The Story of Diogenes and Alexander the Great.
and the lesson to take from it
“Stand out of my light.”, the modern day equivalent of “Move. You’re in my way.”. A rather rude statement, one that the more mild mannered of us would never say in general, let alone when speaking to the most powerful man in the world. However Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope was not mild mannered, not even the slightest bit.
Odds are you’ve probably heard of Alexander the Great. The legendary leader of Macedonia has at least a chapter dedicated to him in every history book. Nonetheless it’s important to understand just how intimidating Alexander’s presence was for the context of the story. By the age of 30 Alexander the great had amassed one of the largest empires ever known, and not through diplomatic relations. He spent the majority of his 20’s on a vast conquest in which he conquered all of the land from Greece to Northern India. Not only was this man seen as a brilliant general and ruler, but he was even viewed as a literal god by some, as many believed he was the son of Zeus. Its hard to really encapsulate the weight of his reputation because we have nothing that compares to it in the present day.
On the other hand while many of you may be familiar with Diogenes, he is certainly less widespread. Diogenes Lartius was a biographer and philosopher in ancient Greece. Frankly that last title is a bit controversial, as some well respected philosopher (such as Hegel) saw his writings as little more than a summation of previously established ideas. On top of that he has often been criticized as a biographer for being too focused on trivial details of his subjects lives. So when you hear the title ‘Greek Philosopher’, understand that he was exactly rivaling Aristotle.
In spite of all of this Alexander the Great still seemed to have a certain affinity for Diogenes, as one day he approached him with an offer. While Diogenes was laying down sunbathing, Alexander the great walked in front of him and offered to grant him one wish. The most powerful man in the known world, a near god, offers a much less prestigious individual one gift. While I’m sure we can all imagine the countless options running through our mind I’m sure we can agree that our answer would not come immediately. Personally I’d need at least 10 minutes before I could whittle it down to three options. But this was not the case for Diogenes. Rather than pondering the countless options in front of him, he responded with on terse reply, “Stand out of my light.” Immediately the friends of Alexander began to snicker, as they thought for sure those would be the final words Diogenes ever spoke. However instead of killing him where he stood, or laid, Alexander replied, “Truly, if I were not Alexander the Great I would wish to be Diogenes.” To which the Biographer said, “If I were not Diogenes I would also wish to be Diogenes.”
Initially this may seem like a tale that merely emphasizes the vanity of Diogenes, and yeah it certainly does that. But the more important piece to focus on is the response to power. All too often in our day to day lives we allow powerful people to make us feel smaller. When we accidentally find ourselves in the way of some powerful individual and instantly apologize for the inconvenience. That moment in which we ensure that our presence is as small as possible, to make room for the ego of the other person. Trust me, as someone who struggles with social anxiety I’m as guilty of it as anyone. However whenever I let the invasive notion that I’m nothing more than an inconvenience creep in, I think back to that time that a biographer told a near god to get out of his way, and suddenly I don’t feel to bad about waiting for the right moment to make a left turn out of my subdivision.
