The Philosophy of Clay
Introduction: What One Purchases in Reading
Every philosophy, whether grandly proclaimed or quietly kept, is in truth a psychological framework. It is a way of ordering thought, shaping conduct, and explaining to oneself why the world strikes as it does. Mine is no exception. Though I have written my maxims and articles in a style that may seem ancient, what lies beneath is neither obscure nor mystical. It is a framework tested against my own life and placed firmly in the lineage of both classical and contemporary psychology.
I wish, therefore, to set forth not only what my framework is, but how it stands beside the schools of thought that preceded it. Readers ought to know what they are purchasing when they attempt to apply my words to their own lives; not only a voice of Stoic timber, but also a structure that resonates with the best of what psychology, both ancient and modern, has to offer.
The Framework in Essence
The foundations of my philosophy can be gathered into several pillars, each expressed in the form of a maxim. These maxims are drawn from my forthcoming work, The Clay Gospel, wherein they serve as the backbone of a larger architecture of thought. What follows is their essence:
1. Agency and Sovereignty of Will. Do what you believe to be right, and let your Will be satisfied.
2. Cost as the Price of Meaning. What we suffer for, we protect. That which costs nothing shall be treated as nothing.
3. Truth as Hygiene. To lie to oneself, even once, is to poison the well forever.
4. Duty and Oath. What you give freely today may bind you tomorrow. Let it bind you gladly, or not at all.
5. Sanctifying the Self. It is right and proper for a person to take what is profane in themselves and make it holy again.
6. Respect is Taken, Never Granted Freely. The world respects only what it must. Respect is granted when right action and sound principles allow for no other outcome.
7. The Old Gods of Reason and Logic. These remain our greatest allies against chaos.
8. Defiance of Entropy. That which erodes shall find me standing against it, even if I cannot win. Better to brace a crumbling wall with your hands than to watch it fall.
This is not a creed for idle recitation. It is a framework to be lived, tested, and proven in deed.
Classical Roots
The lineage of my thought is no secret. The Stoics spoke long ago of governing the passions by reason, and in that they were kin to my own approach. When Marcus Aurelius wrote that “the mind becomes dyed with the color of its habitual thoughts,” he foreshadowed the entire discipline of cognitive-behavioral therapy. My insistence upon precision of word and discipline of thought is a direct heir to that tradition.
Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy, born out of suffering few can imagine, declared that meaning is the cure to despair. In this I find profound kinship: joy must be earned; gladness comes cheap. That maxim of mine would not be out of place in Frankl’s writings, though he drew it from death camps and I from the lesser trials of ordinary life.
Even older still, Plato and the early moralists wrote in the clear tongue of Reason, seeking not beauty of phrase but gravity of sense. Their words, like mine, sought not applause but remembrance.
And yet there is divergence. My maxim that “respect is taken” would have startled the ancients, who believed in natural hierarchies and ordained honor. My view is more martial: one must claw respect from the world as from a hostile foe. Likewise, my war on entropy, the refusal to allow decay to pass unchallenged, has no clear precedent in the ancients, who often bowed to Fate with resignation.
Contemporary Parallels
In the language of modern psychology, my framework aligns with several currents:
• Locus of Control (Rotter, Bandura): My philosophy rests entirely on an internal locus. If the outcome is mine, then the power to alter it is also mine. If I say, “the lights turned off,” then I have ceded agency. If I say, “I turned them off,” I remain sovereign.
• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (Ellis, Beck): CBT is the direct descendant of Stoicism, and thus a cousin to my own method. To examine thoughts, discard the false, and keep only what is useful is as natural to me as breath.
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Hayes): ACT rests upon values and committed action. In this I see myself precisely. I suffer what I must, so long as it is in the service of my chosen values.
• Self-Determination Theory (Deci, Ryan): Autonomy and competence form the bedrock of my selfhood. Relatedness, in my framework, is covenantal rather than sentimental: I am bound to comrades, students, and those who suffer, not by soft feeling but by chosen duty.
• Narrative Identity (McAdams): Here too I find echo. I recast my past failings into a redemption arc that governs my present life. I failed once in arrogance, and I now live that failure down by guiding others where I once refused, that they might not repeat my mistakes.
• Post-Traumatic Growth: Modern research observes that suffering, rightly approached, yields greater strength and wisdom. This I know to be true, and have long written in my own hand: What we suffer for, we protect.
Thus, my framework is no solitary tower of stone, but one pillar in a colonnade that stretches from antiquity to the present.
Points of Distinction
But if my work were only a repetition, it would not merit the reader’s time. There are elements that sharpen my philosophy into something new:
• Respect Taken, Not Granted: Where psychology often seeks mutual affirmation, I declare that respect must be wrested, not requested. It is a harsher view, but a truer one.
• The War on Entropy: No school, ancient or modern, has fully embraced the necessity of standing against decay even when the battle cannot be won. Yet to resist erosion, though hopeless in outcome, is to affirm the dignity of life.
• Mercy Without Self-Deception: Modern therapies often emphasize self-compassion. I do not reject this, but I temper it: compassion must not cloud the ledger of truth. One must acknowledge fault plainly, make restitution, and only then stand down the inner executioner.
• Truth as Hygiene: Psychology speaks of “cognitive distortions.” I speak of poisoning the well. One falsehood admitted to the self corrupts the whole stream. In this I am less forgiving, but perhaps more protective of the mind’s ecosystem.
Failure Modes: Where the Blade May Cut the Hand
Every framework has its shadows. To ignore them is folly.
• Hyper-Responsibility: To take all things upon oneself is noble but perilous. One risks drowning in guilt for that which one did not cause. The safeguard is to distinguish cause from response-ability, and to know what is yours to own and what is not.
• Contempt Drift: If respect must be taken, one risks contempt for those who falter. The guardrail here is to judge by trajectory, not by position; by where a man is going, not where he stands.
• Vulnerability as Performance Only: If vulnerability is seen only as a gift given, one may never ask for aid when aid is the correct tactical choice.
• Chronic Agitation in the War on Entropy: To fight all decay, without rest, is to confuse fatigue with truth. Recovery must be scheduled, lest the sword grow dull. Again, wisdom must be applied judiciously. One cannot fight the entire cosmos. This would be folly.
• Precision as Barrier: Exact language protects meaning, but it can be mistaken for arrogance. Thus, one must distinguish conviction from working hypothesis, and say so.
Closing: The Use of Such a Framework
What, then, should a reader purchase when they read me? Not comfort. Not gentle assurance. But a framework of agency, duty, truth, and cost. A framework that stands upon both classical and modern foundations, yet is sharpened by my own steel.
Frameworks are not creeds to be chanted. They are tools to be lifted, tested, and sometimes set down again. Mine is not for everyone, nor need it be. But for those who would stand sovereign in their own Will, suffer gladly for meaning, and fight against the erosion of all things, it may prove a companion worth keeping.
Let the reader choose, knowing now what they are purchasing: A framework of unforgiving truth, earned respect, and the dignity of perpetual defiance.
Fiat voluntas mea.
— By Stephen D. Jones
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