Nicholas Lal
Dori Coblentz
English 101
November 14, 2013
De-cyphering Desire in Stoicism, Christianity, and Freestyle Rap
The values and practices of both philosophies and hobby activities almost always have
1 communities that form around them. This holds true for the communities that formed around the philosophies of the ancient Greeks’ view stoicism and Augustine’s view of Christianity as well as the communities that formed around hobby activity of freestyle rap. These three respective communities despite being separated by many centuries have all valued self-exploration in one form or another. The ancient Greeks viewed someone in touch with themselves as someone who was in touch with nature. Augustine viewed someone in touch with their inner soul as someone who could more directly perceive God’s influence on the world. Communities that formed around freestyle rap however tend to value someone in touch with themselves expressing their inner emotions within the collective group of a freestyle rap cypher. Groups that followed the viewpoints of the ancient Greeks and groups that followed the viewpoints of Christianity through
Augustine both valued self-exploration as a means to achieve “enlightenment” in each man’s respective definition of “enlightenment”; however groups of people today who partake in freestyle rap value self-exploration not as a means to achieve a greater understanding of any dogma, but instead for the inherent positive benefits of expressing oneself through freestyle rap in a synergistic group.
Followers of Greek philosophy found the notion of self-exploration desirable and worth pursuing because they believed that self-exploration could be a medium to discover the divine

aspect of human nature: “The main idea in the Greek religion was the of something divine in
Human nature represented.” (Stanley) This stoic perspective on self-exploration shows the value
2 that the stoics had on finding the nature of the universe. The idea of “living according to nature” is that an ideal man should understand how the world works and therefore not become invested with its natural occurrence is central to stoic philosophy and is the basis for why Stoic philosophy values self-expression. Through a singular act of creativity and soul searching, Stoics creating poetry and sculpture reflecting Stoic principles were seen as important members of the community who made “nature” accessible and able to be understood by humans: “The Greeks taught first in poetry and then in plastic art that man should not bow down to anything beneath him and that nature can only become fit to be worshipped by being idealized and made human.”
(Stanley) Greek stoicism valued those who explored their internal perspectives whether it was by internal reflection, poetry, or sculpture because the process of self-exploration could help Stoics within greater communities find a better understanding of nature; they valued self-exploration because it was a means to better subscribe oneself to the ancient Greek stoic philosophy.
Followers of Augustine’s view of Christianity found the notion of self-exploration desirable and worth pursuing because they believed that self-exploration through an internal mediation of one’s inner emotions, senses, and soul would help a good Christian desire to understand the true nature in the world: “The bodily senses are connectors between the external world and the soul, and activate desire to know about the world.” (Gavrilyuk) To extend the concept Augustine further believed that a Christian who was truly in touch with his or her inner senses and soul could directly understand and perceive the world and God’s presence in it: “In his later writings,
Augustine develops his language of the inner senses in two principal directions: first, he expands

the discussion to include all five senses, and second, he begins to articulate a perceptual model
3 that can more properly be called spiritual sensation, that is, inner senses capable of directly perceiving God and God’s presence in the world.”(Gavrilyuk) Like stoicism, Christianity uses self-exploration as a means to better explore its respective values. The ultimate goal of being in touch with one’s inner senses to Christians is that it allows for the values of God to be perceived within a greater world. This general trend for both Stoicism and Christianity, where selfexploration is a process to enrich an already actively practiced philosophy, changes when selfexpression is explored through the lens of a freestyle rap cypher.
Members of communities that actively practice freestyle rap found the notion of self-exploration desirable and worth pursuing because self-exploration through the self-expression that happens when someone freestyle raps is inherent in the activity. But the dynamic of the self-expression inherent in freestyle rap is not limited to the individual practice of freestyle rapping but also involves the energy and the feedback of the community: “But the freestyle rapper gets no breathers. The MC is in constant, literal dialogue with not only the audience but their collective sense of timing and expectation” (Cobb). The infusion of a group dynamic changes the selfexploration that is a part of freestyle rap because the collective group’s energy and input can influence the context and manner of how the member in the cypher who is rapping explores himself by freestyle rapping. In addition to the group dynamic, freestyle rap cyphers can be an outlet to deal with and discuss current events and issues that are affecting them:
“As noted throughout, as I get closer and closer to the lives of these young people, I begin to see popular culture as a resource for survival, as one way these young people dealt with a harsh and unforgiving material and social context” ( Dimitriadis ). With freestyle rap communities using

freestyle rap to express themselves in a group dynamic as well as participate in a greater social
4 dialogue, the activity is able to expand the connotations of simple self-exploration into a broader group based socially active practice.
The difference between the pair of Stoicism and Christianity and Freestyle Rap is that communities that subscribe to Stoicism or Christianity are trying to achieve a lifestyle dictated by a philosophy while members of a freestyle cypher are simply a group of people that find it virtuous to participate in an activity. In Christianity and Stoicism, the greater philosophical and social meaning comes from the philosophy of Christianity and Stoicism which is expressed via the process of self-exploration. Freestyle rap’s process of self-exploration done by expressing oneself within a freestyle rap cypher and the greater philosophical and social meaning is a byproduct of the action. This dynamic of philosophy based communities exploring their philosophy through an activity and activity based communities using their activity to explore a philosophy shows that the two different types of communities have two different types of selfexploration. Self-exploration through the philosophical lens of Christianity and Stoicism is a singular activity where reflection comes from an examination of one’s self in solitude. Selfexploration through the communal lens of a freestyle cypher is a group activity where internal expression is complimented with input from the overall group to create a multifaceted form of reflection.
Self-exploration through the philosophical lens of Christianity and Stoicism will ultimately lead to a higher level of understanding of the already known respective philosophies. Self-exploration through the communal lens of a freestyle cypher will ultimately create new social commentary on matters of the self as well as issues facing the greater community. Self-exploration through the philosophical lens of Christianity and Stoicism represents a desire to enrich oneself in a

5 philosophy. Self-exploration through the communal lens of a freestyle cypher represents a desire to engage in a practice of self-discovery that promotes philosophical and societal discourse.
Stoicism, Christianity, freestyle rap, and each of their respective communities all demonstrate a desire to look into one’s inner self because doing so is inherently a beneficial practice. The three however differentiate concerning the means in which self-examination is applied to the self and the motives for what is desired to be achieved within the inherently beneficial self-exploration.
These differences ultimately demonstrate that the context in which a community is formed is an additional factor to how a community’s values and practices determine how it functions.

Works Cited
Stanley Davis, Charles H. Greek and Roman stoicism and some of its disciples : Epictetus,
Seneca and Marcus Aurelius . Boston: H.B. Turner&Co., 1903. eBook.
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Gavrilyuk, Paul, and Sarah Coakley. The spiritual senses perceiving God in Western
Christianity . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1951. Web.
Cobb, William Jelani. To the Break of Dawn A freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic . New York:
New York University Press, 2007. Book.
Dimitriadis, Greg. Performing Identity/ Performin Culture Hip Hop as a Text, Pedagogy, and
Lived Practice . New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2009. Book.