Where is Diogenes? - Backstory An elderly man on all fours cocked his leg and urinated as high as he could up the stone wall. Is this man mad? Perhaps, but he holds a level of wisdom that modern day Digital Nomads need to take on board. The world outside is rapidly changing. In order to deal with it, however, we need to travel back to the 4th Century BC.
Diogenes shook himself dry and rewrapped stained cloth around his waist. The crowd stared and murmured. The old man considered sauntering away, ignoring his audience as he often did. This time, he figured, he had a few spare minutes. While Plato addressed his fans in a lecture theatre, Diogenes' theatrics were reserved for his critics: the city elite who wandered the market place. "I pee," he yelled, so that all could hear, "Because it is here and now that I need to pee. I feel no shame alone, so for what reason should I be embarrassed before strangers in the street?" Some of his listeners snorted in disbelief, muttering cries of "Obscene!"
"Yes! Yes, it is obscene! But is it not true?"
Diogenes wasn’t originally from Athens. He had arrived after being exiled from Sinope. Fortunately, he had declared himself a world citizen and borders meant nothing to him. He brought the nomadic existence back to a world ruined by tribal divisions. If you are dreaming of a digital nomad life, then listen closely.
Weary with the corruption of those around him, Diogenes was longing for a new adventure. He travelled to the Delphi, which was inhabited by the most powerful woman in Classical Greece: the Pythia.
“Your Priestess, I am not worthy,” Diogenes said, falling to his knees, “I am exhausted from the disgusting and corrupting, shallow and immoral souls of those with which I live. Tell me, oh wise one, tell me please what I must do to escape this world, and instead enter forth into a land of truth and beauty.”
The priestess looked down upon Diogenes with a sympathetic smile. She put her hand on his chin, and tilted his face towards hers. He began to feel lost in her shimmering green eyes, but felt the warm flush of regained confidence and optimism, as he knew at once that she was able to help him. She leaned in closely, and then finally she said:
“Deface the money.”
And so he did. This sparked a chain of events that led to his arrival in - and eventual destruction of - the cradle of philosophy. This led to the emergence of a man with lessons to teach 21st Century digital nomads. Throughout the course of this book, you will learn how to live in a rapidly changing age of technology.
- Did Diogenes Write? Diogenes, though not the best known of the Athenian philosophers, has sustained popularity despite having no written works to his name. Plato has his Republic; Aristotle has his Nicomachean Ethics. Diogenes… well… Diogenes has nothing. Although his ability to draw a phallus could rival the great Classical sculptors, he may well have been illiterate. One day, Diogenes was teasing Plato for locking himself away in his lecture theatre all day. “Why confine theatre to a private room? Life is theatre! What are you hiding, Plato? Don’t you think the man on the street would love a share of your wisdom?” Plato had been keeping his head down, but he felt his blood begin to boil. “Why don’t you try writing a book instead of pissing people off in the street?!” Plato snapped, his saliva splattering his beard. “I piss people off in the street,” Diogenes smirked, “for it is here that people need to be pissed off. It is during daily tasks that beliefs need challenging. If I put on a seminar or wrote a book, I’d only be preaching to people interested in what I have to say. My interest is solely in those who don’t want to listen to me.” “Maybe you just don’t know how to write!” Plato chuckled and shuffled away. Diogenes, despite his apparent courage in the face of humiliation, was just as human as anyone. He felt his anger rising up through his body; his eyes tearing up. Having purposefully gotten himself exiled from Sinope on the advice of the Pythia, he was hoping that Athens would be welcoming. He at least hoped to make some friends. However, most people weren’t on his intellectual level. The ones who were, like Plato, ridiculed him and thought him inferior. He had no real place among humans. Since arriving in Athens, Diogenes had yet to find a proper home. The other philosophers lived in fancy houses with a dedicated office space. Diogenes had the bare, dirty, cobbled streets. It’s hard to write one of history’s most influential and society’s most paradigm shifting books, without even a pen, papyrus or parchment to call your own. Was it his inability to write or his hatred of literature that led Diogenes to produce no books? In Chapter Two, we’ll delve more into Diogenes’ disdain for the written word. It isn’t known for certain that he didn’t write anything. Well regarded as an influential thinker, it is likely that he did, but maybe those who were jealous of his success, tore up and burnt his works. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Books are not the best way to acquire knowledge. Not then, not now.
- Advisor to Alexander Diogenes had come to Athens precisely because of the excellent weather. The last thing he needed was somebody standing in his sunlight, regardless of how important they consider themselves to be. Despite his frequent weeing in the street and refusal to write a book, the ideas of Diogenes began to spread like a fire. And like the heat of a fire, good ideas rise to the top. A well built man with an arrogant walk made his way to the dog-like philosopher. Diogenes was laying, as he often did, in the warm glow of the Athenian sun. He didn’t pay for luxuries, so the perks of nature were some of the few simple pleasures he indulged in. You can imagine his frustration when a man in a crown and his soldiers stood before him, casting a shadow over his perfectly picked sitting spot. “Diogenes of Sinope - I am Alexander the Great,” said Alexander the great. “Great,” said Diogenes the Sarcastic Cynic of Sinope. “I have heard wonderous stories of you, Diogenes. They mention your wit, your charm and your fierce intellect. Although I would be honoured to learn from you, I do not now seek anything. All I ask, is whether there is something I can do for you?” “Yes,” Diogenes barked, “stand out of my sunlight!” Alexander wept. Here stood the most important man of the Ancient World and Diogenes treated him as an equal. His crown, robes, achievements and title meant nothing. He had never felt more human, more connected to another being. So Alexander, for the first time in recent memory, obeyed an order and walked away. He turned to his soldiers and remarked: “Gentlemen, were I not Alexander, I would choose to be Diogenes.” And behind him a distant voice echoed: “Were I not Diogenes, I too would wish to be Diogenes.” Just like that, boundaries were broken. Diogenes had smashed the wall of social fabrications and brought a Macedonian king back down to Earth. This is what it means to be a digital nomad. You are not a personal assistant. You are not a deputy executive. You’re not even sandwich artist. You are not your salary, your car or your Christmas bonus. You’re not the cup of tea from the intern with too much milk. You are just some person. And, just like every other human, you are free.
- Disciples of Diogenes We know that Diogenes was not universally loved. Aristotle probably hated him, Plato thought he was an arse, and the fruit vendors likely despised his street urination habit. Even Alexander, who admired Diogenes’ courage, wasn’t too fond of having his authority challenged. So how did the message of Diogenes spread to the extent that internet entrepreneurs are still turning to him for advice? Remember, he never even wrote anything down. At the risk of angering some Anglicans, provoking praying protestants or boiling the blood of a baptist, let’s compare Diogenes to Jesus Christ. Though a materialist and an atheist, Diogenes must have had some devout followers. Jesus didn’t write anything down either, but he inspired many to travel Ancient World with stories of his life and philosophy. The same was almost certainly true of Diogenes. The most influential of his followers - Diogenes’ St. Paul, if you will - was Crates. Now Crates was not just several wooden boxes. He was an aristocrat, no less, with vintage bottles of wine filling his mansion. Not only this, he was also loved as a pleasant and witty member of Athenian society. He could have lived a perfectly happy and stress-free life. However, there must have been something in the wine in those days because Crates had a fierce and unquenchable intellect. He had studied with Socrates, Plato and Aristotle and found incredible satisfaction in philosophical pursuits. You can probably guess who he was drawn to the most, though. Crates eventually gave up his fortune and lived a life of poverty on the streets. He embodied his worldview. Now, if you are unfamiliar with Ancient Greek philosophy, it works like this. A great person says a great thing, such as “the unexamined life is not worth living” (Socrates). Since this is the ancient world and everything prior involved either human sacrifice or voodoo curses, news regarding an intelligent and thoughtful statement would travel fast. A smart young prodigy, like Antisthenes for instance, would become obsessed to the point of being creepy with the previous philosopher and the two would begin a purely intellectual, definitely-not-sexual relationship. Diogenes had heard about this bloke, Antisthenes, and developed the same strictly Platonic obsession with the man. He followed him through the streets, begging to be his student. He craved the ascetic ideal that Antisthenes preached. If you are annoying enough, then eventually the wise older philosopher will let you shadow them, like an overly keen unpaid intern. Are you following? Socrates did his weird thing, interrogating complete strangers and berating their irrational beliefs. Then Antisthenes formed a philosophy around this, which Diogenes developed into Cynicism. Diogenes didn’t have to write anything down, due to an army of devoted disciples such as Crates, spreading his way of life to the ends of the Earth. So that explains what I am doing with this book. I am Crates 2.0, here to explain why you need Diogenes in your life. Have you heard the good news? Do you want a locationless lifestyle of minimalist, digital exploration and internet-enabled income? If you are ready to take on the responsibility of bypassing traditional employment, then tales of Diogenes are here to help. Join me on a journey into 21st Century Cynicism.
- 21st Century Cynicism Ancient stories may be witty with moral lessons, but what the hell does Diogenes have to do with online entrepreneurs and digital nomads? A surprising amount:
- A commitment to self-actualisation through the pursuit of passions; - A dislike for materialism and consumerism; - A rejection of the status quo and hierarchies; - That feeling of being a global citizen; - The urge to pee anywhere they like.
Ancient Greece introduced the idea of city states, for which we should be eternally grateful. Governments protecting the freedom of citizens and bestowing upon them the right to vote on their own laws. Definitely a good decision. However, Diogenes recognised the limitation of being confined within borders. He preferred to wander, ramble, and journey anywhere his two feet could take him. Sound familiar.
In the 18th century, the American and French Revolutions led to the emergence of nation states. Essentially, these are city states but bigger. Again, let’s not act like this was a bad thing. Liberty, equality, fraternity? Tick, tick, tick. Right to liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness? Probably well worth protecting.
However, the world has moved on. The flow of humans around the world is becoming seamless, thanks to a booming tourism industry and the rise of cheap airlines. Not to mention the internet, uniting the world into one wide ass web.
This is why now is the time to resurrect Diogenes, or at least, his ideas. A young, liberal, outward looking, globally minded youth, are taking to their laptops and living a life of real freedom. Freedom from borders, freedom from traditional work structures, and freedom from the views imposed by a judgemental society.