"Concerning all the calamities that men suffer by divine fortune, support your lot with patience - it is what it may be - and never complain at it. But endeavor what you can to remedy it."

The Golden Verses of Pythagoras, 17 - 19

Inferiority can be got in droves, easily: the road is smooth, and she lives very near. But in front of Superiority the immortal gods set sweat; it is a long and steep path to her, and rough at first. But when one reaches the top, then it is easy, for all the difficulty.

Best of all is the man who perceives everything himself, taking account of what will be better in the long run and in the end. Good is he, too, who follows advice. But he who neither perceives by himself nor takes in a lesson from another, he on the other hand is a worthless man.

Hesiod, Works and Days

He who fails to obtain the object of his desire is disappointed, and he who incurs the object of his aversion wretched. If, then, you confine your aversion to those objects only which are contrary to the natural use of your faculties, which you have in your own control, you will never incur anything to which you are averse. But if you are averse to sickness, or death, or poverty, you will be wretched. ... If you desire any of the things which are not in your own control, you must necessarily be disappointed; and of those which are, and which it would be laudable to desire, nothing is yet in your possession. Use only the appropriate actions of pursuit and avoidance; and even these lightly, and with gentleness and reservation.

Epictetus, The Handbook, 2

Since men live but for a very short period, if their life is compared to the whole of time, they will, as it were, make a most beautiful journey, if they pass through life with tranquility. This they will best possess if they accurately and scientifically know themselves, namely, that they are mortal and of a fleshly nature, and that they have a body that is corruptible, and can be easily injured, and which is exposed to everything most grievous and severe, even to their latest breath.

Hipparchus, On Tranquility

Statue of Zeus at Olympia

Sculptor: Pheidas (Φειδίας)
Date: 435 BCE

I have renamed the channel from Wisdom of the Gods to The Hellenic Wisdom Tradition to more accurately reflect the focus.

We are largely confined to private worship because of a lack of resources. Due to persecution, our late antiquity ancestors were increasingly forced to worship the gods in private as well. So there is this continuity between us and them in that sense. It is up to us to rediscover practice in the public sphere again.

“With regard to whatever objects give you delight, are useful, or are deeply loved, remember to tell yourself of what general nature they are, beginning from the most insignificant things. If, for example, you are fond of a specific ceramic cup, remind yourself that it is only ceramic cups in general of which you are fond.”

Epictetus, The Handbook, 3

If we love the forms or essences of things rather than particular instantiations of those essences, we will not be made miserable by the inevitable end of the particulars.

"Hymn of the Pythagoreans to the rising sun" by Fyodor Bronnikov (1869)

"Sin should be abstained from, not through fear, but for the sake of the becoming."

The Golden Sentences of Democrates

When you are going about any action, remind yourself what nature the action is. If you are going to bathe, picture to yourself the things which usually happen in the bath: some people splash the water, some push, some use abusive language, and others steal. Thus you will more safely go about this action if you say to yourself, "I will now go bathe, and keep my own mind in a state conformable to nature." And in the same manner with regard to every other action. For thus, if any hindrance arises in bathing, you will have it ready to say, "It was not only to bathe that I desired, but to keep my mind in a state conformable to nature; and I will not keep it if I am bothered at things that happen."

Epictetus, The Handbook, 4

The universe is a shrine for the gods. (Cf. Plato, Timaeus 37c)

Plato emphasizes mathematics in his education of the upper classes, as described in the Republic. While mathematical knowledge has practical benefits, it is to be studied for its own sake, as it aids us in “knowing what always is, not what comes into being and passes away” (Republic 527b).

Be mathematically literate.

Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they form concerning things. ... When therefore we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let us never attribute it to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own principles.

Epictetus, The Handbook, 5

The universe is always happy; and our soul will likewise be happy, when it is assimilated to the universe; for thus it will be led back to its cause. Hence, when the sensible man is assimilated to the universe, he also imitates his paradigm after an appropriate manner, becoming a world through similitude to the world, and happy through resemblance to that blessed God, the universe.

Proclus, Commentary on the Timaeus, Book I

Consider both the praise and the reproach of every foolish person as ridiculous, and the whole life of an ignorant man as a disgrace.

The Pythagoric Sentences of Demophilus

Don't be prideful with any excellence that is not your own. ... What, then, is your own? Only your reaction to the appearances of things. Thus, when you behave conformably to nature in reaction to how things appear, you will be proud with reason.

Epictetus, The Handbook, 6

In other words, be proud of how you respond, think, and act but not of, for example, the things you own.

In Platonism, the world is considered beautiful and as good as it possibly could be, despite its imperfections.

Indeed, to understand the cosmos is, in an important sense, to understand divinity. This is why the Greeks were lovers of mathematics and science.

At the same time, we are not to attach ourselves to the lower elements of physicality, and our passions and instincts should always be ruled over by discipline and wisdom.