"Barrel of Diogenes" is a catch phrase. Many have heard it, but few know what it means. It came to us from ancient Greece, and is still being heard. The expression "barrel of Diogenes" appeared due to one philosopher, and to find out what it really means, you need to start by studying the personality of Diogenes.
Who is it?
Diogenes is an ancient Greek philosopher who lived in the 4th century BC. He adhered to the worldview of cynics and was clearly one of his most prominent representatives. Nowadays, it would be called shocking.
He was born in the city of Sinop, the Asia Minor polis (policies in ancient Greece called the region of the country), located on the Black Sea. Diogenes was expelled from his hometown for making fake money. Then he wandered around the cities of Greece for a long time, until he stopped in Athens. There he lived most of his life. In the capital of Ancient Greece, he gained the glory of a philosopher and had students who believed in the wisdom and genius of their teacher. Despite this, Diogenes rejected such sciences as mathematics, physics, and others, calling them useless. According to the philosopher, the only thing that a person should know is himself.
Diogenes Philosophy
There is a legend about how Diogenes came to philosophy. Somehow he was watching a mouse and thinking. The rodent did not need a lot of money, a big house, a beautiful wife, he just had enough. The mouse lived, rejoiced, and everything was fine with him. Comparing himself with him, Diogenes decided that there was no need for life benefits. A person can be happy without having anything but himself. And the need for wealth and luxury is the invention of people, because of which they become even more unhappy. Diogenes decided to give up everything that he has. I left myself only a bag and a drinking cup. But later, when he saw the boy drinking water from his hands, he also refused them. Diogenes settled in a barrel. In it, he lived until the end of his days.
Why did Diogenes live in a barrel? Because he adhered to the theory of kinism. She appeared long before him, but it was he who developed this idea and conveyed it to people. Kinism preached the complete spiritual freedom of man. The rejection of generally accepted norms and customs, detachment from worldly life goals, such as power, wealth, fame, pleasure. Therefore, Diogenes settled in a barrel, since he considered the house a luxury, which also needs to be abandoned.
Diogenes preached the complete freedom of the human soul, and this, in his opinion, was true happiness. “Only those who are free from most of their needs are free”, gastronomic, physiological and sexual were no exception.
Diogenes lifestyle
Diogenes adhered to an ascetic lifestyle. He went down in history as an example to follow. Asceticism is a philosophical concept, as well as a lifestyle based on everyday training of the body and spirit. The ability to withstand adversity in life - that was the ideal of Diogenes. The ability to control your desires, your needs. He instilled in himself contempt for all pleasures.
Once passersby saw him asking for alms from the statue. They asked him: "Why are you asking, because she still will not give you anything." To which Diogenes replied to them: "To accustom himself to failure." But in life he rarely asked passers-by for money, and if he had to borrow, he said: "I do not borrow, but what I owe."
Diogenes behavior in humans
I must say that Diogenes did not particularly like people. He believed that they did not understand the meaning of human life. The most striking example can be called this: he walked around the city among the crowd with a lit lamp with the words: "I am looking for a man."
His behavior was defiant and even extremist. The latter - because he publicly demonstrated his physiological independence from a woman with the words: “I wish it were the same with hunger.”
Diogenes' statements were always ironic and even sarcastic. If you read all of his aphorisms, among them there will not be a single one that does not dispute the human opinion. If the crowd scolds the musician, then the philosopher praises that he plays, not steals. If people praise someone, Diogenes must make fun of it.
Few people liked the scandalous behavior in the city, but there were also many followers.
