once?’

    ‘That’s old story! We have too many Alexander these days. You can’t tick them off as you did with the old man. But tell me, why are you here disturbing me in my sleep?’

    ‘I am frightfully sorry about it. In the terrible ordeal of finding an honest man, I have lost sense of time. I didn’t even notice, it’s night here. You know it’s my frustration at not finding a honest man yet. I think it’s time for me to call it a day.’

    So saying, he took a deep breath and held it until he dropped down dead choking.
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2020
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  2. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Cheeniya Sir,

    Diogenes lives in the memory of many for his philosophical words of wisdom from time to time. He is a good example for the saying, "Don't judge the book by its cover". His appearance was stated to be shabby at best and despicable at worst. Carrying a lantern to look for an honest man in daylight is his way of telling everyone to look inward into their dark side instead of showy outward behavior. It is very interesting that you depicted him to be still searching for an honest man after several centuries.

    It is Greek to me and I wish I could download his brain into my system and read every thought of his! Only way I can satisfy my quest is to read more about his interactions.
     
  3. Srama

    Srama Finest Post Winner

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    Dear Cheeniya Sir,

    Diogenes is indeed all Greek to me, and let me hasten to add perhaps he is all to Greek to the Greeks too, especially the modern Greeks! If you say he was in your dreams still searching for that honest man, I am just compelled to take your word for it. I am not sure how to feel about it though! I am also inclined to say that let him continue the search with his cynicism and all while we will try to be the human beings that we are; knowing full well that people are motivated purely by self interest, and just shed a tear and move on like that taxi driver asked me to as I had narrated in this thread I Understand!

    Your snippet also made me read up a little more about Diogenes and as I focused on his quotes I came across "Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves?"! I have to tell you that sounded like a whiplash definitely but honestly, I do agree with him. I certainly hope that he did not drop dead like you mentioned in your dreams for don't we need these philosophers to help us understand or question life every now and then, if not in real life, showing up in dreams at least?

    I will be teaching Greece this year again and hope to read up a lot more yet, I am sure I cannot still match Rick Riordan and his compelling way of sharing stories, making me look at my students in awe as they share information!

    I meant to respond first thing as soon as I read this morning, but the day just swept me off :)
     
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  4. shyamala1234

    shyamala1234 Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Cheeniya sir,
    If we do not understand something a common term "Greek and Latin" is used. So is now. Understanding Diogenes is like that! May the word "Geek" has evolved from Greece. Too intelligent, cynics are called Geeks and nerds.
    I would follow the thread and see if I can understand something from feedbacks!
    Syamala
     
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  5. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @Viswamitra
    My dear Viswa
    Thanks a lot for your first response for the thread.
    I beg to differ with Diogenes. I am a regular visitor to the leading book shops in Chennai. I have seen guys picking up books on the basis of their cover. The glossier the cover, the greater will be the demand. I have seen guys picking up great looking books at the airport and keeping their boarding pass in them. I wonder if they would ever complete the book! Well known book shops dump their unsold books at their branches in the Airport. You may have observed that people pick up newspapers and weeklies in regional languages at the Railway station.
    Having said all this, I wonder if books came in different hues and gloss during the times of Diogenes. They came at best in woodblocks!
    Sri
     
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  6. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @Srama
    My dear Sabi
    Not only to you but for every one too. When I first came across his name, I thought it was some new virus causing more lucrative business for doctors. When I came to know that he carried a lantern during broad daylight looking for an honest man, the first question I raised was if the lantern was on. Only after checking on all these points that I became his disciple. Here is some more info about the great guy:
    When Plato confidently defined man as "a featherless biped," Diogenes presented him with a plucked chicken and proclaimed, "Behold! I've brought you a man!" When Alexander the Great approached Diogenes while the old philosopher was sunning himself and asked if there was anything he could do for him, the great Cynic simply replied, "Yes... you can step out of my sunlight." In his pursuit of virtuous simplicity, he gave away his belongings and took up residence in a tub!
    Leave alone my dream about Diogenes but all dreams have to be believed because the dreamer says so. After seeing the movie Jurassic Park, I had a dream of a huge dinosaurs chasing me and when I mentioned this in the club, my friends told me that dinosaurs was too big to come in my dream. I told them that size did not matter for dreaming, they laughed as if to imply that I was a bluffer!
    If Diogenes and dinosaurs sound like long-lost cousins, I must tell you these things happen!
    The only thing I remember about Greece is the lovely music and dance of the Greek that I saw in the movie Guns of Navarone.
    Sri
     
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  7. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @shyamala1234
    Dear Syamala
    I have been thinking that Geeks and Nerds are some kind of accolades paid to guys who make no sense to us.
    If you understand anything please do share it with me. As of now, I am looking for some sense in what I wrote like Diogenes was looking for an honest man in broad daylight!
    Sri
     
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  8. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Cheeniya Sir,

    If you like to learn more about Greek culture, you need to watch a movie called "Big fat Greek wedding". A Greek girl falls in love with an American man and how his entire family understands the Greek culture through interaction is the story. I feel Tamil movie "Abiyum Nanum" is very similar story line.

    Viswa
     
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  9. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello: Thanks Guruji to make us think about Greek & Latin. We all know at least one letter in Greek I.e. Pai=22/7.
    2. Thanks to physics & maths we know a bit more letters in Greek alphabet - alpha beta gamma delta row zigma lambda tau beyond that I learnt something from your thread today that philosopher is Geeki meaning Greece.
    3. If one dreams in Mother tongue, probably it would shed more illumination on things or persons honest!
    4. But in reveries things seemed to be more clear especially in big meetings more especially when some one chairs the meeting or for example a judge during hearings (ears open while eyes closed)!
    Thanks and Regards.
    God always blesses the dreamers who dreams best!
     
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  10. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Sri Thyagarajan,

    Greek and Latin lives alive in the court rooms even today. If we read judgments and arguments, we will hear words like, "Prima facie", "abinitio", "caveat emptor", "ad valorem", "bona fide", "consensus", "contra", "corpus juris", "de facto", "dictum", etc. I am not sure which one is Greek and which one is Latin. I assume most are Latin words.

    Speaking of dreaming in mother tongue, I wonder whether we have a choice to dream in foreign tongue. Your thoughts brought memories of @Rihana's thread, "In which language you think?"

    When we are dealing with someone like Deogenes, we have to not only struggle understanding the hidden meaning of their words and actions but also their sarcasm tainted with philosophy. Many such philosophers and saints speak to themselves as well.
     
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