Book of Love/ Chapter Six The Naked Ascetic Diogenes

Let me start with the most excentric philosopher in history in my opinion and my most famous Diogenes the only ancient Philosopher in my opion who lived in a wine jar and lived and acted like a dog even peeing on those who mocked him after throwing hom some chicken bones as is most remembered for walking around holding a lamp in broad daylight and when asked what he was looking for he would say "An honest man", And when Alexander the Great came to him after conquering Athens and Corinth and hearing of him, came to him and asked him whatever he wanted, that he would grant him and Diogenes replayed that he was standing in his sunlight and would he please move and Alexander's Generals said that he should be beaten for his insult he replied that "If I was not Alexander,that I would be Diogenes and because Diogenes never left behind any writings the most intrequing thing about him in my mind is to piece together all the stories that I've heard or read about him come to an amazing and puzzling and speculative stories and inbelisments on this most controversial figure in history and like Socrates who lived at the same time never left behind any writings of his own, these two figures are quite interesting in their story telling with one Socrates being written about by Plato and the other being written about by virtually annomous sources and open to speculations of his virtually word of mouth descriptions of his life and philosophy and let me first start by saying that he was of the Philosophy branch called the Cynics of which translated means Dog in Greek and was not the founder of Cynisim and but a cofounder at the least and in my mind and experience studying ancient history and philosophy was the second most foinous Cynic and one can't even remember off hand the name of the founder and so in this sense he being the most famous practicing Cynic of all time, And here are the stories that I remember hearing it reading about him and his life that has been remembered throughout the ages for instance his historical beginnings when he and his father were accused of currency minipulation in Asia Minor the area of Lydia where coins were first minted in history and was accused of defacing gold and silver coins and some believe that he defaced currency for having human faces stamped on them and it most likely accused of shaving gold or silver coins before rings were stamped on money like today to keep from shaving off the edges to collect the shavings but the most romantic notion is the first and held by Muslims today as defacing currency in protest of human faces on coins as being idolitrist or arrogant and that is the beauty of these acts of the Philosopher that he has become in history as so much of his life is speculative and open to interpretation like someone saying from the past, "Guess what I did", And open ones mind to the imagination as nothing can be confirmed or denied and this is the real appeal or intrigue in my mind to be able as the Apostle Paul wrote that he himself knew in part and prophesied in part and so are sent it a world of wonder at this man who lived like no other arm chair Philosopher, but was living what he preached and after the scandle and arrest of him he fled to Greece in shame or distress, he was captured by Pirates like Julius Caesar and was sold as a totur to a wealthy family because he was educated and when asked what his specialty was on the action block he said "To be a Master over men !? " And no doubt was bought for his eccentricity wit and learning and before that as he was held by Pirates he was staced or I'll fed and told his captors how rediculas they were to emaciate him and how were they going to get a good price for him in this condition and in turn they began to fatten him up for sale as part of his wit, for worse then being a slave is nobody wanting to buy ones services as in the Scriptures it is said that the rebellious Jews would be taken as slaves and nobody would buy them and going back to the mint that he allegedly was busted for currency minipulation or defacement !? With his father that he fled from in the first place and obviously a man of letters a slave in those days was a good job if one can get it for they were made shoo keepers and such and not just common labourers as some might have speculated and was steady income and employment and well taken care of as property or an investment or simply worked to death if unruly and they a had a mark on them especially if they were prone to escape and could easily be identified if caught as an escaped slave or wanted man like Cain after slaying his brother Able and if course the Mark of the Beast spoken in the Book of Revelation bring a sign of slavery to the Kingdom of the last World dictator "The Beast", as I today's world one is contracted as a slave to society and mortgages and credit card debt and worse being a professional athlete under contract a form of slavery and am happy to say that I am a freemen as I write and speculate on this words and seeking guidance in my heart as what to write for like the Apostle Paul I know In part and I prophesy in part being a preacher by calling in exhile on San Francisco Bay and owe no man nothing and am independently wealthy and solvent in my perceived poverty and the government paying me instead of paying into our present Babylonian system of modern day slavery as attested by anyone that has ever ridden on a commuter bus or even a commuter ferry with a built in bar the people riding are so miserable that they cannot hardly even bear to smile as I have seen and witnessed over some two decades or ministering and preforming with my dogs and guitar at the Sausalito commuter ferry tok San Francisco across the bay of which virtually none of the commuters ever donated of tipped my dogs and I and but the tourists boats did in between, who missed their pets and especially their dogs and so like Diogenes who lived with his dogs and lived like a dog in this world after his stint as a slave and was now free no doubt by his wits and maybe eventually driven out or away by his slave master and left to wander the streets of ancient Corinth to eat and sleep with the dogs and prophesy and protest and mock respectable Greek society as the ultimate street artist in ancient Corinth of which I have been to and lived in my travels as a Missionary Evangelist  some five times in my youth and but was never told of Diogenes the Philosopher who lived in a wine vat homeless with his dogs and ate scraps and handouts and lived naked in public to the point of masterbating in public and even persuading a rich arisacratic women to join him of which aopently that didn't last very long and and was asked by someone why he mastebated and he answered that if only I could relieve my hunger so easily and there was the time that after mockers threw chicken bones too him like a that he answered by peeing on them like a dog as afore mentioned and then there there was the times when he would stand begging in front of a statue or Idol and when asked why he did that, that he replied that he was waiting for the statue or Idol to give him something and they never did and only wanted to be sacrificed too and take is my speculation and when asked Socrates about Diogenes he said that Diogenes was a Philosopher on steroids so to speak, or gone  mad !? Once he came to the Grove where Plato taught hus philoshey he came with a dead chicken to eat no doubt and said that this was his philoshey mocking him and if course Plato was from a wealthy family and apparently never knew poverty or hunger and I loved Socrates last words before being forced to drink Hemlock after his mock trial perpetrated by a play about him written by Corinths most famous playwrite at the time called The Clouds mocking him as a corrupter of the youth of Athens by saying that the Greek gods were no gods and need not be worshipped and was accused of being an atheist Philosopher as done think today like they also think Buddha was an atheist meditator and if course these are the real atheists for Socrates as well as Plato we're believers in God and not the gods of ancient Greece like Zues who was more a sinful man then a God and Socrates also loved to hang out at the local gymnasium apparently naked where all the students were naked also and were not ashamed and advocated that women or girls should be allowed to preform thier athletics naked also and not just the boys of which Socrates was accused of corrupting with his teachings that the Greek gods need not be worshipped for this own corruptions like Zues especially who was a rapist and a homosexual pedifile and abductor of Europa and going back to Socrates' last words were that we own Escephius  a cock the god of healing and medicine as he drank the hemlock mocking his accusation that he was an atheist and respected not the Greek gods and him that was closest to him at his death said that he would take care of it and all the while Plato who could not bear to be there at his master's death had already secured his escape to Thessolonia in exhile of which was the custom then of a condemed man to escape after guards and officials were paid off and bribed and it was speculated that he would make his escape from the death sentence and live in exhile in the proverbial fields of Allusium the Greek version of Paradise after death of which place that I have been before preaching a week long revival cut short by the Gracian Dictators secret police, coming to investigate a revival happening during my preaching and dining with my associate and music minister Kenneth Hopkins, who wrote the song on the album "The Rose" by Bett Midler called "Whose Side Are You On",  in the Seventies when were there as Missionary Evangelist and we left off preaching and singing during the revival of which the most famous Evangelist in Greece was our interpreter named the late and beloved Angelo Demaskenitus and moved on further north after a secret police officer came to the revival on Agape' Street Greek Pentecostal Church and ministered in or near the ancient city or ruins of Philippia Adriatic Sea from Asia Minor or the area of Troy !? Where the Apostle Paul had his vision to cross the sea and conquer Greece for the Lord Jesus and then we moved on to Drama Greece and caught an ancient steam train to Istanbul and made our way across Turkey too the city near where now Saint Paul was born in Tarsus too a town called Adonia, before sailing to Cyprus on a liner and then after, making our way to Israel our final destination.. to be continued a thumbnail skeach and unedited version  of my book in progress