Zeno: Past & Future
Zeno’s Fusion is much more than a name for one of Portland-metro’s newest food trucks. It defines the philosophy, culture and ingredients for building a community around food.
The four founders of Zeno’s Fusion share in a stoic view of life with four basic tenants: wisdom, justice, courage and moderation. The main idea of Stoicism centers around life that is in harmony with nature, avoids negative emotions and judgements, maintains a rational mind and an overall appreciation of social, ecological and global outlooks. And most importantly, it centers on gratitude.
There was an actual person named Zeno who began developing the Stoic philosophy back in Athens, Greece, more than 2,300 years ago. Originally from what we now know as Cyprus, Zeno of Citium developed Stoicism out of his experiences from surviving a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Phoenicia (now Lebanon and Syria). Instead of bemoaning the experience, once Zeno arrived in Athens, he began perceiving the experience as a conduit to help him rationalize his outlook on life toward a more enlightened viewpoint, building upon writings of Socrates and Crates he discovered in a bookstore.
Zeno began writing and lecturing at the Stoa Poikile, a main porch within the ancient Agora of Athens—the main gathering point for all the thinkers, learners and teachers of the age. Zeno’s engaging talks helped fuel his growing following to adapt the name from the Stoa to form the name of this new philosophy, Stoicism.
Zeno of Citium is recognized as the founder of Stoicism, having influenced many Greek and Roman leaders, , including Cleanthes and Chrysippus, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Roman Statesman Seneca, Greek Philosopher and former slave, Epictetus.
Epictetus wrote, “Your happiness depends on three things, all of which are within your power: your will, your ideas concerning the events in which you are involved, and the use you make of your ideas.
Seneca wrote, “it is not the events in the world by themselves that make people suffer. The ideas we form about these events also matter. Our ideas filter what we experience. So, if through reflection, meditation, and reasoning we can change these filters, our experience of the world will alter.”
Marcus wrote, “however great and urgent the causes we take up, any positive change will always consist of a lot of small decisions, each taken in the present moment. And each of these decisions is more likely to be efficacious if we can calmly and clearly assess what is possible, rather than giving way to anxiety, fear, hatred or despair.” Zeno’s ideas continue today with philosophers and others following his “stay calm and carry on” mindset.
The founders of Zeno’s Fusion point to this mindset as a basis for their ideas and efforts in life and in business. Shaped with its core tenants and overall value in gratitude, Zeno’s Fusion combines a philosophy that guides how to share food within the community. Zeno’s Fusion anchors reason and nature, fused together with diverse foods to create a sharing community which values companionship, diversity and exploration.
Photo “Athens Fragments in Front of the Stoa” courtesy of Giovanni Dall’Orto via Pixabay.
Want to know more about Stoicism? Click here to visit Modern Stoicism.
